Lamenting Despondency: Remembering God

We are in Psalms 42 and 43 today, so if you would open your Bibles there.

I will be preaching from both Psalm 42 and 43,

since they were most likely in their original composition a single psalm.

And we know that because many of the surviving Hebrew manuscripts present them together as one psalm,

and because they share the same theme and refrain, as you will see as we read through them.

And so far in this series in the Psalms of Lament, we have talked about focusing on turning to God rather than withdrawing from Him.

And then we also talked about groaning to Him in lament and appealing to Him to act on the basis of His character.

And today we are going to talk about the fourth step of lament, of remembering who God is and what He has done.

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.

Father, we long for You.

We do pant for You.

But we need You even more desperately than we ourselves know.

So won't You press us this morning with that need?

So that we leave this place as people who desperately fling themselves onto Your arms, into Your care.

People who trust You and praise You.

Even when we don't feel like it.

Even when our souls are downcast.

So form us now in the preaching of Your Word.

To be such people.

For Your glory.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

If you are willing and able, please join me and stand for the reading of God's Word.

From Psalms 42 and 43.

To the choir master.

A maskil of the sons of Korah.

As a deer pants for flowing streams, 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 the day long, where is Your God?

These things I remember.

As I pour out my soul.

How I 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 from Mount Mizar.

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 mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me.

While they say to me all the 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.

Vindicate me, O God.

And defend my cause against an ungodly people.

From the deceitful and unjust man deliver me.

For You are the God in whom I take refuge.

Why have You rejected me?

Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

Send out Your light and Your truth.

Let them lead me.

Let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your dwelling.

Then I will go to the altar of God,

To God my exceeding joy,

And I will praise You with the lyre, O God, my 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.

God's holy and authoritative word.

You may be seated.

Psalms 42 and 43 deal with a common human experience of despondency, despair, or depression.

According to a Gallup poll conducted in February 2023,

The percentage of U.S. adults who report having been diagnosed with depression

At some point of their lives is 29%.

Up 10% from 2015.

And 17.8% of Americans say that they are currently depressed.

That's almost one in five.

Maybe you feel down on most days.

Maybe you have diminished interest or pleasure in most of your activities.

Maybe you feel tired, fatigued all the time.

Or feel worthless and overwhelmed by guilt.

Maybe you're having trouble concentrating or making decisions.

Or maybe you just don't feel like getting up in the morning.

Of course, this has spiritual implications.

When you feel this way, you feel like God is absent.

You don't feel His personal care for you.

You don't feel like worshiping, let alone serving God.

When we feel this way, is there anything we can do?

Psalms 42 to 43 teach us that when our souls are cast down

And we feel forgotten by God,

We should remember God.

And so we're going to first talk about feeling forgotten by God.

And then we'll talk about remembering God.

Chapter 42, verses 1 to 2,

Express how the psalmist feels spiritually.

He feels parched, longs for communion with God.

As a deer pants for flowing streams,

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?

I didn't know this about deers until I looked it up this week.

But deers apparently don't drink a lot of water

Because they get most of their water from the food that they eat,

Like plants and nuts.

But when there's a drought,

Or in desert climates like Palestine or Israel,

With occasional prolonged seasons without rain,

Deer get desperate for water.

And because either there's not enough food,

Or the food is dry,

They don't get enough water

To replenish their water need in their body

From the food that they eat.

And that's when they start to wander around

In search of flowing streams.

Bodies of water.

And as they do that,

They pant.

Because that's how animals get rid of heat from their bodies.

Expel heat by breathing really fast

And then inhaling cool air.

And so imagine a parched deer

In the middle of a drought,

Desperately longing for and looking for water.

So pants my soul for you, O God.

It says in verse 1.

And then verse 2 continues,

And here we see the nature of the psalmist's inner turmoil.

His main problem is that he is far away from God.

But he's surrounded.

His enemies are nearby.

This is in the old covenant days,

We have to remember,

When meeting with God was usually limited

To a physical location,

The temple in Jerusalem.

It's different for us now,

Because we are the church,

The people of God,

And we are God's temple.

And the spirit of God is present with us,

To meet with us in a special way

Whenever two or three of us are gathered

In the name of Jesus.

The spirit of God is present.

And so no matter where we are physically.

But this is the old covenant days,

And the psalmist feels effectively

Caught off from God's presence

Because he cannot worship God

With God's people in the temple

In Jerusalem.

In verse 6,

He tells us that he is in the land of Jordan

And of Hermon from Mount Mizar.

That's the northern extremities

Of the country of Israel,

The land of Israel,

Where the mountain ranges meet the seas.

He longs to appear before God,

But his circumstances prevent him

From doing that.

And so his enemies taunt him,

Seeing that he looks like

He's been abandoned by God.

The enemies taunt him in verse 3,

All the day long,

Where is your God?

This is the nagging question

That is at the center

Of the psalmist's turmoil.

It says again in verse 10,

As with the deadly wound

In my bones,

My adversaries taunt me

While they say to me

All the day long,

Where is your God?

This taunt, he says,

Is like a deadly wound

In his bones.

The word deadly wound

Is a translation of a noun

That can mean shattering.

The Christian Standard Bible

Translates that verse this way,

My adversaries taunt me

As if crushing my bones.

A sprained muscle

Will give you discomfort and pain.

But a crushed bone

Cripples you.

And that's the kind of emotional agony

That the psalmist is in.

While he is down,

His enemies are using

The crushing weight of that question

To push him down even further.

Where is your God?

If your God cares so much about you,

Why did you lose your job?

If your God really loves you,

Then why do you have this chronic

Or terminal illness?

If your God is so powerful,

Then why did he not answer your prayers?

If your God is so good,

Why is there so much evil in this world?

All of these taunts can be summed up

In this one haunting question.

Where is your God?

And the psalmist feels like

He hears this from his enemies around him,

Not once in a while,

But all the day long.

And remember the psalmist said in verse 1,

That his soul pants for,

And thirsts for God,

As a deer pants for flowing streams.

But there is a notable contrast

In metaphors here,

Because that flowing stream

Is nowhere to be found.

The flowing stream,

Which represents God's life-giving presence,

Is nowhere to be found.

Instead, in verse 3,

He says,

My tears have been my food

Day and night.

It's a sad contrast.

Instead of drinking

From the vigorous,

Life-giving streams of God,

The psalmist has to settle

For eating his own dripping tears.

When a person is dying of thirst,

I forget who told me this,

One of you guys told me this,

That if you're dying of thirst,

Apparently our body is so efficient

At sanitizing or cleaning

The liquid in our system,

That you can actually drink your urine

Several times

Before it will start,

You know,

I guess hurting you.

And that's how people survive.

So when there's buildings crumble

And they're stuck underneath

And they don't rescue for days,

That's how people survive.

They drink your urine.

And that's almost the kind of

Forlorn picture that you see here

Because there's no flowing streams

And he's eating his own tears

As food

While his enemies attack him

All the day long.

Then in verses 7 to 8,

The psalmist turns these water metaphors

On their heads.

He writes,

Deep calls the deep

At the roar of your waterfalls,

All your breakers and your waves

Have gone over me.

He's comparing his plight

To being swallowed up by the waves.

The word waterfalls,

It doesn't necessarily refer to waterfalls.

It's referring to any kind of

Large body of water,

Flood waters.

And the phrase,

Deep calls to deep,

Recalls the cosmic scale of God's creation

And flood judgment in Genesis

During the days of Noah.

So for example,

The waters of the formless void

Before God filled it with creation

Was called the deep

In Genesis 1-2

And when the flood waters

Of God's judgment

Descend during Noah's days

In Genesis 7-11

He says that the fountains

Of the great deep

Burst forth

And the windows of heavens

Were opened.

Similarly,

Exodus 15-5

Describes the Red Sea

Swallowing up the Egyptian army

This way,

The floods,

Or literally,

The deeps

Cover them

They went down

Into the depths

Like a stone

So deep calls to deep

It refers to

Deeps above

Falling down

And crashing upon

The deeps below

So the deeps of God's rain

And the waters above

Meeting the waters below

Of the ocean

So imagine

Howling rains

And rolling seas

And rolling seas

Meeting each other

And that's how the psalmist feels

He feels so overwhelmed

By the taunting

Of the wicked

He says

All your breakers

And your waves

Have gone over me

Here is an

Unflinching affirmation

Of God's sovereignty

Even in the midst

Of our deepest

And most mysterious sufferings

Look at what he says

The psalmist says

God has allowed

These things to happen to him

All your breakers

And your waves

Have gone over me

Not the adversary's

Breakers and waves

Not Satan's

Breakers and waves

Your breakers and waves

Oh God

Have come over me

Because he recognizes

That God is still

On his throne

And God is still

Ruling and reigning

And so he sees

That his hand

Is somehow involved

Even in his suffering

God's allowed it

But the struggle is real

Because the waves

And the breakers

Are relentless

So imagine

In a stormy sea

Trying to stay

Above water

He's gasping for air

And just sputtering water

And comes up

Above the surface

And then the waves

And the breakers

Come over him again

And then he's washed down

And pushed underneath

That's how he feels

He's so cast down

So what does the psalmist do?

He says he pours out

His soul to God

In verse 4

Notice the water metaphor again

Pour out

The psalmist does not

Bottle up his emotions

Or try to sanitize

His feelings

He just pours out

His soul to God

And that's how we

Must respond to

When we are cast down

When the floodwaters of life

Overwhelm you

Pour out your soul to God

Here's yet another

Possible secondary meaning

To the phrase

Deep calls to deep

As the waters of God

The floodwaters of God

Descend upon you

You call out

From your own deep

Down below

To the one

Who has sent

His breakers and waves

Over you

So your deep

Calls out to the deep

Of God

And so don't try to

Stuff your feelings

Stoically

Or act like

You're not affected

By what's going on

Around you

Be honest with God

And share your feelings

With God

Pour out your heart

To him

The psalmist is having

An ugly cry session

Right

My tears have been

My food

Day and night

We get to eavesdrop

A little bit

On the outpouring

Of the psalmist's soul

In chapter 42

Verse 9

I say to God

My rock

Why have you forgotten me?

Why do I go mourning

Because of the oppression

Of the enemy?

God

You're supposed to be

My rock

My bedrock

My foundation

The immovable

Unshakeable ground

Upon which I stand

So that I don't sink

In the mire

So where are you God?

Why have you forgotten me?

Why do I go mourning

Because of the oppression

Of the enemy?

And he repeats

That exact same question

In verses 43

Verse

Chapter 43

Verse 2

For you are the God

In whom I take refuge

Why have you rejected me?

Why do I go about mourning

Because of the oppression

Of the enemy?

As we see in chapter 43

Verse 1

He's being attacked

By ungodly people

Deceitful and unjust men

And he wants to be delivered

But God

You're supposed to be

My refuge

My fortress

To protect me

From the arrows

Of the enemy

My shelter

From the storm

So where are you

When I need you

Most?

He thinks that God's

Not there for him

And of course

That's theologically

Incorrect

But we don't need

To trip over the words

This is not an expression

Of what the psalmist

Believes objectively

Rather it's an expression

Of what he feels

Subjectively

In Job 6.26

I've heard this

John Piper

Comment on this

In the past

Job 6.26

When his three friends

Who are miserable comforters

And worthless physicians

Are trying to correct

Job's theology

When he is only

Expressing his pain

Job responds this way

He says

Do you think

That you can reprove words

When the speech

Of a despairing man

Is wind?

When people are speaking

Out of their deep pain

And suffering

Their words are just

Fleeting winds

Passing by

And just like

You can't catch wind

You can't try to

Fix

Their theology

Or correct their words

In the middle of that

They will come to their senses

Soon enough

God didn't correct

Job's theology

When he was calling out

To him

And crying out to him

In pain

And nor do we need to

When our friends

Are struggling

And crying out

In pain either

There's a time for that

But it's not

In the middle of that

So what next?

Is that all we can do?

Cry?

Pour out our souls to God?

Eat our tears as food?

There's still more

We can do

And there's a very

Important word

In these psalms

That's repeated twice

At key junctures

Remember

When tears are his food

And his enemies

Are taunting him

All the day long

Where is your God?

The psalmist

Remembers God

In verse 4

These things

I remember

As I pour out my soul

How I 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

The psalmist

Cannot now

Gather with

God's people

And in the house of God

And lead them in worship

As he desires to

He cannot now

Keep the festivals of God

To celebrate his provision

And deliverance

But he remembers them

He thinks on them

He meditates on them

And reminds himself

Of them

And we see that same pattern

In verse 6

My soul is cast down

Within me

Therefore

I remember you

Even when he feels

Overwhelmed

By the breakers

And the waves

The psalmist

Brings God's character

To remembrance

In verse 8

By day

The Lord commands

His steadfast love

And at night

His song is with me

A prayer to the God

Of my life

So here's the answer

To the enemy's taunts

All the day long

By day

And by night

Remembering

The Lord's

Steadfast love

Remembering

His love

And singing

Of His love

And praying

To Him

On the basis

Of His

Steadfast love

It's a special

Sweet word to us

Steadfast love

God's

God's

Hesed

His loyal love

His covenantal love

That's what we remember

When the realities

Of our lives

Seem to contradict

The reality

Of who God is

We remember

That God has

Bound Himself

To us

In irreversible

And unbreakable

Covenant

And that He

Will keep

His loyal love

To us

Forever

So when our

Souls are

Cast down

And we feel

Forgotten by God

We remember God

This is a remarkable

Central insight

Of these two

Psalms

You probably

Notice the refrain

That occurs

Three times

Chapter 42

Verse 4

11

Verse 11

Chapter 43

Verse 5

Why are you

Cast down

Oh my soul

Why are you

In turmoil

Within me

Hope in God

For I shall

Again

Praise Him

My salvation

And my God

If you struggle

With depression

Often

Commit that verse

To memory

And repeat

That to yourself

And speak to yourself

Because who is

The psalmist

Here talking to

He's not

Talking to us

The audience

As he is

In other parts

Of the psalm

And he's not

Talking to God

As he does

In other parts

Of the psalm

He's talking

To himself

Why are you

Cast down

Oh my soul

This is the art

Of speaking

To ourselves

Or preaching

To ourselves

When we

Are cast down

Or depressed

The

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

One of my

Favorite pastors

From the 1900s

He's a Welsh

Pastor

And he

Comments

On this psalm

In this way

In his famous

Book

Spiritual Depression

Quote

The main trouble

In this whole

Matter of

Spiritual Depression

In a sense

Is this

That we allow

Ourself

To talk to us

Instead of

Talking to

Ourself

Am I just

Trying to be

Deliberately

Paradoxical

Far from it

This is the

Very essence

Of wisdom

In this matter

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

You have not

Originated them

But they

Start talking

To you

They bring

Back the

Problem of

Yesterday

Etc

Somebody

Is talking

Who is

Talking to

You

Yourself

Is talking

To you

Now this

Man

The psalmist

Treatment

Was this

Instead of

Allowing

This self

To talk

To him

He starts

Talking to

Himself

Why art thou

Cast down

Oh my soul

He asks

His soul

Had been

Depressing him

Crushing him

So he stands

Up and says

Self

Listen for a

Moment

I will speak

To you

You have to

Take yourself

In hand

You have to

Address yourself

Preach to

Yourself

Question yourself

You must

Say to

Your soul

Why art thou

Cast down

What business

Have you

To be

Disquieted

You must

Turn on

Yourself

Upbraid

Yourself

Condemn

Yourself

Exhort

Yourself

And say

To yourself

Hope thou

In God

Instead of

Muttering in

This depressed

Unhappy way

And then

You must

Go on

To remind

Yourself

Of God

Who God

Is

And what

God is

And what

God has

Done

And what

God has

Pledged

Himself

To do

Then having

Done that

And on

This great

Note

Defy

Yourself

And defy

Other people

And defy

The devil

And the whole

World

And say

With the

Psalmist

I shall

Yet praise

Him

For the

Help of

His

Countenance

Who is

Also the

Health of

My

Countenance

And my

God

End quote

Don't

Just

Listen

To your

Doubts

And fears

Tell yourself

That God

Is sovereign

And good

And faithful

And true

Don't just

Listen

To your

Guilt

And self

Condemnation

Tell yourself

That where

Sin abounds

God's grace

Abounds

All the

More

Tell yourself

That Jesus

Died

On the

Cross

To justify

The unrighteous

Don't just

Listen

To your

Feeling

Of abandonment

And forsakenness

Tell yourself

That God

Has adopted

You

As his

Child

And that

He loves

You

With an

Everlasting

Love

Ever since

Alec

Coppin

Published

His article

The biochemistry

Of affective

Disorders

In the

Journal of

Psychiatry

In 1967

Many of

Us have

Been told

That depression

Is caused

By a chemical

Imbalance

In the brain

Particularly

Due to

Lowered

Serotonin

Levels

This idea

Was popularized

And publicized

In the

90s

With the

Advent

Of

Antidepressants

That increased

Levels of

Serotonin

In the brain

And it

Was pushed

Out

With a lot

Of money

Behind it

By the

Pharmaceutical

Companies

And it

Became the

Standard

Explanation

In English

Textbooks

And then

Surveys

Suggest

That 80%

Or more

Of the

General

Public

Still

Believes

That

The primary

Explanation

For depression

Is chemical

Imbalance

In the

Brain

However

This

Has been

Debunked

By more

Recent

Studies

For example

The article

Entitled

The serotonin

Theory of

Depression

A systematic

Umbrella

Review

Of the

Evidence

In the

Journal

Molecular

Psychiatry

Published

In 2022

Concludes

That there

Is no

Correlation

Let alone

Proof of

Causation

Between

Serotonin

Levels

And

Depression

This is

Not to

Say that

There cannot

Be physical

Causes

Of depressive

Symptoms

If you

Have

Food

Intolerance

Or

Thyroid

Problems

Or

You got

Infected

With mono

Or

You have

Chronic

Fatigue

Syndrome

Or if

You have

Postpartum

Or

Menopausal

Problems

These

Things

May very

Well

Contribute

To your

Feeling

Depressed

Depressed

But

These

Physical

Issues

Alone

Cannot

Wholly

Account

For

Depression

It's

Far

More

Complex

Than

That

And

The vast

Majority

Of

Cases

Always

Involve

How

We

Respond

To

And

Process

The

Losses

And

The

Stresses

Of

Our

Lives

What

Has

Been

Proven

To

Be

Effective

In

Helping

People

Who

Are

Depressed

Is

Actually

A

Form

Of

Talk

Therapy

Called

Cognitive

Behavioral

Therapy

Which

Focuses

On

Challenging

And

Thereby

Changing

Distorted

Thought

Patterns

And

Beliefs

In

Order

To

Improve

Emotional

Regulation

And

Reduce

Problematic

Behaviors

So

CBT

Nowadays

Is

Touted

By

A

Chorus

Of

Mental

Depression

Anxiety

Substance

Abuse

ADHD

OCD

And

Even

Eating

Disorders

But

This

Is

No

20th

Century

Invention

This

Is

What

The

Bible

Has

Been

Teaching

For

3,000

Years

So

I

Don't

Want

You

To

Believe

This

Because

CBT

Says

So

But

Because

The

Bible

Says

So

Cognitive

Behavioral

Therapy

Is

Just

A

Fancy

Name

For

Reminding

Yourself

Of

The

Truth

Of

Replacing

Lies

With

The

Truth

And

We'll

Put

It

To

Another

Way

Speaking

To

Yourself

Rather

Than

Listening

To

Yourself

To

Frame

It

Biblically

It's

Not

Being

Conformed

To

This

World

But

Being

Transformed

By

The

Renewal

Of

Our

Minds

As

It

Says

In

Romans

12

2

This

Is

Really

Important

I

Hope

You're

With

Me

Our

Feelings

Are

Not

An

Automatic

Inevitable

Result

Of

What

Happened

To

Us

Rather

Our

Feelings

Are

A

Result

Of

What

We

Tell

Our

Selves

About

What

Happened

To

Us

Our

Feelings

Are

Not

Merely

A

Response

To

Events

To

Our

Interpretation

Of

Events

This

Is

Why

Our

Mind

Is

A

Battle

Ground

So

Are

You

Giving

Your

Mind

Free

Rain

And

Listening

To

It

Idly

Or

Are

You

Speaking

To

It

When

The

World

Around

Us

Taunts

At

Us

Where

Is

Your

God

Yes

We

Need

To

Turn

To

God

And

Go

To

Him

And

Appeal

To

Him

Boldly

Why

Have

You

Forgotten

Me

Why

Have

You

Rejected

Me

But

We

Don't

Stop

At

Giving

Voice

To

Those

Raw

Feelings

We

Need

To

Continue

To

Process

Those

Feelings

And

We

Need

To

Speak

To

Ourselves

Why

Are

You

Cast

Down

Oh

My

Soul

Why

Are

You

In

Turmoil

mercies new every morning? And isn't God's faithfulness great? Why do you catastrophize

and believe that your life is a disaster and that you can never get anything done or amount

to anything? Why do you believe that you can never overcome your besetting sins? Did not

God say that it is He who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure?

Did not God say in Jude 24 that He is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you

blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy? Why do you think that you are

ugly and unworthy of love? Did not God, your Creator, knit you in your mother's womb fearfully

and wonderfully? Why do you feel like you need to rearrange and reorder your

room compulsively or wash your clothes and bedsheets compulsively as if you have control over

everything in your life? Is not Christ the sovereign Lord in whom all things hold together even in

the midst of your disordered room and germ-infested world? Does God not say in Isaiah 45, 7-9,

I form light and create darkness. I make well-being and create calamity. I am the Lord who does all

these things. Woe to Him who strives with Him who formed Him, a pot among earth and pots. Does the

clay say to Him who forms it, what are you making? Or your work has no handles? Why do you think that

alcohol or THC or pornography will bring you happiness? Why do you think that you can manipulate

these idols for your own pleasure without coming under their power and rule? Does not Psalm 106, 36

teaches that idols become a snare to us? Does not Psalm 16, 11 teach us that fullness of joy is found

not in these substances or pleasures but in God's presence that at His right hand are pleasures forevermore?

Please don't hear what I'm not saying. I'm not saying that once you master this technique that you will

never be depressed again in your life. The Bible never offers false promises and that's not what we see in

Psalms 42, 43. Once again, there is this dialectic back and forth that we've seen in other Psalms of lament

between despair and hope, between what we feel and what we know, between what we see around us and

around my life and what we believe. The psalmist speaks to himself in chapter 42, verse 5,

why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you in turmoil with me and within me? Hope in God,

for I shall again praise Him, my salvation in my God. But then shortly afterwards in verse 9,

he's back to saying, God, why have you forgotten me? Why do I go about mourning because of the

oppression of the enemy? So he has to speak to himself again in verse 11. 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 in my God. But then you keep reading in Psalm 42, verse 2, Psalmist is,

Psalms 42:2

back to saying, God, why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression

of the enemy? So the psalmist has to speak to himself yet again. So he repeats this three times

in the course of this psalm. 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. And that's how the psalm ends.

There's no happy ending or resolution in that sense, but he keeps speaking to himself.

These psalms helpful remind us that even when we remind ourselves of God by speaking to ourselves,

the battle for our mind will continue throughout life. But if you don't speak to yourself with God's

truth, the lies that incubate your anxieties and addictions and self-hatred, etc., will consume you.

So when your soul is downcast within you, remember what 1 Corinthians 10, 13 says,

no temptation has overtaken you. That is not common to man. God is faithful and He will not let you be

tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation, He will also provide a way of escape that you may be

able to endure it. First, when you are downcast, remember this is common to men. That's comforting

because it shows that you're not alone. So you can reach out to your brothers and sisters in Christ.

And second, when you are downcast, remember that God is faithful. He will help you. And He will not let you

be tempted beyond your ability. With every temptation, He promises to provide the way of escape.

And what is this escape? A pain-free, temptation-free, sinless life? No.

The escape is this. That you may be able to endure it. God provides the way of escape by providing you the

strength to endure. God will help you to endure through your grief. And God will help you to endure

through your fears. And God will help you to endure through your depression. So persist in remembering God

and persist and speak to yourself, why are you cast down, O my soul?

And as Christians, we have even better reason than the psalmist to hope in God.

To again praise Him, my salvation and my God.

When I was searching through the Old Testament, trying to figure out the meaning of the phrase

deep calls to deep, I came across an amazing parallel between Psalm 42 and Jonah's prayer in Jonah 2, 3-6.

From inside the belly of the fish, Jonah prays,

For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me.

All your waves and your billows passed over me.

And that last phrase, all your waves and the billows passed over me,

in Hebrew is identical to Psalm 42, verse 7.

Psalms 42:7

All your breakers and your waves have gone over me.

But that's not all. The parallels continue.

Jonah 2, 4-6 say,

Then I said, I am driven away from your sight, yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.

The waters closed in over me to take my life.

The deep surrounded me.

Weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains.

I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever.

Yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.

It seems like Prophet Jonah is deliberately echoing the words of Psalm 42 to describe his situation.

Just like the psalmist, he feels that he is driven away from God's sight and longs for the holy temple.

Just like the psalmist who feels like the floodwaters are swallowing him up at the roots of Mount Hermon and Mizar,

Jonah feels the waters closing in over him at the root of the mountains.

And just like the psalmist, Jonah prays with faith that God will bring up his life from the pit.

The psalms 42 and 43 then were ultimately fulfilled by Jesus.

Because Jesus said in Matthew 12, 40 that he himself is the sign of Jonah.

He said,

For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish,

so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Jesus went down to the deep.

When he died on the cross for our sins and was buried in the grave.

But he rose again on the third day having defeated sin and death so that we might receive salvation.

Jesus went down to the deep in our place so that we sinners do not have to.

And that means no matter how deeply painful our suffering,

we will never ever descend to that deep where Jesus had to go.

And in this way, Jesus is the ultimate answer to the psalmist's abiding hope in the Lord in Psalms 42 and 43.

Jesus is the reason why we can speak to our souls no matter what suffering comes our way.

Hope in God.

For I shall again praise him.

My salvation.

And my God.

The psalmist's prayer in verses 3 to 4 of chapter 43 were answered.

Send out your light and your truth.

Let them lead me.

Let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.

Then I will go to the altar of God.

To God my exceeding joy.

And I will praise you with the lyre.

Oh God my God.

Who is the light?

Jesus said,

I am the light of the world.

Who is the truth?

Jesus said,

I am the truth.

God answered the psalmist's prayer by sending Jesus as the light and the truth to lead us into this age

when we ourselves as God's people have become the holy hill and the dwelling place of the spirit.

And so when our souls are cast down and we feel forgotten by God,

let's remember God and speak to our souls.

Why are you cast down?

Oh my soul.

Why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God.

For I shall again praise him.

My salvation and my God.

Let's pray together.

Let's pray together.

God,

breathe fresh faith and hope

into the hearts and souls of every single brother and sister in Christ here.

So that as they take on the difficult circumstances of their own lives,

of which only you know fully,

that they might be able to persevere,

endure,

in faith,

in faith,

preaching this gospel to themselves,

addressing their souls,

crying out to you in pain,

that we may know you are near,

and that we may bring you glory even in those circumstances.

Thank you for the gift of these psalms to us.

And for the saints who have gone before us,

they will endure tremendous suffering,

so that we can derive encouragement

from what they have written down for us.

what you have inspired them to write down for us.

Thank you, God.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.