Tears for Breakfast and Dinner (Psalm 42)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple

We're going to be in Psalm 42. Psalm 42, if you

want to turn there and kind of just introduction

to this. What we've been doing this year in these

evening services is to look at what I'm calling

shepherding sermons. We are looking at passages

of scripture that really speak to heart issues.

that many of us, if not all of us, have experienced

at one point or another. We began the year looking

at anger, and the next month we looked at anxiety,

and then the third month we looked at courage,

our need for courage. Tonight we look at discouragement

and depression, and we see this very plainly

in Psalm 42. This is a very important psalm for

us, and so I would ask that you give attention

to this reading again from Psalm 42. To the Choir

Master, a Maskel 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 Mazar, 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 on 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 This is

God's word Let us pray Father in heaven We give

you thanks that your word your Bible meets us

in our needs addresses the very things that we

go through and so I pray Lord that if there be

any here in the sanctuary who are dealing with

depression or just severe discouragement Lord

this would be a song that ups lifts our souls

this would be a psalm of encouragement for us

indeed would it encourage all of us Lord to be

able to say my salvation and my God Would you

grant us, oh Lord, understanding? We pray in

Christ's name, amen. All right, so we are talking

here about Psalm 42, and I've mentioned depression.

Now just to disclaimer here, I'm obviously no

doctor. I'm speaking of spiritual depression,

which may manifest in our lives physically, right?

Also, by way of introduction, If you were to

keep reading in Psalm 43, you would see that

Psalm 43 appears to be an extension of 42. Indeed,

many believe that Psalm 42 and 43 were initially

one Psalm together. And I think there's good

reason for that because you can see that 42 begins

in this way with this bit of an introduction

about the sons of Korah. But if you look at 43,

there is no such introduction. But even more

than that, if you were to look at verse five

of Psalm 43, you would see that it's the same

thing as in 42 -5 and 42 -11. So there are good

reasons to believe that these go together, but

for the sake of time, I'm gonna keep it to just

Psalm 42 for this evening. Now, when you hear

that kind of first line there. This picture that

you see as a deer pants for flowing streams,

I wonder if that's the picture that you have

in your heads. Just a beautiful scene. You've

got a deer maybe standing in the water next to

it lapping up. water from a babbling brook. You've

got the evergreen trees in the background. You've

got the sun just peering in through the trees.

And it's just a beautiful scene. Matter of fact,

the ESV here has these scripture journals. And

on the scripture journal for Psalms is this picture.

And I don't know if you can see that, but that's

a deer standing in water with beautiful evergreen

trees in the background. And so I wonder if that's

the image that we have. I think this is the image

that the psalmist wants, but I don't think this

is the reality for the psalmist. The psalmist

may desire such beauty and such serenity and

peace, but in all actuality, as we read through

the psalm, you see that he is lacking peace.

Additionally, when you see that word pant there

as a deer pants for flowing streams, well, when

we see this used elsewhere, in scripture, sometimes

it's not in the best light, especially in the

book of Joel, Joel chapter one, verse 20. Even

the beasts of the field pant for you because

the water brooks are dried up and fire has devoured

the pastures of the wilderness. And so I think

that's appropriate to read because again, while

the longing of the heart of the psalmist may

be for something as peaceful as that, what he

actually has is something closer what's pictured

in Joel, of drought, of heat, of no water, right?

The picture that is here in 42 is this psalmist

needs God like a deer needs water. just to survive.

When I read this Psalm, I get the feeling that

the psalmist feels like he's on life support.

He needs God that much. Do you remember, you

remember that story of Jacob and Esau? Where

Esau comes in and he is absolutely famished and

he says, give me some of that red stuff. He wants

some of the stew, right? And Jacob says something

in effect of, well, you can have some if I can

have your birthright, right? He's like, well,

what good is a birthright when I'm dying over

here, right? He is so incredibly hungry. He's

famished. He needs this. And this is the way

the psalmist sounds to me. He needs God. But

friends, we should consider who he is. And the

text doesn't tell us. very concretely, but we

do see that he is one of the sons of Korah. Now

who were the sons of Korah? We know this from

other locations that the sons of Korah were professional,

professional temple musicians. And so this particular

psalmist, as he is writing this, he's showing

us that he feels very far away from God. He feels

far away from the tabernacle or the temple. He

feels far away from the very worship of God.

And this is painful for him because he's not

only a worshiper of God. But this is what he

does. He is a temple musician, right? He helps

lead the people in worship, and now he's not

able to do this for whatever reason. We're not

told this psalmist here. He's like a preacher.

without a pulpit. It sounds like he is some distance

away, again, from the worshiping people of God.

We don't exactly know where he is or why he is

taken away from those people, but he indeed longs

to be worshiping God. And you can see the effect

that this has upon him. Look in verse 3. My tears

have been my food day and night. I wonder if

you've ever felt like that. I wonder if you have

ever felt like, I can't eat, I can't drink, and

the only thing that I'm subsisting on are my

tears, right? And you can see why this is so

impactful and so heavy for him, because he is

being taunted for his faith in the one true God.

Look in verse three. While they say to me all

the day long, where is your God? He cannot escape

their words. The psalmist feels like they're

always with him. Do you ever have that happen

with you where somebody says something that hurts

you in some way and you just keep replaying it

over and over in your mind? This is the psalmist

here just replaying their taunting in his mind

and it is overwhelming for him. Look in verse

7. Deep calls to deep, at the roar of your waterfalls,

all your breakers and waves have gone over me.

He feels like he's, have you ever been underneath

of a waterfall before? Maybe you've been underneath

of a small one, but to be underneath of a huge

waterfall, he's just being pressed down, the

breakers and the waves going over him, this almost

feels like he's about to drown. And so the question

that we may have is, what do we do when we feel

like we're drowning? What do you do when you're

in such a tailspin? What do you do when you can't

eat, can't drink, can't sleep? What do you do

when the tears run out? What do you do when you

feel like you're drowning? I believe this Psalm

helps us in at least two ways. What do you do?

You remember and you hope. Remember and hope.

Specifically, he remembers worship. He remembers

in verse four, the atmosphere. He remembers the

people. He remembers his official function at

the festival. He remembers worship that is characterized

by joy and by gladness. John Calvin says here,

the observance of external ceremonies cannot

of itself bring us into favor with God, but they

are religious exercises that we cannot do without

because of our weakness. Friends, I'm so glad

you're here tonight. I think that you would agree

that worship waters our souls. Worship is like

the best, healthiest meal for us. It is what

we need. And so this psalmist here, he's reflecting

upon this, he's remembering this kind of worship.

It's almost like, do you ever look at old photographs

of maybe just your loved ones who have passed

on? And you ever look at those and maybe you

cry a little bit, but at the same time you recognize

those tears are good for you, right? It's good

to remember, isn't it? The tears can almost have

this healing quality to them. But for him, what

does he got the tears about? Again, he feels

distant from God and he feels distant from God's

people. And I wonder if you've ever been there,

done that. Have you ever been providentially

hindered from being in worship for maybe a long

period of time or even maybe a brief period of

time? Maybe you've battled an illness that's

kept you out of worship for many weeks or even

months. Have you ever moved to a new community

and you've had to leave behind your church and

you miss it and it takes a while to find a new

church? Have you had that experience? I know

I've shared this before, but many, many years

ago I moved to Warsaw, Poland for six months.

and I was worshiping in a Polish church and they

didn't speak a lot of English there. And at first

I thought that was kind of neat, but then I began

to really miss my home church. I began to miss

worshiping in my own native tongue. And after

about a month, I just couldn't take it anymore.

Even with people in the church trying to help

me, people sitting behind me, whispering things

into my ear, which I mostly found just to be

creepy, not helpful. And so one day, a man in

the church, recognizing how difficult that was,

said, can I take you to an English -speaking

church? I said, yes, please. And we got there,

and I think it was the first hymn that we sang,

if it's even called a hymn, Jesus Loves Me, have

you heard of that one? and I felt like I had

never heard something so beautiful as that. Being

able to sing that song in my own language, oh,

I felt restored, I felt rejuvenated, I felt nourished,

right? My thirst was quenched. But here, the

psalmist is dealing with something more difficult

than just language barriers here. His soul is

truly cast down. And it's affecting him in incredible

ways, right? And that's really what depression

does. Depression causes us to lose sight of God.

Depression causes us to be at this point where

we cannot see past our circumstances. Depression

focuses on the difficult things and we can't

see past them. Maybe it'd be a job loss. Maybe

it'd be a breakup. The loss of a loved one, a

horrific diagnosis. Maybe it's our own sin. And

within these things, as we deal with them, it

just crushes us, it weighs us down, and we begin

to feel like Jonah when Jonah's cast over the

boat into the deep. And do you remember as Jonah

is sinking down and down in the weeds wrapped

around his head? But then we get Jonah 2 7 when

my life was fainting away. I Remembered the Lord

and my prayer came to you into your holy temple

This indeed is the very grace of God that God

would work in us to have us to recall who he

is Martin Luther said God grants us the grace

and spirit to cheer the heart by reminding us

of his Mercy Within our severe discouragement

We must remember God But there are also reasons

that that's hard for us Some of the reasons that

we struggle to remember God is because when things

are going really well Sometimes we ignore The

very things that are good for us We ignore the

means of grace until a serious crisis arises.

We neglect prayer. We neglect worship. We neglect

scripture. We neglect service. We neglect fellowship.

And what all of that does is it amounts to a

very weak faith. Friends, we ought not wait until

the moment of crisis to commit ourselves to God.

Do it now. Now, I wanna say this is not always

the cause. depression and discouragement. Many

faithful Christians still attend to the means

of grace and yet face deep depression, that is

true. But it's also true that what can lift us

out of these things when our souls are downcast

like the psalmist is to remember God and to remember

specifically who he is, his attributes. Look

at verse eight. By day the Lord commands his

steadfast love and at night his song is with

me, a prayer to the God of my life. Friends,

is there anything more encouraging than to remember

that you are loved by Yahweh? Is there anything

better than that? To know that you are loved

by the immutable, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent,

triune, true God who created the universe by

speaking it into existence. There's nothing better

than that. There's nothing better than knowing

that that God loves you so much that he gave

up his only begotten son that you would have

everlasting life. And so in your discouragement,

remember Jesus. Remember what Jesus' name means,

right? Yahweh saves. Remember the atonement and

remember that the love that you have for God

was initiated by God. He loved you first. So

even when you feel far from God, you can know

that God is with you. He has implanted his spirit

within your very hearts. And considering location,

let's understand maybe where the psalmist is

geographically. Look at verse six. My soul is

cast down within me, therefore I remember you

from the land of Jordan. and of Hermon from Mount

Mazar. Where is he? Well, seems to tell us. And

if he is indeed by Mount Hermon, this is probably

the northern tip of Israel at the time. And commentators

have said that if he is there, that's like one

of the last spots from the north that you can

look back and see the holy city. Some have even

said that this could be the psalmist being one

of those exiles from Israel being taken away

to exile. And if so, maybe this is his last time

to look back and see the city, see his home.

Others have said this could be David. David perhaps

gave the psalm to the sons of Korah. And you

know David, he would seem like he was always

on the run from a member of his family. from

Saul, but either way this psalmist is In a situation

and he cannot fix it himself But he remembers

God and he doesn't remember God just once Look

in verse 9. We continue to see his struggle He

says I say to God my rock Why have you forgotten

me? And so it's not just that he must remember

God. At times he feels totally forgotten by God.

And yet he does confess God as his rock. And

when scripture uses this kind of, this imagery

of a rock, we're supposed to think of maybe a

fortress, an immovable solid rock. And yet even

as he affirms this is who God is, he still feels

unshielded. And the reason for that is because

sometimes, being a follower of God leaves us

vulnerable. It leaves us vulnerable to the attacks

of others, Christians who are criticized, Christians

who are ostracized because of their faith in

Jesus. But friends, while we may be vulnerable,

we're also victorious, and not by our own determination,

but by the cross of Christ. You see, Jesus knows

what you're going through. He knows everything

about you. Jesus knows what you're going through,

and he went through it himself. Matthew 26, 38,

Jesus's words, my soul is very sorrowful, even

to death. John 12, 27, now is my soul troubled.

What shall I say? Father, deliver me from this

hour. But for this purpose, I have come to this

hour. And of course, Isaiah 53 shows us that

he is the suffering servant. He is the one who

is called the man of sorrows. Do you see? That

as you experienced sorrow, you can lean upon

Jesus who knows exactly what that is like. We

sing this hymn called Man of Sorrows. It says

Man of Sorrows, what a name. For the Son of God

who came ruined sinners to reclaim Alleluia what

a Savior bearing shame and scoffing rude in my

place condemned he stood sealed my pardon with

his blood Alleluia what a Savior And so we must

remember this Savior But this Savior also gives

us something else that we need Look at verse

5, and it's the same thing in verse 11. We must

hope. We remember and we hope. Let me read this

part again, verse 5. 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. We must hope in God. But

here's the thing about depression. Depression

can rob our strength. And this is why our only

hope is in God, not in ourselves, right? Think

about this psalmist, he sounds weak, he sounds

overcome. The only way he's gonna get through

this is with God on his side, right? And so what

does he do? He begins, it sounds like he's preaching

to himself. Why self are you cast down? And why

are you in turmoil? He's not belittling his discouragement.

He is putting it in its proper place. You see

friends, something else we need to understand

about depression is that depression is a liar.

Depression lies to us. Depression tries to make

you feel like your feelings are the measure of

truth. Depression says that if God feels absent,

he must be. but it's not true. Depression says

that if you feel unloved, you are unlovable,

but it's not true. Depression says you cannot

be forgiven, but it's not true. Christ died for

this very fact. Friends, Ed Welsh said, our emotions

are loud, but they do not tell the whole story.

And our feelings are fickle, aren't they? Especially

when we're dealing with depression, especially

when we're discouraged, we might not feel anything

at all. But scripture, now that's something that

doesn't change. That is something that's solid.

That's something you can depend upon. This word

here contains the encouragement that a depressed

soul absolutely needs. If God is for us, Then

what? Who can be against us, right? Or consider,

since Psalm 42 sounds so much like this, Psalm

27, verse one, the Lord is my light and my salvation.

Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold

of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? And then

down to verse four, it sounds so much like 42.

One thing have I asked of the Lord that I will

seek after, that I may dwell in the house of

the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon

the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his

temple. The psalmist there just wants to be back

in the very presence of God worshiping. He loves

it. He needs it. And this is the same desire

as in Psalm 42, to be back in God's house with

God's people. But friends, if I can lift our

hearts and our minds above our feelings right

now, I want to say the true reason for worship.

Yes, worship absolutely helps with our depression.

It helps with our discouragement. That is a pressing

need. But there is an even deeper reason for

us to gather for worship because God is rightly

to be praised. We were created for worship. When

you feel homesick for your church family, when

you feel homesick for worship, that is intentional

because you were made to worship. It is your

chief end. We were made to praise Him, to say

along with the psalmist, my salvation and my

God. And so saying all of that, I recognize,

one, how good it is for us to be together. But

also I recognize this, and you do too, I'm sure,

that some people will continue to struggle with

depression for their whole lives. They will.

God's word, though, encourages our hearts through

the depression. Because our hope is not in our

feelings. Our hope. is in Christ. Ed Welch says,

depression can't rob you of hope because your

hope is in a person and that person, Jesus, is

alive and is within you. And so friends, be lifted

up by the good news of the gospel. It is the

medicine that we need when we are depressed and

discouraged. Take heart, friends. God loves you.

Let's pray.