What does Psalm 43:4 mean?

Believing that God would bring him again to the sanctuary in Jerusalem, the psalmist anticipates a hopeful future. He looks forward to approaching the altar and praising God with music. He addresses God in a personal way as "my God." Such acts of worship would be appropriate after being delivered from enemies and pain. The writer has been honest about his struggles with discouragement (Psalm 42:9; 43:2). Yet he expects his self-pity to vanish, replaced by gratitude for God's.

The "lyre" described here was a small, U-shaped instrument with strings made from the small intestines of sheep. The strings stretched across a sounding board over an empty space and were attached to a cross bar. Modern readers would likely think of this as a small harp. The psalmist seems to have been a musician in the worship of God at the sanctuary. Although many gifted musicians enhance today's worship, all believers can joyfully praise the Lord by "singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God" (Colossians 3:16).