Twice, the psalmist asks: “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?” (Psalm 42:5, 11 NKJV).

He also says:

• “My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, ‘Where is your God?’” (v. 3).
• “I will say to God my Rock, ‘Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?’” (v. 9).
• “As with a breaking of my bones, My enemies reproach me, While they say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’” (v. 10).

We can relate to this entire psalm in the difficulty of our situations.

But then there is verse 6: “O my God, my soul is cast down within me; Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan, And from the heights of Hermon, From the Hill Mizar.” This verse might not seem significant or meaningful, because these references are from Jewish history, but they truly speak to us, too.

These three places are reminders of God’s victories for His people, and the psalmist expects to be in those places again:

• Land of the Jordan, the river the Lord parted so the children of Israel could cross over on dry ground to the land of Canaan to begin their victory over and inhabitation of the promised land.
• The heights of Hermon, where the children of Israel camped after the Lord parted the waters of the Jordan, the later site of victory over the Canaanites, and the northern border of the Promise Land.
• The Hill Mizar, where King David found refuge from the life-threatening Absalom, a place only mentioned by name in Psalm 42.

These three places are reminders of God’s victories for us as His people:

• Even a flooded path is a source of showing God’s power to make a way—and not only just a way, but a dry way, a clear way, an effective way. Like the children of Israel, we should set up memorial stones to help us remember the times God made a way where there doesn’t seem to be a way. Joshua 4:24 gives the reason: “‘that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever God forever.’”
• Our Hermon is a holy place, a place to rest and consecrate ourselves in preparation for the fight ahead. It is a place where the Lord comes to us, like He did to Joshua (Joshua 5:13-15). Hermon is also a place where the Lord defeats the enemy and replaces them with His people. It is a place of victory.
• Then there is the Hill Mizar, a place of refuge, a place to rest from the fight for a little while, a place of safety, a place to “Be still, and know that [He is] God” and to know that [He] will be exalted among the nations, [He] will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10).

As a mom of a prodigal daughter recently pointed out to me that we’ve prayed prayers and experienced victory after victory, but in the fight for our prodigals, we are still waiting for their salvation, for the defeat of the enemy. The good news, though, is that we are waiting from a place of knowing that God has already answered prayers, that He has already parted the waters of the floods, that He has already defeated the enemy, and that He is keeping us and our faith safe in this battle.

So, when you or I ask ourselves, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted  within me,” we remind ourselves to “[h]ope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God” (v. 11). We stop and remember the victories already won. We pray and fight from a place of knowing that whatever is best is what God provides for us, that whatever victories need to be won He wins, and that God hears and answers our prayers. He makes a way, gives us rest, prepares us, meets with us, and protects our faith.

As the psalmist said, “Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live” (Psalm 116:2).