The writer of Psalm 43 knew the same heart-longings for home. He was an exile, a homesick worshiper of God who longed to be home with his heavenly Father and fellow believers (43:3b). He suffered the slow agony of spiritual drought. Like a dazed and dying deer that pants for streams of water, he yearned for the heart-healing mercies of his Lord (42:1,2). That’s the way it is when we are away from home: we feel vulnerable, alone, forgotten, afraid (42:3-10). Our souls are indeed “cast down.” Will we never again know and feel the joy of our salvation like we did before?

Good news: God brings His children home! His light and truth guide us to His “holy mountain” where He, our joy and delight, dwells in loving and glorious majesty (43:3, 4). He does this by means of the Incarnation of His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is God with us, the light upon the path that leads home, the truth of a salvation that comes by grace received by faith. Yes, even when our hearts are nearly broken with loneliness and disappointment, we know that, in Christ, we are always at home in the Father’s heart, and that one day we actually will dwell at home with Him in glory. When you think longingly of life as it once was and probably will never be again, lay hold by faith on the light and truth of the Incarnate Son of God and, like the psalmist, talk tough to your cringing soul.