Psalms 42:1-11 KJV To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the
sons of Korah. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my
soul after thee, O God. [2]
My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and
appear before God? [3] My tears have been my
meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy
God? [4] When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them
to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that
kept holyday. [5] Why art thou cast down,
O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I
shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. [6] O my God, my soul is cast down within me:
therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites,
from the hill Mizar. [7]
Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves
and thy billows are gone over me. [8]
Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and
in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the
God of my life. [9] I will say unto God my
rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression
of the enemy? [10] As with a sword
in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is
thy God? [11] Why art thou cast down,
O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall
yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
I.
INTRODUCTION—THE
BLESSING OF THIS BOOK
-There is a great blessing in being able to hold and read
the Book that you have in your hand. I
realize that times have changed and that Bibles are now available on all sorts
of electronic devices but there is nothing like holding a hardcopy of the
Bible.
-This past week (2/18/13), I heard a preacher (Steven
Lawson) say something that was very disturbing to me personally and yet after
hearing him out, I believe what he had to say.
He said that after almost 30 years of preaching, he had discovered that
we only get to preach from passages in the Bible once.
-He meant that because of the time factor involved in
preaching that most diligent preachers who want to preach their way through the
entire Bible will only pass through a particular passage because of the
shortness of this vapor of life.
Therefore, he pointed out, that it was crucial that we do our dead-level
best to preach every time with a pure heart, pure motive, and pure mind.
-I must confess that when I began to meditate on what he
said, I again had to make the determination to treat every passage of this book
with a sense of sacred honor.
-The blessing of the Book and of anointed preaching is
that it helps us to move along the Christian walk for the Lord.
·
It encourages us to
move forward.
·
It challenges us to
prayer.
·
It urges us to
worship.
·
It confronts our
sin.
·
It helps us to
battle the whims of our flesh.
·
It breathes hope
into us when we are under attack.
·
It opens our eyes to
the greatness of God and the power of His salvation.
·
It softens the blows
of disappointment.
·
It molds our minds
into the greater plan of God.
-With this Psalm, it helps to breathe hope into a
downcast soul.
II.
PSALM
42
A.
Five
Books in the Psalms
-If you have one of the Search for Truth Bibles, you will
notice something written above Psalm 42.
You will note that it has the caption that gives BOOK II, Psalms
42-72. The Psalm we have just read comes
at the very beginning of Book II of the Psalms. In fact there are five books of the psalms
and the Jews commonly referred to them as the psalter. This was what they sang when they came to
worship.
-The longer you live for the Lord, the more of these
Psalms you will discover to be of great value to you. In fact, I believe that some of them you will
come to treasure.
·
Book I—1-41.
·
Book II—42-72. Completed 300 years after the first
book. Hezekiah comes along and is the
force behind putting them together.
·
Book III—73-89. You will note that they are not
chronologically in order but rather by a theological theme.
Book IV—90-106. This section focuses on Israel’s relapse and recovery in the wilderness.
Book IV—90-106. This section focuses on Israel’s relapse and recovery in the wilderness.
·
Book V—107-150. Revivals began to take place in this segment
as Israel returns from their exile and rebuilds the walls and the temple in
Jerusalem.
B.
A
Maschil
-The superscription above this psalm notes to us that it
is a maschil. This means that this is a
psalm of instruction. The instruction to
be given is the understanding the God can be trusted during the tough times of
life.
-The other maschil psalms are scattered throughout the
psalter: 32; 42; 44; 45; 52; 53; 54; 55;
74; 78; 88; 89; 142. All of them have
some kind of instruction attached to them.
For instance, Psalm 32 is instruction given concerning forgiveness.
-The author of this psalm is unknown but we can know that
it was written for the sons of Korah and was intended for the director of
music. The sons of Korah were Levites
who were the descendants of Kohath, the father of Korah (1 Chron. 6:22-48;
9:17-32; 2 Chron. 20:19).
-These were the men who produced the music while the
Tabernacle was in the wilderness and after the construction of the Temple in
Jerusalem (Num. 26:11).
C.
Why
Art Thou Cast Down, O My Soul?
-I would like to jump ahead to Psalm 42:5 and then
backtrack through the rest of the Psalm.
He asks the question, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?”
-The psalmist pours out his soul to God during a time of
duress. He is discouraged, he is
downcast, and he feels a sense of hopelessness trying to choke the life out of
his soul.
-The Hebrew word in that text is shah-kak which means to crouch or to bow down. It is the same word that is used in Job 38:40
to describe a lion in a crouched position waiting along the trail for its
prey. The psalmist describes his soul in
such a way that it has been bent down by the challenges and difficulties of
life. As if a heinous lion has attacked
his soul.
-He has come into contact with some very difficult
trials. These trials have seemed to
bring even greater agony to him than any he has ever faced. It is sort of like have a wound that needs
treatment and some healthcare worker coming along and working with the wound
that inflames the wound even more.
-Burn victims often experience this through the process
of their own rehabilitation. They can
have a second or third degree burn but the subsequent trips to the whirlpool
for something called debridement makes it seem like the pain has to be endured
all over again.
-The psalmist is expressing that kind of pain here. However, he is not in the throes of physical
pain but in the clutches of some soul pain.
Soul pain hurts even worse than physical pain. It seems to linger and there is nothing that
can seemingly bring relief to soul pain.
-Soul pain is drawn out over months and sometimes even
years.
·
A fractured family
relationship that has seethed for years.
·
Wayward children who
seem to mock God and everything their parents stood for.
·
A nasty divorce battle
that has children caught up in the middle.
·
Having to contend
with difficult people who seem to have it out for you.
·
The loss of a job
that you really were fulfilled by.
·
The nagging pain of
a physical ailment that will not heal.
·
A limiting health
condition that has seemingly put you on the sideline.
·
Financial pressures
that never seem to go away.
·
A wrong path that
was chosen and now it is taking years to get back to the starting point.
·
A pastor who is run
out of a church at no fault of his own.
·
A saint who made a
mistake but no one will let them forget it.
·
A feeling that you
have been overlooked for a position you would have excelled at.
-All of those matters can shut down our faith, our hope,
and even our determination so that we become prey to all matters of the devices
of the devil.
III.
THE DIAGNOSIS
OF A DOWNCAST SOUL
-If you were to go to the hospital with some kind of
ailment, you would have to give them what we call the chief complaint.
·
Where are you
hurting?
·
What does the pain
feel like? Sharp? Dull?
Throbbing?
·
How long has it been
going on?
·
Are there things
that cause this pain?
-All of these questions are leading up to helping us to
get a diagnosis for the condition. We
will probably draw some blood, maybe take some X-rays, perhaps do a CT scan, an
MRI, or an ultrasound, and perhaps even a biopsy.
-We do these particular things to get a diagnosis so we
can treat you so you will get better.
All the way through Psalm 42 and the first verse of Psalm 43, there are
reasons that we see into the diagnosis or the cause of a downcast soul.
A.
An
Absence from the House of God—42:1-2
Psalms 42:1-2 KJV To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the
sons of Korah. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my
soul after thee, O God. [2] My soul thirsteth for God, for the living
God: when shall I come and appear before God?
-Many scholars feel like this was
David describing his time of fleeing from Jerusalem as he ran from
Absalom.
-Why the despair? Because. . . he has been separated from the
house of the Lord. He had been forced to
flee from Jerusalem where he regularly worshiped. He can no longer lead in the worship as he
had in times past.
-He will have to remind himself to
hope in God. There are times that you
have to remind yourself to worship.
-Because David had been forced to
leave; he literally felt himself to be cut off from the Lord. His greatest question is “when can I go and
meet with God?”
-One of the causes of a downcast
soul is an absence from the house of God.
Whether many are willing to admit it or not, we find great bolstering in
our soul when we come to the house of God routinely, regularly, and
actively.
-In Luke 10, we find the parable of
the Good Samaritan who brought the wounded man to the inn. The inn can be pictured as the house of
God.
·
The inn was a place of
refreshment for weary travelers. . . The house of God brings relief to us in
this valley of tears.
·
The inn had an owner
who attended the beaten man. . . The house of God has pastors, faithful
ministers, godly saints who receive weary sinners to help them recover from the
injuries of the world and the devil.
·
The inn had a grand
table of food in it. . . The house of God brings us the sincere milk of the
Word and the strong meat of the Word.
·
The inn was a desirable
place for lodgers. . . The house of God is a place that saints long to go to
and find rest for their souls.
-Our soul can very quickly become
downcast when we do not regularly attend the house of worship. The psalmist is far from home and therefore
he feels very far from God and anytime we feel that distance from God our soul
can become downcast.
B.
The
Mouth of the Ungodly—42:3, 10
Psalms 42:3 KJV My tears have been my meat
day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
Psalms 42:10 KJV As with a sword in my
bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is
thy God?
-The catcalls
of the ungodly, the backslidden, and those who hate everything righteousness
stands for can get under your skin.
Obviously it had some effect on the psalmist because it is mentioned
twice. . . Where is thy God?
-You have
probably heard it before. . .
·
Where is your God when
you need Him?
·
Where is your God now?
·
Why hasn’t your God
given you a fair shake in life?
-It is only
when we entertain the questions of the ungodly that we feel our soul slipping
down into the gorge of the downcast. . .
·
Where is God indeed?
·
Where is God in this
far country?
·
Where is God when I am
taunted by my enemies?
·
Does God even hear my
cries?
·
When is God going to
change my circumstances?
-It reached the
point where the psalmist couldn’t even eat!
He said, “My tears have been my meat day and night!” My appetite has been snatched from me so I
don’t even desire to eat anymore.
-That is what the
catcalls of the ungodly can do to you. . . It can begin to harbor doubts about
everything that you have even held is true.
But remember that David was at that point before we ever even came along
in life. Never forget that there is a
brotherhood before us in the gates of Heaven who have endured and made it to
the end!
-We shall do
the same thing!
-We can become
downcast when we miss the house of God and when the mouth of the ungodly
overwhelms our faith and trust in God.
C.
Memories
of the Past—42:4
Psalms 42:4 KJV When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them
to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that
kept holyday.
-He also became
downcast when the memories of past revivals, past victories, and past
accomplishments came to his mind. This
is the trap of the aging. . .
-The psalmist
tells of how he used to be with the great multitude that went to worship, the
shouts of joy, the wealth of thanksgiving, and leading the worship. Pleasant memories of the past became a source
of discouragement for the present.
-There is a
memory of the past acts of God and how that it seemed better somewhere “back
then.” The human tendency is to
glamorize the past and make it seem better than it really was. But the reality is that every step of this
life has its battles which bring both victories and losses, our tendency is to
remember the victories and forget the losses.
·
There has always been
a fight for holiness.
·
There has always been
a battle for doctrine.
·
There have always been
tares among the wheat.
·
There have always been
wolves among the sheep.
·
There was a Judas
alongside the John.
-I have a
tendency to forget that there were battles in the past just like there are
present struggles. Don’t waste the
afflictions you are enduring now. Let
the spiritual pressure you feel now be something that causes you to dig even
deeper into the Kingdom of God.
D.
The
Trials of Life—42:7
Psalms 42:7 KJV Deep calleth unto deep at
the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
-The psalmist
goes on to further note the fact that there are times that trials sweep us away
like the great waves and breakers of the deep.
-David is
saying that the conflict with Absalom has been the greatest trial of his
life. It has swept him away from
Jerusalem like the waves being smitten by a hurricane. At another time, the ocean might have been a
calm and relaxing scene for him but instead he can see no beauty in it.
-But there is
an acknowledgement of something here that you will miss at just a glance. The psalmist describes the forces of the sea
at work here. It was not something they
would be unfamiliar with because they were on the coast of the Mediterranean
Sea and there were also storms that came to the Sea of Galilee.
-Here is what
we miss sometimes with this Scripture. . . God is in charge of the waves of the
sea and even if there is a grudgingly acknowledgment, there are some trials in
our lives that God ordains them to come our way.
-He can see
there are things He wants to work out, draw out, and allow us to walk through
so that we can really know what it is like to be molded into an ardent disciple.
·
Matthew 20:23—If you drink of his cup
you are going to be baptized with the baptism the Lord is baptized with.
·
2 Corinthians 1:5—Sufferings
of Christ abound in us, so does the consolation of Christ abound in us.
·
Galatians 2:20—I am crucified with
Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ who lives within me.
·
Philippians 3:10—Fellowship
of suffering.
·
Romans 8:17—If we suffer with him, we
will be glorified with him.
·
Romans 8:29—Being conformed into the
image of the Son.
·
2 Timothy 2:11-12—If
we are dead with him we shall live with him. . . If we suffer, we will reign
with him.
·
1 Peter 4:13—Partakers of Christ’s
sufferings. . . we will be glad with exceeding joy.
-Our trials are
often the very tipping points that are present in our lives. In the years to come, once we look back with
the wisdom of maturity, we can say, “that thing was good for me.”
-But when you
are in the midst of the trial, even though it may be God-ordained, your soul
can become downcast.
E.
To
Feel Forgotten by God—42:9
Psalms 42:9 KJV I
will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?
-Closely
related to the fact that God will let us walk through the challenges of a
trial, there is another connection that we have to make to God that comes from
Psalm 42:9.
-It is the
painful cry to God that He has forgotten us.
Look no further than the Cross and you find Jesus crying out, “My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46).
-A downcast
soul can really find himself downcast when he thinks that God has forgotten
him. There is nothing like being lost at
the end of this dead-end!
-There are
times that those who feel a great devotion to God will find great condemnation
when they even question God. But the
Word of the Lord is the greatest place to go when you get in this state of mind
because recorded on the pages of the Word, there were others who felt the same
way and God decided to put it in His book. . .
·
Psalm 13:1—How long will you forget
me Lord? Forever?
·
Psalm 22:2—My God I cry in the
daytime but you are not there! I cry at
night but I can’t find you!
·
Psalm 44:23—Awake from your sleep,
God, and please hear me out!
·
Psalm 44:24—Why are you hiding your
face, O God? Why are you forgetting my
affliction and oppression God?
·
Psalm 77:9—Have you forgotten to be
gracious to me, God? Have you closed off
your mercies from me?
·
Isaiah 40:27—My way is hid from the
Lord. . . My knowledge of Him has passed from my mind.
-All of these
things pour out of a downcast soul. . . But I can say to you without a doubt
that God knows exactly where we walk and the direction that we take!
IV.
THE
CURE OF THE DOWNCAST SOUL
-Those are the
reasons for a soul that has become downcast.
But just as there are reasons that we get downcast, the Word can point
out some things that will help cure us of this.
A.
Put
Your Hope Back In God—42:5, 11
-Twice in this
Psalm, we see the phrase, “hope thou in God” (vv. 5, 11).
-The man who
learns that he must not give in to the depression of soul is a man who has
learned one of the greatest lessons of life.
He will not let himself give in to being downcast or filled with
self-pity.
-Instead he
gets a grip on himself and wrestles through it.
He reminds himself that there are some things he can put hope in.
-We are
constantly talking to ourselves. . . In fact no one talks to you more than
you! More times than not, you have to
talk to yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself.
-Why art thou
cast down, my soul? What business do you
have being in this condition?
-This is what
Paul was getting at when he noted in Romans 6 that you have to kill your
flesh. You have to turn on yourself,
upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself. . .
‘Hope thou in God!’ . . . Instead of muttering around in this unhappy,
depressed way of life.
-There is a
spirit of faith and a spirit of dejection and our faith has to get the upper
hand.
B.
He
Reminds Himself of His Responsibility—42:5, 11
-In that same
connection with the hope verses in 5 and 11, the psalmist knows his
responsibility is to put his hope in God.
Nothing more, nothing less.
-This world is
passing, it is fleeting, and it goes by so quickly it is astounding. If you are putting your hope in the passing
fancies of this world, you are already in trouble.
-The psalmist
has the sense of responsibility to know that he must do what has to be done and
that is put his hope in God.
C.
Praise
Is What Gets Your Through—42:5, 11
-Look once more
at those two verses, 5 and 11. . . he notes that I will praise him.
-Certainty came
to his life when he began to understand that God had not changed one iota.
·
God has not changed!
·
His purpose for me has
not changed!
·
He has led me to
uplifting victories in the past!
·
He will do it again!
·
Let your faith arise
to the better things that are in the future!
-A host of men
in the Bible have proven this to be true.
·
Joseph
·
Moses
·
Joshua
·
David
·
Jonah
·
Peter
-Because to a
great degree all of the men that I have mentioned were men who is some form or
fashion got a second chance!
Philip
Harrelson
February 24,
2013
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