Psalm 42 - Don't Listen to Yourself, Preach to Yourself

Well, good morning, church family. It is so good

to hear God's people fellowshipping and spending

time together. Happy Fourth of July. I think

Zach already said that. Fourth of July weekend,

we're a little bit thinner than usual, but if

you are, as Chris said, if you are new, I want

to welcome you. My name is Rob Bunch. I'm on

staff here as the Discipleship Coordinator. and

someone hopefully has found you already, maybe

many someones, and welcomed you, but if not,

please stop by the desk, either just out the

door or right there, and give us a chance to

say hi and pray for you, answer any questions

you might have. In addition to that, over the

summer, we change our rhythms a little bit. We've

been going through the Gospel of Mark starting

back in March. We do expository preaching. We

start at the beginning of a book, and we keep

going until we run out of verses. Over the summer,

we... Do something. We take a break and do something

different. This summer, it happens to be the

Psalms. And we have three more Psalms after today.

In addition to that, our normal preaching pastor,

Pastor Joe, is on sabbatical. He happens to be

worshiping with us this morning. But please treat

him as just a member that you can catch up with.

Don't pastor him. If you need to pastor someone,

Tony, Zach, and Tyler are all here. But for a

much -needed rest, we're so thankful that they're

able to do that. But that means that I'm the

not normal guy doing the not normal thing. We

trust that the Lord will bless you today with

his word. I have just one brief announcement.

As the discipleship coordinator, I do help out

with the community groups. And in a couple weeks,

you will get, the whole church I'll send this

out to, there'll be a registration form. And

it will have all of the community groups that

we have. And we've got two new starting. The

Browns are going to start one and the Stegals

will start one. They will all be empty. Which

means you need to register for a group. And that

might mean you want to register for the group

you're already in. That is totally fine. You're

in the right place with the right people. It

might be that you want to register for a new

group. You're at a different place in life. Your

kids are older. You need a different night. You

want to meet some new people. Whatever it is,

it's kind of like a reset or open enrollment

or whatever. Whichever group you fall into, we

are asking for a two -year commitment. We don't

want musical chairs. We don't want people...

I did this. I was in three community groups at

once, and I just kind of went to the one that

I was able to go to. So we've all done it. At

least I've done it. But we want to avoid that

because it takes time to get to know the people

in the groups, to pray together, to confess together,

just to feel comfortable. So please pray over

that. Think about that. If you've got questions,

ask me. Ask your community group leader. Like

I said, if you just want to reaffirm you're in

the right place, join your group. If you want

to go someplace new, you can chat with me or

with the community group leaders. It's never

going to be easier to change groups if you need

to. Okay? Thank you so much for giving me a few

minutes there. If you would please turn to Psalm

Psalms 42 · chapter mention

chapter 42. It will be up on the screen here.

I love to hear pages of the Bible turning, even

though we've got it on the screen and most of

you are looking up here. So while you're doing

that, those of you who have paper Bibles, Psalm

43 goes with this. I'm not going to read Psalm

43, but if you want to, just briefly pass through

it. It is probably the same psalm. It echoes

everything that happens in Psalm 42. Starting

in verse 1. So pants my soul for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

When shall I come and appear before God? My tears

have been my food day and night. While they say

to me all day long, where is your God? These

things I remember as I pour out my soul. How

it would go with the throng and lead them in

procession to the house of God. With glad shouts

and songs of praise. A multitude keeping festival.

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.

My soul is cast down within me. Therefore, I

remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,

Mount Miser, who deep calls to deep at the roar

of your waterfalls. All your breakers and your

waves have gone over me. By day the Lord commands

His steadfast love, and at night His song is

with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say

to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me? Why

do I go on mourning? Because of the oppression

of the enemy. As with a deadly wound in my bones,

my adversaries taught me, while they say to me

all day long, where is your God? 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. This is the word

of the Lord. It is an intimidating task to try

and preach this particular psalm. In one case,

the funny part, he doesn't really give any kind

of structure that I like. And so as I'm trying

to prepare, he just kind of emotionally vomits.

It's like he's in agony. And sometimes he's got

a couple powerful verses in there of hope, and

he's got a couple that are awful. And so I guess

I give him a pass for not thinking about my sermon

structure 3 ,000 years in the future. But in

the second case, it is intimidating to preach

because... I cannot possibly tell you how precious

this psalm is to my soul. It's a fantastic irony

because I'm a theology guy, a wannabe scholar

at one point. And I've had a tendency to think

the psalms are just fluff. It's praises and prayers

and confessions. I can do that. I do that every

week at men's group or community group. Why do

I need the psalms? If I ask you what's your favorite

book or what are some of your favorite verses,

and you go to the Psalms, maybe I would say out

loud, oh, that's great, there's a lot of power

in the Psalms. But underneath, maybe I'm thinking,

oh, you obviously don't know anything about the

Bible. Right? You should have said Romans, or

you should have said Hebrews, you should have

said Genesis. But you say Psalms because it's

easy. And that incredibly naive attitude is true

until it's not. Last week we had corporate prayer,

and at the top of the handout was a quote by

Athanasius. Athanasius was one of the early church

fathers. He has a really profound and powerful

exposition of the Psalms. Athanasius said, most

of Scripture speaks to us, but the Psalm speaks

for us. And this Psalm speaks for me. And when

you run into one, the weight and the power of

that Psalm becomes so very real. And this is

an honest warning. I have spent a significant

portion of my adult life where this guy is at,

or at least where I think he's at, saying the

things that he has said, feeling the things I

think that he has felt. And I want to be honest

as I go through and set a good example like what

he has. I hope it is so encouraging. This might

be the type of message where you have no idea

what I'm talking about. You've never been here.

Life is really good. It might resonate in a profoundly

powerful way. Whatever it is, when the darkness

and when despair finds you, and it will. Jesus

said, in this world you will have trouble. Job

said, as surely as sparks fly upward, man is

born to trouble. You will have troubling days.

I hope they're short. And in my case, for a variety

of reasons, it's been very long, and hopefully

it's not as intense as what this guy is experiencing,

but if it is, you will have your marching orders.

You will know where to go. You'll have Psalm

42 to fall back on and to find a place of hope

where you can find, as I have, there's been times

when I've tried to pray at night. I'm literally

by myself in my bedroom. It's just me and God,

and I can't finish a prayer. It's such a blessing

to know I can go to Psalm 42 and see a man inspired

by the Holy Spirit who is suffering and fighting

for joy and know that someone else has been there.

If there was ever a guy preaching a sermon to

himself and a whole bunch of people happened

to be in the room, this is it. Let's pray. Father,

would you please help your people to learn today

how to suffer well when we must suffer. and how

to fight for joy when we face despair and grief.

Teach us how to cling to your Son even when we

are broken and afraid and feel alone, even when

we cannot find joy or finish a prayer when the

world doesn't make sense and you seem far and

we are downcast. May we testify to the love you

have for us in those most horrible moments and

so shine the radiant love of Christ. In Jesus'

name, amen. I live on a farm. Don't make the

mistake of thinking I'm a farmer. I am a pretend

farmer, or the right word may actually be fool.

I spend a lot of money and time farming, and

I make no money. So I don't know what that makes

me, perhaps fool. But this past Tuesday, we have

cows. My mom, my sister, and I, we bought the

farm during COVID. We all have a house, and the

previous owner left some cows. We didn't want

to be cow farmers, or cattle farmers, I guess.

We didn't want to do beef, but we suddenly have

cows, and we have to do something with them.

And I didn't know anything about them. Whatever

you know now is at least as much as I knew then.

And I've had to learn fast. But this past Tuesday,

we lost one. Her name is Annie. Yes, I know,

you're not supposed to name them. A few weeks

ago, I noticed Annie had a growth on her eye.

and I called the vet. We sent some pictures,

and the vet came out on Tuesday, and she had

to do surgery. She had to remove some stuff.

Without getting into detail, we have a tunnel

that the cow goes into, and then we have these

two big iron clamps that kind of lock around

just in front of her shoulders so that she can't

move so the vet can do the surgery. And I turn

around. I was in the barn just close enough,

but I didn't really want to watch. I turn around,

and Annie is on the ground. And I walked over,

and the vet said it went really well. She didn't

lose too much blood, but she collapsed, and we

need to get her up. And that's something I have

learned about cows, is if they go down, you need

to get them up fast, because chances decrease

dramatically as time passes. And so she and I

are fighting to get this cow up, Annie up. My

mom, my sister, my brother -in -law all joined

in. There were five adults for 45 minutes desperately

trying to get Annie on her feet. And eventually,

the vet... with a couple minutes left, said,

yes, I think she wants to die. And eventually

she rolled on her side and passed away. It was

very, very horrible. There was a study. This

happens to people too. Annie just gave up the

fight for life. The trauma and the difficulty

and the pain was so great, she just stopped.

A University of Portsmouth study done in 2018

studied people. It's called a psychogenic death,

where you suffer some, like you hit a wall. something

horrible happens. You lose a loved one, a massive

injury, rape, or whatever it happens to be, some

dramatic trauma, and you shut down. And you give

up the fight for life. And if at any point you

were to stand up, Annie had the strength. She

didn't lose too much blood. She could have stood

up, but she didn't. And slowly you die just from

giving up on that fight. I think that happens

spiritually to Christians. That as Christians,

we run into those same things. You're going through

a horrible divorce. You witness something horrible.

You're treated in a horrible way. Whatever form

it takes. Eventually, you get to a place where

you say, I could never serve a God who... Fill

in the blank. There's a zillion things you can

put in there. I have done it. I'm sure most of

you have done it, at least if you're honest.

In that moment... If you don't choose to fight

back, you will shrivel up. Your soul will shrivel

up and you will die a spiritual, psychogenic

death. That is exactly why Psalm 42 is in the

Bible. It is our marching orders when you are

in that place. And maybe you don't know what

I'm talking about. And praise God that you have

been spared. But when you are in the place where

you have no answers, you cannot find God. There

is nothing but darkness around you. You know

how to fight and where to go. Okay? The point

of the message is this. When we are crushed,

we are called to fight. The word fight for hope.

Okay? And there are three examples that we get

in Psalm 42 how we are called to fight. First

of all, we need to acknowledge. Acknowledge where

we are at. The psalmist puts forth an incredible

example. Secondly, we need to remember who God

is. And third, sometimes those two are not enough.

Like in the case here with the son of Korah,

we have to preach to ourself. Okay? Let's get

back to the text here. At the very top of Psalm

42, just a couple things before we start in on

acknowledge. It says book two. What does that

mean? Well, there's a book one, right? Book 1

is the first 41 chapters of Psalms, and they

are exclusively Davidic. There's only Davidic

Psalms with four exceptions. They're anonymous.

There's no author. But David is the only one.

Book 2, there's a big change in the tone, and

I would love to go over it, but we don't have

time. Book 2 starts with this psalm, and it introduces

the sons of Korah. There's a psalm by Solomon.

Asaph has some psalms. David has some more. There's

some more anonymous. But the sons of Korah have

seven. Nathan did one last week, Psalm 84. Okay,

so next question. It says, to the choir master,

a maskeel of the sons of Korah. To the choir

master, what does that mean? This was meant to

be sung, right? This is a hymn, like what we

have. It just happens to be inspired by the Holy

Spirit. As much as I love great is thy faithfulness,

it was written, it wasn't inspired, although

I would say certainly inspirational. This was

a hymn that is in our scripture that was meant

to be sung. A maskeel, you can check your study

notes. We don't know what it means. For a long

time, it was translated a psalm of instruction.

It might have been some kind of musical term.

It sounds like the Hebrew word to teach or to

instruct, but they stopped translating it and

just started spelling a Hebrew word with English

letters because we don't know what it means.

Okay? We get to the next part, and this is more

interesting, the sons of Korah. If there's sons

of Korah, there must be a Korah, right? In number

16, if you don't remember this story, Korah is

a Levite, and he gets 250 of the leaders of Israel

together. So these aren't just, this is not a

ragtag group of people. These are, this is a

significant group of leaders within the people

of Israel. He gets them together, and he goes

and confronts Moses and Aaron. All three of these

men are Levites. Aaron is a Levite, Moses and

Korah. Aaron, though, is the priestly line. So

all priests are Levites because they're sons

of Aaron. But not all Levites are priests, and

that's where Korah falls. Moses is in charge.

And Korah says, hey, this isn't fair. Why do

you guys get to be, why do you get to have these

great jobs? We should get to have some too. And

God doesn't take this as rebellion against Moses

and Aaron. He takes it as rebellion against himself.

And the next day Moses says, if these people

die in a normal way, I'm not from God. But if

they die in a special way, a way you've never

seen before, then I'm from God. And sure enough,

the earth opens up and swallows them. Okay, that's

Korah. So the sons of Korah are that man's, one

of the most infamous rebels in Israel's history.

But if we hop forward in the story into Numbers

Numbers 26 · chapter mention

chapter 26, we have a funny little verse. I'm

going to start in verse 9. There's a genealogy

here. It lists off the sons of the other rebels.

It says, these are the people who contended against

Moses and Aaron in the company of Korah. when

they contended against the Lord, and the earth

opened its mouth and swallowed them up together

with Korah, when the company died, when the fire

devoured 250 men, and they became a warning.

Verse 11. Maybe I didn't give that to you. Verse

11. But the sons of Korah did not die. Isn't

that strange? Everybody else did. 250 men were

devoured, their sons and so on. Their lines are

wiped out, but the sons of Korah were not. We

hop forward to 1 Chronicles 6. This is David

in verse 31. There's another long genealogy.

It says, These are the men whom David put in

charge of the service of song in the house of

the Lord after the ark rested there. They ministered

with song before the tabernacle of the tent of

meeting until Solomon built the house of the

Lord. And they performed their service according

to his order. These are the men who served and

their sons, the Korahites. So David took these

people, the sons of one of the most, if not the

most, notorious rebel in Israel's history, and

put them in charge of the worship in the tent

of meeting until there was a temple, and then

they were in charge there. Skipping ahead one

more time into 2 Chronicles. This is in chapter

20. There's a war coming. Jehoshaphat and the

people are scared. There's a prophecy, and it

says, then Jehoshaphat, chapter 20, verse 18,

Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the

ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of

Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping

the Lord. See, the whole people have bowed. Verse

19, and the Levites... Can you imagine this?

There is a huge army coming, and you're just

told God is going to fight for you. You won't

have to do anything. The entire nation of Israel

bows down, and you have this group of men who,

again, are descended from this horrible rebel

that was swallowed up by the earth, and they

let up this massive song of praise to God. That

is who is writing this song. A man who has every

reason based on his heritage to not serve God.

God in his infinite mercy has spared these men

and not only spared them but elevated them to

this place where they are in charge of worship.

Keep that in mind as we go through because the

context here makes everything so much more powerful.

Okay? Point one is acknowledging where we are.

In verse one, most of you probably know this.

It says, as the deer pants for the flowing stream,

so pants my soul for you, oh God. When I was

growing up, growing up I guess I was in high

school, but in the mid -90s, I shouldn't have

said that. In the 90s, a song we sang was called

As the Deer. It's literally straight out of this

verse. And I always had the impression, I always

imagined when we sang that song, of a deer that

is walking up to a stream. Or is already drinking

from the stream. And his thirst is being quenched.

It's just this beautiful image of how much the

psalmist here is desperate for God. Just like

this deer is drinking the water. But that is

not the picture that he is painting for us. He

doesn't say as the deer drinks the flowing stream.

He says as the deer pants. You don't pant when

you're drinking. And you don't pant when your

thirst is quenched. This is a picture of a deer

that's in the wilderness and is going to die

if it doesn't find water soon. That's where this

guy is at. He is in a horrible dark place. He

wants God badly. I'm thirsty, Lord, and I'm going

to die pretty soon. Verse 2, my soul thirsts

for God. Again, there it is, thirst for God.

You don't thirst when you're satisfied. For the

living God, when shall I come and appear before

God? He's not, conclusion, right? He's not before

God. He wants to be. I'm thirsty, but I'm not

before God. That's where I want to be. Verse

three, my tears have been my food day and night.

This man is on the verge of tears all the time.

Ever been there? Have you ever been there where

one of your children says an innocuous request,

but it's phrased just the wrong way, and you

lose it, right? You start screaming, or you start

bawling. Or you bend over and you're trying to

get everything together. You're trying to mellow

out and you stand up and you hit the bottom of

your head or you hit the top of your head on

the bottom of a cabinet door and you just lose

it. You just have no margin. You're just broken

everywhere. That's where this man is at. He is

crying literally all the time. The second half

of verse three, while they say to me all day

long, where is your God? Conclusion? God's not

with him. Or at least the people around him look

and, where's your God? Why don't you find somebody

else? Because this God of yours clearly isn't

making you happy. You're awful. We don't like

being around you. Or maybe they're prodding him

and poking him. We keep going. We skip verse

5. Verse 7. We'll come back to verse 6 as well.

Verse 7. Deep calls to deep at the roar of your

waterfalls. All your breakers and your waves

have gone over me. Have you ever been there?

You're trying to swim. There's a wicked current

in the ocean. You're trying to swim back to the

beach. You're almost there, and then, bam, a

wave just knocks you back out to sea. And who's

sending the waves? It says the devil's waves.

It doesn't say that. Nature's waves. It doesn't

say that. It says your waves. I'm swimming in,

Lord, and you're knocking me back out to sea.

In verse 9, skip verse 8, verse 9, I say to God,

my rock, why have you forgotten me? That's, again,

everybody has said that, even if only in your

heart. We will come back to this one in a second,

but such a potent, horrible thing for this man

to say. In verse 10, there's more mocking. This

time it's straight taunting. My adversaries taunt

me. Where's your God? They're having fun with

him, fun at his expense. He's miserable. We have

a God. Right? Where's yours at? And then the

two stanzas, verse 5 and verse 11. It's also,

as I said, in chapter 43, verse 5, we have the

same stanza. He says three times in this chapter,

my soul is cast down. Twice he says, my soul

is in turmoil. And twice he says again. Cast

down, what does it mean? It doesn't mean anything

other than exactly what it sounds like. Sometimes

it's nice when the words mean just what they

say. He is in despair. What does turmoil mean?

It means he is afraid and anxious. He says, I

shall praise him again. That means, right conclusion,

he's not praising him right now. Someday I will.

I want to be praising him, but I'm not. I'm in

turmoil. I'm downcast. I'm broken. End of Psalm.

Right? That's how the Psalm ends. Why are you

cast down, O my soul? Why are you in turmoil?

Within me hope and God, for I shall again praise

Him, my salvation and my God. It ends on a note

of hope, but it isn't resolved. God doesn't take

away His despair that we know of. He doesn't

remove these taunting enemies. It's just, I'm

going to have hope. I will praise again, but

I'm not right now. End of Psalm. That's not how

it's supposed to be in the Bible. Right? We have

a hard beginning and then something really good

happens, right? Jesus comes or God comes in a

profound way and we get good resolution. Not

for this guy. Right? That's not how the psalm

ends. It is so important as Christians to acknowledge

where we are at. We can and we do experience

depression. If you haven't experienced it in

a profound way, at some point... It will find

you. Again, I hope for just a short period of

time, even though we are saved, we experience

these things. This is a valiant man of God. He

is fighting. He wants to praise. He wants to

hope, and he doesn't have it. We do experience

that, and you need to be able to acknowledge

it because you can't heal until you do. Pretending,

right? God doesn't look at me in my bedroom.

and I'm miserable, but I'm pretending that I'm

not. And he looks down and says, Rob, well done.

You're unhappy, and you're pretending you're

not, and that's a mark for holiness. That's not

a thing. There's a ditch on both sides of the

road. You can't live in misery and just acknowledge

all the time and be a huge dark cloud. That's

not godly. But it's not godly to pretend that

everything is always good, and that when you

sing Great is Thy Faithfulness every time, You

feel that God is faithful. Sometimes we don't.

And this man gives us an example. It is okay

to say that. Okay? The psalm is here so that

you have a place to go when you are broken and

downcast, when God seems far, when you're swimming

in and a wave just knocks you back out to sea.

As I said, I cannot tell you how many times I

have been there in my own bedroom. with no one

around but me and my God, and I just read scripture,

and I try and pray, and I say, Father, I know

that you love me, but I, and nothing else comes

out. And I feel horrible. I feel ashamed, and

I feel guilty. I went to seminary. I've been

in ministry. I work for the church, right? Whatever

it is, Christians aren't supposed to be like

that. And this valiant, valiant man, of course,

shows us it is okay. to struggle with God. He

is not afraid of you. He is bigger than your

despair. It is so encouraging to be able to come

here and see someone who has struggled. Remember

that most of Scripture speaks to us. The Psalms

speak for us. An important note of application.

For those of you who haven't been there, and

a good reminder for those of you who have, In

verse 9, he says, I say to God, my rock, why

have you forgotten me? That's blasphemy, isn't

it? You can't say that. You can't say, why have

you forgotten me? I give you a slew of verses

that show that God hasn't forgotten you. Why

does he say it if it's not true? This is inspired

scripture. It's in here. How can he get away

with that? Why doesn't God strike him down? He

knows God hasn't forgotten him. He just said

it in verse 8. Verse 80 says, by day the Lord

commands his steadfast love, and at night his

song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.

And then he immediately says, I say to God, my

rock, why have you forgotten me? Why would he

say that? Because he doesn't feel God being close.

What's the application? The truth matters, but

grace matters too. It's okay when you're with

someone who is suffering and wounded and hurt

to let it go. Watch their life. Let their life

dictate where they are at. If we go to Job chapter

Job 6 · chapter mention

6, I wish we could spend more time in Job. But

in Job, his friends have come to him and they

are beating him up. They are just ruthless and

preaching at him and picking apart his words.

And this is in chapter 6, verses 25 through 27.

He says, how forceful are your upright words.

He's saying this to his friends who are beating

him up. but what does your reproof from you reprove?

Do you think that you can reprove words when

the speech of a despairing man is wind? What

does that mean? He's not, don't lecture me, please.

I'm hurt, and I'm crying out. I'm trying hard

to find God. This isn't a theological debate.

Cry with me. Hurt with me. And these are the

type of people who in the next verse, Job says,

You're the type of people who would bargain for

your own friend. You'd go and find orphans and

you'd sell their stuff. I'll make an example

of myself here. In my mid -late 20s, I was a

young, reformed doofus with everything to prove.

Right? My sister was trying to have a baby. Infertility

was plaguing. It was a long, long fight. And

she was crying one night. And I did exactly the

right thing. I went and I said, Jamie, it's okay.

Romans 8, 28. It says, all good things work for

the good of those who love him and call according

to his purpose. That was the wrong thing to say.

It was true. It still is true. But it was the

wrong thing to say. Give me the C .S. Lewis quote

from The Problem of Pain. The Problem of Pain.

is C .S. Lewis' intellectual dealing with pain.

So he tries to solve intellectually how pain

and suffering can exist. But he says, I'm not

so fool as to try and help you suffer through

pain. He says, when pain is to be born, a little

courage helps more than much knowledge, a little

human sympathy more than much courage, and the

least tincture of the love of God more than all.

Knowledge is at the bottom of that list. I'm

not saying it's not valuable. It's one of the

things I... Wisdom is one of my most precious

gifts. But when pain is to be borne, right, from

the top down, at least tincture of the love of

God, and then a little human sympathy, and then

much courage, and then a little bit of knowledge.

Jesus loves sinners. He is patient with sinners.

Suffer with... With your brothers. We'll come

to the verse in a minute. It's why it's so important

to be in a church where people can fight alongside

you. Point number two, remembering who God is.

You have to acknowledge first. You can't use

the knowledge of God unless you've acknowledged

where you are at. But that's an awful place to

end. To just say I'm sad and do nothing about

it is not godly. And atheists can do that. Lots

of atheists do that. Lots of people like to complain,

but don't ever move forward. Let's go back to

the same verses and see how the psalmist frames

everything. He frames that same despair, but

he frames it in a very, very special way. Verse

1, right? As the deer pants, right? I'm thirsty,

but I'm thirsty for God. He's not abandoning.

He could go find something else. It would make

a lot of sense. I'm really unhappy. I should

go find something that makes me happy, right?

Alcohol, drugs. sex, whatever it happens to be,

go pursue something else. He hasn't done that.

He's still after God. Verse 2, and Tony will

go over Psalm 63 next week. In verse 2, he's

not just wondering when he'll be able to come

before God because he's sad. He wants to be happy,

and he knows when he's in God's presence, he

will be. Why not find happiness somewhere else

if God can't provide it? Psalm 63, 1. Again,

Tony will have this next week. My soul thirsts

for you in a dry and weary land where there is

no water. Why don't you go somewhere else, son

of Korah? In verse 4, he says, These things I,

there's our word, remember as I pour out my soul.

And what does he remember? He remembers going

with the throng. He remembers leading the procession.

This is a son of Korah. He was leading the people

into the house of God so that it would sing.

Glad shouts, songs of praise. Multitude keeping

festival. He remembers the good times and he

knows God was there and he can find him again.

Nathan's psalm hit on this a lot last week, Psalm

84. The temple of the Lord was a big deal. It's

where God was present. It's where the people

of God were present. He's not there, but he knows

if he can get back there, that's where he'll

find God. It's so important to be among God's

people so you have somebody to fight with. And

on that note, even this morning, but there have

been so many mornings when I have shown up and

I am downcast. Yesterday I struggled with God.

I can't seem to pray or whatever it happens to

be. And I come in and you guys are singing. And

maybe you're struggling too. Right? Maybe you

sound awful. But you're here. You're here for

me. God, I always think that the reinforcements

to help me fight it is this huge, huge army of

like Viking angels. They're 20 feet tall. But

you, sorry lot, are my army. I'm yours. I wish

I was better. I'm sorry. But you're all I have.

You're who God commissioned. And I come here

and you're singing about God. And there's hope.

God's good. Great is his faithfulness. I don't

think so, but Joe's singing, right? And Shane's

singing. And Heather's singing. There's hope

among the people of God, and God is here with

us. In verse 5 and verse 11, he calls God his

salvation. Can you say that in good times? Because

if you can't say it in the good times, you definitely

won't be able to say it in the bad times. Why

are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you in

turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again

praise him, my salvation and my God. You have

to be able to reinforce yourself when you're

in the right place so that you can remember that

when you're not. When you're crushed. Verse 6,

he pouring out his soul. I hope you noticed this

word in verse 6. It says, and my God, my soul

is downcast within me. Therefore. What is it

doing there? Right? What is therefore, therefore?

My soul is downcast within me, so I'm going to

do something, and the thing I'm going to do is

remember you. Right? That's such a funny thing

to say. In a minute he's about to say, God forgotten

me, but right here he's saying, my soul is downcast

within me, therefore. I'm going to remember you.

And then we go to verse 8. Skipping over the

breakers. By day the Lord commands me his steadfast

love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer

to the God of my life. What is this verse doing

here? We talked about it already, but in verse

7, he just said, your waves are sending me out

to sea. I'm swimming in and you're sending me

back out. Verse 9, why have you forgotten me?

Right in the middle, he has this goofy verse.

By day, the Lord commands a steadfast love. At

night, his song is with me. Miscarriage is something

that most of us have had to live with in some

form or another. At least two couples I know

went through this book. It's called The Moon

is Always Round. And if you haven't read it and

you end up there, this book will wreck you. But

it is written by a seminary professor. and it

follows a little boy asks his dad. It is literally

a children's book. This will be in the library.

I got it at the Resource Center if you need it.

It is not complicated. It is very simple. Children's

book. And this little boy asks his dad, why does

the moon always change shape? And it follows

his mother's pregnancy. It's a little slice today.

It looks like a shriveled up orange today. And

his father, every time he says that, his dad

says, no, the moon is always round. And at the

end of the book, again, it will wreck you in

the right moment, but at the end of the book,

there's this scene. And if you can't see it,

it's a funeral. The birth was a death, and she's

stillborn. And the father says to his son, what

shape is the moon, son? And his son says, It's

always round. I hope you can see the metaphor

here. The God is always good. The reason the

moon looks like it changes shape is because the

sun hits it with a different amount of light.

Sometimes you can't see it at all. Sometimes

it's a tiny sliver. Sometimes it's big and beautiful

and round, but it is always round. That's what

verse 8, the psalmist is saying the moon is always

round. Right before it, he said your breakers

and your waves. They are crushing me. Verse 9,

he says, my God, why have you forgotten me? Right

in between, he says, remember, the moon is always

round. And I don't know if that means anything

to you, if you find yourself in despair, but

say it anyway. The God is always good. Don't

take that verse out of context. It is so much

more beautiful with verse 7 and verse 9 around

it. If I hop to Lamentations, this is such a

dreadful book to read. It's Jeremiah writing

about the despair of the people of God. He says

some awful things. He says, God is a bear lying

in wait for me. He says, God has bent his bow

and sent me as a target for his arrow. He drove

into my kidneys the arrow of his quiver. These

are awful things to say and to hear. And then

verse 21, out of nowhere, he says, but this I

call to mind, and therefore I have hope. The

steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His

mercies never come to an end. The moon is always

round. In verse 9, he says, I say to God, my

rock, why have you forgotten me? The one, why

does he say rock, right? Do you know a story

about a rock? I say to God, my rock, why have

you forgotten me? To who? The one I built my

house on. The one who doesn't shake. He knows

God hasn't forgotten him. I'm so sorry this man

suffered so badly. But I'm so glad he did. So

he would be moved to write this incredible song.

So that the Holy Spirit inspired these haunting

words so that we can remember who God is. William

Cowper, we'll sing one of his songs in a minute.

I'd give you more detail, but we're running low

on time. He was an Englishman. He was trained

as an attorney. He tried to commit suicide four

times. He believed he was out of God's reach,

out of the reach of God's mercy. And he constantly

struggled with... overwhelming depression, believing

he was eternally damned. That man, not too far

off from this son of Korah, wrote these words.

From God Moves in a Mysterious Way. Ye fearful

saints, fresh courage take. The clouds ye so

much dread are big with mercy and shall break

in blessings on your head. The clouds you're

so afraid of. Joe mentioned this a couple weeks

ago, a quote from C .H. Spurgeon. I have another

book of his called Spurgeon's Sorrows. This will

be in the library too if you need this. But God

sends us the best love letters have black singed

envelopes. Those clouds you're so afraid of,

those are big with mercy and they will break.

And when they do, it will be blessings on your

head. He wrote this. This is the song we'll sing

for communion. Eres since by faith I saw the

stream. Thy flowing wounds supply. Redeeming

love has been my theme and shall be till I die.

I'm so sorry that William Cooper suffered so

badly, but I'm so thankful that he did. To write

something like that, that we can sing centuries

later and see depression does not disqualify

from faith, but you have to remember, you have

to be that voice. God can bring forth praise

from affliction. Even people who feel abandoned

can still be used to declare his mercy. Right?

William Cooper tried to commit suicide four times

and still to the day he died struggled with whether

he was saved. Wrote, redeeming love has been

my theme and shall be till I die. Third point,

we have to preach to ourselves. Sometimes it's

simply not enough to sing great is thy faithfulness.

Sometimes it's not enough to quote scripture

to yourself. For this guy, it's not. So we have

number three. We have to preach to ourselves.

You have to acknowledge before you can remember.

Remembering is what matters. Sometimes remembering

who God is and what he's done isn't enough. And

you have to preach. You have to fight for yourself.

He's not winning. He's not winning yet. But he

is not going to die a psychogenic death. He says

in verse 5, why are you cast down on my soul?

And why are you in turmoil within me? Here's

the preaching part. Hope in God's soul, for I

will praise him again, my salvation and my God.

The most formidable book on Psalm 42. If you

look around for an exegesis or an exposition

or something on Psalm 42, you will run into this

book, Spiritual Depression by D. Martin Lloyd

-Jones. This is in the library too. And at the

beginning of the book, the moon is always round

is simple and potent. That book, if you need

more substance, is really powerful. At the very

beginning of the book, he writes this. Self,

can you give me the first quote, Joe? He says,

have you realized that most of your unhappiness

in life is due to the fact that you are listening

to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take

those thoughts that come to you the moment you

wake up in the morning. Somebody's talking. Who

is talking to you? Your self is talking to you.

Now this man's treatment in Psalm 42 was this.

Instead of allowing this self to talk to him,

he starts talking to himself. How very strange.

Why art thou downcast, O my soul, he asks. His

soul had been addressing him, crushing him, so

he stands up and says, Self, listen for a moment,

and I'll speak to you. What does that look like?

Right? You wake up. Or you're driving your car.

Or you're watching a baseball game. You're in

line at the grocery store. You're reading your

Bible. You're sitting in church. And self comes

to you and says, Rob, God doesn't love me. I

don't think God loves me. He's forgotten me.

What will you do? Will you do what Annie did

and just sink and give up? Will you die a psychogenic

death and just accept it? It's slow. Or will

you say, that's not true, self. Right? Just like

in the quote, self, that's not true. Look here.

It's in 1 John 3. It's in Zephaniah 3. And self

comes back and says, all the evidence is to the

contrary. God wouldn't let this happen to me.

Right? Look how I care for this silly cow. Why

can't God care for me as much as I care for this

silly cow? That's not true, self. It doesn't

matter what you think. Look here, Isaiah 43.

Look here at Romans 5. And sometimes that's still

not enough. And self comes back one more time.

And you have to grab self and say, no. I will

hope in God. You will hope in God, self. You

will praise him again. Maybe not today. And maybe

it's weeks. Maybe it's months. God help us, maybe

it's decades. But you will hope in God. You will

listen to meself. I will not listen to you. That's

the way you live the Christian life, when you're

crushed. That's what God is asking us to do here

in Psalm 42. This valiant, brave man fighting

for hope. Last quote, Joe, I suggest. From the

same book. He says, I suggest that the main trouble

in this whole matter of spiritual depression

is this. We allow ourself to talk to us instead

of talking to ourself. The main art in the matter

of spiritual living is to know how to handle

yourself. You have to take yourself in hand gently.

You have to address yourself, preach to yourself,

question yourself. You need to say to your soul,

why are you downcast? What business have you

to be disquieted? And then, You need to go and

remind yourself of God, who he is, what he is,

what he's done, what God has pledged to do. Then

having done that, end on this great note. Defy

yourself. Defy other people. Defy the devil and

the whole world and say with this man, hope in

God. I will praise him again. My salvation and

my God. That is a God glorifying, God praising.

God -focused man or woman. And I'm not saying

it's easy, and I'm not saying I succeed very

often. But that is how you fight for your hope.

Lee Strobel was a journalist. Ben, you can start

making your way up. He wrote a book called Case

for Faith. And in it, he interviews a guy named

Chuck Templeton, Charles Templeton. He was an

evangelist. He was good friends with Billy Graham.

He toured around, was a big deal, and eventually

lost his way, did a 180, and became an atheist

or an agnostic. I can't remember. And Lee Strobel

was interviewing him, and he's just railing on

God. He hates God, right? He could never serve

a God who allows so much suffering and pain and

misery in the world. And he's just going on and

on and on. And eventually Lee Strobel interrupts

him and he says, Chuck, what about Jesus? And

Templeton broke down weeping and said, I miss

him so much. In these quiet, dark moments, at

least for me, the thing I want to do, just like

this son of Korah here, I want to wrap my arms

around the father. I'm afraid and I'm alone and

I need something to grab onto. But the Father's

big, big, big, right? In Isaiah 6, he's holy,

holy, holy. And I'm small, small, small. My tiny

arms can't get around him. He's unsearchable.

He's transcendent. He's unknowable. And as awful

as this sentiment sounds, can the Father really

help me in my despair? And that statement would

be... The answer to that statement would be no.

Except for John 1 .14. The Word became flesh.

I can't wrap my arms around the Father in those

most horrible of moments. You can't either. This

man, this son of Korah, he can't either. He was

looking forward. We look back. Jesus wore your

clothes. He ate our food. He bled our blood.

He is the knowable God. You can wrap your arms

around him. Right? He was forgotten so you're

not forgotten. He was abandoned so you're not

abandoned. He won the fight so you don't have

to win the fight. And the point there, you might

not be able to appreciate that in that moment.

But make no mistake, you're not saved and you

don't have hope because God just forgave you.

You have hope because God condescended. Because

Jesus came down and became knowable and we can

wrap our arms around the Son. And He is eternally

attached to the Father. And you have come to

the place where God desires for you. The Father

has infinite love for us. He sent the Son. He

saw in eternity, I've lost my people and I want

them back. Son, go and get them back for me.

But Jesus said in John 14, 6, you won't be able

to come to him except through me. So whether

you're just putting this sermon or this psalm

in your back pocket for the day when this finds

you or whether you're in the lowest moment right

now. Remember at least this. It is not your responsibility

to win your fight against your despair. Jesus

has already won. Your job is to stay in the fight.

Do not surrender. Preach to yourself. Hope in

God. I will praise him again no matter what today

looks like. This psalm has no teeth without Jesus.

But because he has won the victory. you can have

hope. Let me read briefly in response to this

psalm. This is the end of chapter 27. This is

of David. He says, I believe that I shall look

upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of

the living on this side of eternity. Wait for

the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage.

Wait for the Lord. Let's pray. Father, thank

you that I can come to you. We can come to you

because of what Jesus has done. You are approachable

through your Son. And I pray that you will help

us to be crushed well when we must be crushed,

that we will fight for hope in you when we are

empty, that you will give us Psalm 42 as a shield

to remember we will praise you again, that you

will fill us up, that we are not forgotten because

you were forgotten. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.