Psalm 43 — Send Out Your Light and Your Truth
A short psalm generally read as the continuation of Psalm 42 (see note there) rather than a separate composition — it opens mid-plea, asking God to "vindicate me... plead my cause against an ungodly nation" (v. 1), and closes with the same refrain that ends Psalm 42: "why are you in despair, my soul... hope in God" (v. 5). Its center is a request for guidance pictured as light: "send out your light and your truth; let them lead me" (v. 3), asking not just for rescue but for the way back to worship at God's "holy hill."
- Verse 3's request for "light and truth" to "lead me" personifies these qualities as guides, similar to how Psalm 23:3 pictures God himself leading "in paths of righteousness" — guidance imagined as something sent ahead to walk with.
- The goal stated in verse 3-4 isn't just escape from trouble but a specific destination: God's "holy hill," his "tents," the altar — the psalmist's deepest desire under pressure is restored worship, not merely relief.
- Reading Psalms 42-43 as one poem (see Psalm 42's note) explains why 43 has no separate heading and picks up mid-thought — the threefold refrain (42:5, 42:11, 43:5) only makes full sense as one extended meditation.
Psalms 43 (WEB)
1Vindicate me, God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. Oh, deliver me from deceitful and wicked men.
2For you are the God of my strength. Why have you rejected me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
3Oh, send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill, To your tents.
4Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my exceeding joy. I will praise you on the harp, God, my God.
5Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him: my Savior, my helper, and my God.