“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God” (Psalm 42:5).

Is it good to talk to yourself? To question your own feelings? The psalmists do exactly that in Psalms 42 and 43: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” This fact alone teaches us an important lesson: we don’t need to be at the mercy of our feelings. Rather, we can hold a conference meeting with our emotions and ask: “What’s going on? Why are you feeling like this?”

Personally, I have done this many times before, usually with a pen in hand, trying to sort out my jumbled thoughts into piles that make more sense. There are times, however, when clarity doesn’t emerge, when the feelings can’t be sorted out, and when the fog of confusion doesn’t lift. For such moments, we find an example to follow in these psalms: the interrogation is followed, not by an answer, but by an exhortation: “Hope in God.”

Yes, there are times to enumerate the reasons you are feeling downcast and anxious, to make a list of the various pressures you are feeling. But the exhortation, “Hope in God,” can come even before you make out that list, even before light and clarity comes. To hope in God is to expect that, no matter the darkness you are in, a day is coming when you will praise him with a glad heart: “For I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”

We say that someone has a healthy appetite when they feel hungry for good food. In the spiritual realm, it is a sign of healthy hunger to long for God, even before that longing is satisfied. It’s better to weep through a dark night while anticipating the sunlight of God’s presence, than to dance in the false lights of fleeting pleasures.