1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,760 A few years ago, we went river rafting, and we came to a 2 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:07,560 portion of the river where, you know, we're enjoying Class 3 3 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:08,640 Rapids. And then all of a sudden, the 4 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:11,040 river widens. It gets wider, it gets much 5 00:00:11,040 --> 00:00:16,360 deeper, which meant that the flow became much slower, which 6 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:18,720 is horrible for river rafting. And we went to Jennings. 7 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:21,360 Maybe you remember this Jennings when we went to Arkansas. 8 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:24,240 It's horrible for river rafting when the river slows down, but 9 00:00:24,240 --> 00:00:29,080 it's great for reflecting on passages like Matthew 823, which 10 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:32,200 when Jesus is calming a storm, it says he rose and rebuked the 11 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:35,240 winds in the sea and there was a great calm. 12 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:38,320 Or to quote another passage of Scripture, the sea became like 13 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:40,480 glass. I remember that. 14 00:00:40,480 --> 00:00:44,800 It gets the same imagery of Psalm 23 when David writes that 15 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:48,120 we were led by the Good Shepherd and were promised to be LED 16 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:53,200 beside still waters and to have our souls restored. 17 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:57,880 Think of that imagery, this imagery, and now compare that to 18 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:02,920 the imagery of Psalm 42 where the psalmist says he's drowning 19 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:08,480 in an ocean and he's floating on flotsam and jetsam and the the 20 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:12,400 Breakers are crashing over him. And 1 deep wave calls to another 21 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:15,520 deep wave as they coordinate together to drown him. 22 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:20,360 And verse 7 says deep calls to deep at the roar of your 23 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:24,000 waterfalls, all your Breakers and your waves have gone over 24 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:25,840 me. And Breakers and waves in the 25 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:29,920 Bible are metaphors and imagery for deep distress and spiritual 26 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:32,280 depression. They're not like our metaphors 27 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:35,680 when we sing today of of water and the ocean and the ocean 28 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:38,160 Breakers it. It's grace and mercy washing 29 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:41,960 over us in Scripture. It's overwhelming distress. 30 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:46,320 It's poetic cries of spiritual depression. 31 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:48,760 That's where we find ourselves in Psalm 42. 32 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:52,000 It mirrors the language of Job when he's thrown overboard in 33 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:54,360 the raging sea and he says and or in Jonah. 34 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:56,400 I mean Job wasn't thrown over, Jonah was. 35 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:00,000 Jonah says chapter 2 verses 3 to 5. 36 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:03,040 The flood surrounded me. All your waves and your billows 37 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:05,880 passed over me. The waters closed in over me to 38 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:08,639 take my life. The deep surrounded me. 39 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:12,400 It sounds like 42 verse 7 of Psalms deep calls to deep at the 40 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:16,960 roar of your waterfalls. And you go back to the the more 41 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:19,960 ancient commentaries and the ancient commentators, they would 42 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:24,040 translate waterfalls as waterspouts, which if you know 43 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:28,720 what that is, tornadoes in the deep and they're unbroken 44 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:31,280 columns of water spanning from the sea to the clouds. 45 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:35,640 He says your waterspouts Thunder and roar and the sama says, and 46 00:02:35,640 --> 00:02:38,880 that's where I am speaking spiritually, metaphorically. 47 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:41,760 That's where I am now in my own depression. 48 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:45,360 And if you'll turn to Psalm 42, you'll say you'll see that the 49 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:49,920 the inscription says the Psalms of Korra, a Maskel of the sons 50 00:02:49,920 --> 00:02:51,440 of Korra. But many believe that these are 51 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:53,600 still written by David. Because if you go to the end of 52 00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:55,480 book two of the Psalms, it reads this way. 53 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:58,120 The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended. 54 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:01,480 If this is true, if David wrote this book, then that means it's 55 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:05,680 the same pin that wrote Psalm 23 saying he leads me besides still 56 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:09,320 waters, he restores my soul is the exact same pin that wrote 57 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:12,120 Psalm 42. All your Breakers and your waves 58 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:15,840 have gone over me. My soul is cast down within me. 59 00:03:16,640 --> 00:03:20,080 And as Christians, we have to embrace both of these as part of 60 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:23,320 our Christian experience. And when you talk to your 61 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:28,440 Christian friends on a surface level, you would think that most 62 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:31,640 of the Christian experience is spent in the vein of Psalm 23, 63 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:34,720 right? Bright and happy and optimistic. 64 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:38,320 But you know that there's these rare moments when you have the 65 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:42,080 time and you have the energy and you have the space when one soul 66 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:44,720 can truly open up to another soul and you have a moment of 67 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:48,040 deep vulnerability. I've never heard somebody say, 68 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:50,280 well, actually, as a matter of fact, everything's really good 69 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:52,320 right now. And the Lord of Glory has 70 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:54,160 actually resolved all of my problems. 71 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:59,440 I've never heard it. What you hear instead is the 72 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:02,560 lyrics of Matt Boswell that we just sang Lord from sorrows 73 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:04,200 Deep. I call what you hear in moments 74 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:06,400 of vulnerability. Is there storms within my 75 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:09,280 troubled soul? And I have a lot of questions 76 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:12,400 that don't have answers. And I'm torn and I'm ruined from 77 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:15,960 the fall and my hope is shaken. And his Breakers are crashing 78 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:18,680 over me. And if you were honest with 79 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:21,320 yourself and if you were honest with others, you would say, this 80 00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:23,600 is frequently my Christian experience. 81 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:28,000 This is regularly true for you. And I was once at a Christian 82 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:30,880 conference, a a huge Christian conference with many thousands 83 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:33,920 of believers, many thousands of pastors, and a very popular 84 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:37,520 preacher got up and in front of everybody and declared that 85 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:39,520 there's no such thing as Christian depression. 86 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:42,920 And he says, in all my years of being a Christian, I've never 87 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:45,440 been distressed. I've never been depressed. 88 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:48,240 And you shouldn't either. And I remember in that moment, 89 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:51,320 I've never been more disconnected listening to a 90 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:52,800 preacher than I was in that moment. 91 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:56,080 And, and with those words, this pastor had disconnected himself 92 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:59,320 from from me and from every other believer in the room. 93 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:01,120 I've never heard a Christian talk like that. 94 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:04,440 I've never been depressed. I've never my soul's never been 95 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:07,480 cast down. I think of King David, David 96 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:09,240 says. How long must I take counsel in 97 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:12,200 my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? 98 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:17,480 I think of Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, he says in Lamentations 99 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:20,080 He's been depressed so long that he forgot what it feels like to 100 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:24,520 be happy Job. My soul is weary of my life, 101 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:27,640 Spurgeon. I find myself frequently 102 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:29,320 depressed. He said if you were to go 103 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:31,600 downstairs in the bookstore, there's a book called Spurgeon 104 00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:33,280 Sorrows down there. There's a whole corpus of 105 00:05:33,280 --> 00:05:36,880 literature that talk about the the, the sorrows of the Prince 106 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:40,200 of Preachers. CS Lewis wrote a book called The 107 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:42,520 Grief Observed when he was wrestling with the sorrow and 108 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:44,920 the doubt that came after his wife's death. 109 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:50,520 Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane said my soul is very 110 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:53,840 sorrowful. So if we aren't supposed to 111 00:05:53,840 --> 00:05:56,080 describe these as spiritual depression, then I don't know 112 00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:57,440 what would fall in that category. 113 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:01,400 And the word depression means literally to press down. 114 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:03,840 It's what the word literally means to press down. 115 00:06:03,840 --> 00:06:07,960 And you can look to Psalm 42, verse 5, verse 11, the chorus 116 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:10,040 that comes up. If Psalm 42 were a song, and I 117 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:12,960 think that it is, the chorus is verse 5 and 11, That's the 118 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:15,560 meaning. It says, why are you cast down? 119 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:18,720 Oh my soul, why are you pressed down within me? 120 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:21,880 And you, you have felt this. You all have felt this. 121 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:23,960 Your circumstances are difficult. 122 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:28,840 You're fighting for hope and the glory is that the scriptures do 123 00:06:28,840 --> 00:06:31,480 not leave you without a testimony. 124 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:33,480 The scriptures speak to every experience. 125 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:36,480 They speak to this experience and the psalmist gives you a 126 00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:39,440 faithful way to respond. Let's read that the Psalm as a 127 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:44,240 whole together. Psalm 42 verse one says as a 128 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:48,560 deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, oh 129 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:52,240 God, my soul thirsts for God, for the living God. 130 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:54,560 When shall I come and appear before God? 131 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:58,720 My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me 132 00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:00,480 all the day long, where is your God? 133 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:04,440 These things I remember as I pour out my soul, how I would go 134 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:07,240 with the throng and lead them in procession to the House of God, 135 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:09,400 with glad shouts and songs of praise. 136 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:13,720 A multitude keeping festival in the chorus. 137 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:15,480 Why are you cast down on my soul? 138 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:17,240 Why are you in turmoil within me? 139 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:21,400 Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my 140 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:23,400 God. My soul is cast down within me. 141 00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:27,000 Therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Herman 142 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:30,040 from Mount Mitzar. Deep calls to deep at the roar 143 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:32,880 of your waterfalls. All your Breakers in your waves 144 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:35,520 have gone over me. By day the Lord commands His 145 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:37,880 steadfast love, and at night his song is with me. 146 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:42,240 A prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock, why have 147 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:45,120 you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of 148 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:48,240 the oppression of the enemy, as with a deadly wound in my bones, 149 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:51,480 my adversaries taunt me while they say to me all the day long, 150 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:55,440 where is your God? Why are you cast down on my 151 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:56,920 soul? And why are you in turmoil 152 00:07:56,920 --> 00:07:59,880 within me? Hoping God, for I shall again 153 00:07:59,880 --> 00:08:02,640 praise him, my salvation and my God. 154 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:06,400 The psalmist responds to the depression in his soul with with 155 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:09,840 four responses. The first one comes in verses 156 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:12,680 one to three. His soul longs for God. 157 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:15,880 This is involuntary. If you're a believer, your soul 158 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:18,040 longs for God. When the pressures of the world 159 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:20,720 come, it brings you nearer to God, not farther away. 160 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:23,480 You long more for his stability and his presence. 161 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:26,000 It's involuntary. Your soul longs for God. 162 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:30,520 The second response, verses four and eight, he pours his soul out 163 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:32,360 to God. This is prayer. 164 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:34,480 His response is prayer. This is voluntary. 165 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:36,760 This takes forethought. This is action on your part. 166 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:39,480 It's remembering, it's singing, it's praying. 167 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:42,520 Voluntary response. The third response, verses 5 and 168 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:48,000 11, He speaks to his own soul. As you'll see, this is something 169 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:52,040 that you can do, and I can do another voluntary response. 170 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:55,480 And then 4th and finally verses 6 to 10, his soul laments. 171 00:08:55,480 --> 00:08:57,080 This is another involuntary response. 172 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:00,080 When trouble comes, we can't help but bring that trouble to 173 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:01,360 the Lord. And there's an appropriate way 174 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:03,160 to do this. Our soul longs for God. 175 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:05,640 Or we can look at this as if it's your response because it is 176 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:08,800 a faithful response for you. When distress comes, when 177 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:12,360 depression comes, when you're sorrowful, your soul longs for 178 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:14,480 God. Your soul is poured out to God 179 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:16,880 and prayer. You speak to your own soul and 180 00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:19,600 your soul laments. And I want to start where the 181 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:21,040 psalmist starts in verses into three. 182 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:23,640 Let's read them again. You are to respond with your 183 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:27,720 soul longing for the living God. He says as a deer pants for 184 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:31,120 flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. 185 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:34,480 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. 186 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:36,880 When shall I come and appear before God? 187 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:39,720 My tears have been my food day and night while they say, while 188 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:44,640 they say to me all the day long, where is your God? 189 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:46,560 As you go through this Psalm, you're going to see there's a 190 00:09:46,560 --> 00:09:49,240 lot of keywords. There's a ton of keywords in the 191 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:53,120 passage that the first one, the word soul is used over and over. 192 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:56,840 And these keywords, I mean, with any biblical text teach you 193 00:09:56,840 --> 00:09:58,720 what's important. They teach you the meaning. 194 00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:01,760 And there's no confusing what this Psalm is about. 195 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:04,040 You'll see. And part of how we know that is 196 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:06,440 this keywords. The word soul is used five times 197 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:08,960 over and over and over and over and over. 198 00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:12,760 There's a refrain in verses 3 and 10 where he mentions twice 199 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:16,800 that his enemies are taunting him, saying, where is your God? 200 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:20,360 And there's the main refrain that the chorus of the song in 201 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:23,680 verse 5 and 11, which is exactly what the Psalm is about, exactly 202 00:10:23,680 --> 00:10:26,440 what it means. He says, why are you cast down, 203 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:29,080 O my soul? Why are you in turmoil within 204 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:30,720 me? Hope in God, for I shall again 205 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:33,200 praise him, my salvation and my God. 206 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:37,920 And most significantly, the word God and in my translation is 207 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:43,200 used 13 times in 11 verses, meaning he's making much of God 208 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:47,880 in his distress. And you can say, show me, tell 209 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:49,320 me. He doesn't make much of God when 210 00:10:49,320 --> 00:10:54,200 he's depressed 13 times, he cries out to God in these 11 211 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:55,320 verses. And this is the difference 212 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:56,600 between a believer and an unbeliever. 213 00:10:56,600 --> 00:10:58,120 How would you answer the question if someone came to you 214 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:00,760 and said, how do I know that I'm a Christian? 215 00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:04,360 How can I know for sure? And there's whole books of the 216 00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:06,000 Bible written to this first John and James. 217 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:09,760 But you could come here and say, do you love God like this? 218 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:12,560 Do you love God? Would you say that you your soul 219 00:11:12,560 --> 00:11:14,840 longs for him, your soul thirsts for him? 220 00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:17,280 And then think of the soils where Jesus says when trials 221 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:20,840 come, some will fall away. And you look at this believer, 222 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:23,240 this psalmist, it says the trials come and he longs for God 223 00:11:23,400 --> 00:11:25,680 even more. You can come here and you can 224 00:11:25,680 --> 00:11:28,760 say I'm a believer because I love the Lord of glory and my 225 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:32,360 soul longs for him. And you can see how he addresses 226 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:34,600 God in his distress. He uses the vocative tense. 227 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:41,080 Oh, God, the living God, my God, the God of my life, God, my 228 00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:44,240 rock, my salvation. And my God tell me he doesn't 229 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:46,320 make much of God in his depression. 230 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:50,880 He says to his God in verse one as the deer pants for streams, 231 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:55,120 so my soul longs for you, O God. Verse 2, my soul thirsts for 232 00:11:55,120 --> 00:11:58,120 God, the living God. This is like the deer. 233 00:11:58,120 --> 00:12:00,440 It's an involuntary response. He can't help it. 234 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:03,440 He longs for him. He says like a deer desiring 235 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:07,160 water when it's thirsty. That's how his soul longs for 236 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:08,760 God. And I want to pause and ask you, 237 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:10,960 what is what exactly does this metaphor mean? 238 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:13,680 What does it mean that he longs for God? 239 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:16,000 Practically? What is he desiring? 240 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:19,880 What is he thirsting for? I think it's several things at 241 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:22,760 once. First, I think the psalmist is 242 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:27,600 longing for communion with God, and he wants to experience God. 243 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:31,040 He wants more of his peace. He wants more of his joy. 244 00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:34,880 He wants more of his hope to be impressed back on him. 245 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:38,280 If you skip ahead to verse four, I think you're going to see that 246 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:41,160 he longs to be in the presence of God physically. 247 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:43,240 I mean, in the ancient Tabernacle, this is where God 248 00:12:43,240 --> 00:12:45,400 would come in the temple. He would come in and dwell with 249 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:47,440 his people. And he's he's saying, I miss 250 00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:50,680 worshipping with God's people. I miss being where we are today, 251 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:53,560 the power of this fellowship because I want to be back in the 252 00:12:53,560 --> 00:12:57,040 church And it's he's apparently cut off from it. 253 00:12:57,560 --> 00:12:59,840 He says, I literally want to be back with you and with your 254 00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:02,200 people. And above all, I think he's 255 00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:05,560 longing for the living waters of John four. 256 00:13:05,560 --> 00:13:09,560 I think he's longing for nearness in the midst of 257 00:13:09,560 --> 00:13:11,240 trouble. His his inner thought life, his 258 00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:14,120 emotions, his soul. He says it's in turmoil. 259 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:17,440 And he wants the the stabilizing presence of God. 260 00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:20,880 He wants this experiential nearness of God, a deeper 261 00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:23,400 personal awareness of the Lord of glory. 262 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:26,480 And he summarizes all of this. He sums it up in this simple, 263 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:32,440 simple, beautiful, memorable metaphor as the deer pants for 264 00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:35,320 the water. So my soul longs for you. 265 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:38,960 And we can learn a lot from that expression by looking at even 266 00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:43,600 what his soul does not long for. He doesn't say I'm longing for 267 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:47,160 answers because I need to know exactly why I'm where I am. 268 00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:49,840 He doesn't long for needing to know why he's in the situation 269 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:50,960 he's in. He's not longing for answers. 270 00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:53,960 He's not longing for escape from his circumstances. 271 00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:57,400 He's not trying to get out of them before his time. 272 00:13:57,400 --> 00:14:01,400 He's longing for, he says God himself, the living God. 273 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:05,160 And you keep going to verse 3. It intensifies the longing by 274 00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:08,200 introducing the hostility that he's facing because his enemies 275 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:10,280 are mocking him. It says all day long, saying 276 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:12,240 repeatedly. He says it twice. 277 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:14,360 They're mocking me saying where's your God? 278 00:14:15,560 --> 00:14:18,840 And if you think about this, that means it's not unfounded 279 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:20,880 because they're looking at him and they're identifying him, 280 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:22,640 Somebody that you need to be delivered. 281 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:25,400 Something is wrong with you. There's something wrong in your 282 00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:27,520 circumstances. And why won't your God help you? 283 00:14:27,680 --> 00:14:30,720 Where is he? And so maybe David is, is 284 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:32,920 feeling this in his own soul saying, yeah, where, where is 285 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:35,040 he? He's speaking to a soul saying 286 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:38,640 hope in God. But that's not how God works. 287 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:40,520 As as a matter of fact, the psalmist is going to point out 288 00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:43,960 in a minute and verse 7, he says, God is the one I'm going 289 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:46,600 to look to for help, but he's also the one who's ultimately 290 00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:49,720 responsible for my distress. He's saying they're not. 291 00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:53,680 And my enemies, Breakers coming over me, they are your Breakers 292 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:58,280 washing over me. He sees that God is ordaining 293 00:14:58,280 --> 00:15:00,040 this situation. He's saying God's the one who's 294 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:01,880 going to make it better, but he's also the one who made it 295 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:05,720 worse. And your second response in 296 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:09,040 times of trouble and depression is a voluntary response. 297 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:12,480 The second response is a conscious one that takes effort. 298 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:14,960 You have to pour out your soul to God. 299 00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:18,240 This is an appropriate response to spiritual depression. 300 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:20,840 Verses 4 and verse 8. Let's read them again. 301 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:25,360 These things I remember as I pour out my soul. 302 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:28,680 How I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to 303 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:31,640 the House of God with glad shouts and songs of praise. 304 00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:34,520 A multitude of keeping festival go down to verse 8. 305 00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:37,680 By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his 306 00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:40,800 song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. 307 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:42,880 He says in verse four of these things I remember as I pour out 308 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:46,240 my soul and verse 8, the Lord commands his steadfast love, and 309 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:49,120 at night his song is with me, a prayer. 310 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:52,280 So the second response is prayer. 311 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:55,440 And there's several things that he brings up as he's praying to 312 00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:57,080 God. He speaks of prayer as 313 00:15:57,080 --> 00:15:58,800 remembering. In this context, prayer is 314 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:00,920 remembering. He's going back and remembering 315 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:03,000 verse 4, how he would go with a throng. 316 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:04,480 I had to look up what a throng was. 317 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:07,400 So in case you didn't know, a large group of people, in this 318 00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:09,760 case a large group of worshippers is 3 * a year. 319 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:13,000 You remember all of the Jews would would go up in festival to 320 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:14,720 Jerusalem. And he's saying, I used to lead 321 00:16:14,720 --> 00:16:16,400 them. I used to be a part of that. 322 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:18,560 We would all sing together. We would sing the Psalms as we 323 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:19,920 went up to worship the Lord together. 324 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:21,800 What a joyful time. He's saying. 325 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:23,920 I remember it. And then in my remembering, it's 326 00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:26,480 joyful because these are the most precious things that my 327 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:29,960 soul longs for. I miss my church, but also it's 328 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:32,880 sobering and depressing because I don't have that anymore. 329 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:35,960 I'm cut off and I don't get to do that anymore. 330 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:39,800 So he remembers worshipping. He remembers former worship. 331 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:42,600 He remembers verse 5, he says from the land of Jordan and of 332 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:47,040 Herman, from Mount Mitzar, which is where he is separated from 333 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:49,880 the Tabernacle and separated from his people. 334 00:16:49,880 --> 00:16:53,080 I don't want to point out when, when we become depressed. 335 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:54,720 I know this from my own experience. 336 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:56,080 I know this from talking to some of you. 337 00:16:56,280 --> 00:16:58,600 The last place we want to go is church. 338 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:02,120 And when you're very depressed, or we could say especially when 339 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:05,319 we're in trouble, the last place that we want to go is church. 340 00:17:05,319 --> 00:17:08,359 But that's prescribed as the very place we go for healing. 341 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:10,880 That's the first place we're to go when we're in distress and 342 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:13,720 we're in trouble. This is where God balances us. 343 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:17,400 He uses his spirit, He uses his church. 344 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:20,800 You move to the second aspect of prayer in verse four. 345 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:24,720 He says, I remember you, But he says as I pour out my soul. 346 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:27,640 So prayer is, is pouring out your soul. 347 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:30,920 It's it's bearing your, your inner being, your thoughts, your 348 00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:33,640 emotions, how you're truly feeling internally. 349 00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:36,440 And it's it's appropriate to do this to God is what the Psalm 350 00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:38,080 teaches. But it's also entirely 351 00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:41,080 appropriate to do this with a trusted Christian friend, 352 00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:44,280 somebody that you love and somebody that you trust. 353 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:48,640 This is what Hannah did in First Samuel, remember her soul is 354 00:17:48,640 --> 00:17:52,440 distressed and she goes into the temple and begins to pray and it 355 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:54,520 says that she's praying with her within her own heart and no 356 00:17:54,520 --> 00:17:56,280 words are coming out. She's just moving her lips. 357 00:17:56,440 --> 00:17:58,760 And Eli finds her and he says, are you, are you drunk? 358 00:17:59,920 --> 00:18:03,200 What's wrong with you? And she responds, I'm a woman 359 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:06,840 troubled in spirit. I've drunk neither wine nor 360 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:10,520 strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the 361 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:13,120 Lord. So she's praying to God. 362 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:15,760 It's it's unreserved prayer. It doesn't matter who's 363 00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:16,680 watching. It doesn't matter who's 364 00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:19,720 listening. It, it comes with many tears and 365 00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:23,120 grief and in confusion. If you were to skip ahead in the 366 00:18:23,120 --> 00:18:27,040 Psalms to Psalm 62, verse 8, the psalmist commands the church. 367 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:31,200 Trust him at all times. Oh people, pour out your hearts 368 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:34,320 before him because God is a refuge for us. 369 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:36,520 That's what the psalmist is showing you. 370 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:38,320 He's a refuge. He prays to him. 371 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:42,440 He pours out his soul to him and the third and and final aspect 372 00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:45,920 of the of this prayer, if you go down to verse 8 prayer is 373 00:18:46,080 --> 00:18:50,600 singing in his depression. So whatever this prayer was, it 374 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:54,400 wasn't silent like Hannah's. It's kind of a weird, odd thing. 375 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:57,080 Have you ever sung in your depression to the Lord? 376 00:18:57,240 --> 00:18:59,920 This is why it's so important that we have a shared vocabulary 377 00:18:59,920 --> 00:19:02,480 and we have shared songs like Lord from sorrows deep. 378 00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:06,560 I call so that when the the the sorrows come, we can sing these 379 00:19:06,560 --> 00:19:09,480 songs to our own soul. Sing them back to the Lord. 380 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:12,280 Sing them in the assembly. Not just happy songs, not just 381 00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:15,240 praise music, but sorrowful music. 382 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:18,440 What a strange prayer. By day the Lord commands his 383 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:22,160 steadfast love, and at night his song is with me. 384 00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:25,520 The song is a prayer to the God of my life. 385 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:28,480 And in his distress he speaks to God. 386 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:32,480 And his distress he sings to God, but in his distress he also 387 00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:37,320 talks to Himself. A third response I want you to 388 00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:41,800 see in verses 5:00 and 11:00 you speak to your own soul. 389 00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:46,920 How often do you do this to say to yourself, soul bless the 390 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:51,680 Lord, soul hoping God. Verse 5, verse 11 brings the 391 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:54,360 refrain that is the focal point of the passage. 392 00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:56,440 It happens in verse 5. It happens in verse 11. 393 00:19:56,440 --> 00:19:59,160 Psalm 43 is actually an extension of Psalm 42. 394 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:01,800 If you were to go to verse 5 and that Psalm, it's there again, he 395 00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:05,440 tells you 3 times, hoping God, hoping God, hoping God, you 396 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:09,000 speak to your own soul saying why are you cast down on my 397 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:11,320 soul? Why are you in turmoil within 398 00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:13,760 me? Hope in God, for I shall again 399 00:20:13,760 --> 00:20:17,120 praise Him, my salvation and my God. 400 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:19,920 He speaks to his soul and he talks about this. 401 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:21,520 This is significant as you move through the song. 402 00:20:21,520 --> 00:20:25,560 He says my soul pants for God, My soul longs for God. 403 00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:29,000 My soul I'm pouring out to God. He says my soul is cast down, 404 00:20:29,120 --> 00:20:32,120 meaning it's despairing. And he says it again in verse 405 00:20:32,120 --> 00:20:33,640 11. My soul is cast down. 406 00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:37,920 My soul is despairing. And the word despairing is, if 407 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:40,520 you looked it up in a, a secular dictionary, the Oxford 408 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:42,160 Dictionary says it's an absence of hope. 409 00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:45,680 Despair is an absence of hope. You look it up in Merriam 410 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:48,040 Webster, same thing, an utter loss of hope. 411 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:50,920 There is no hope. Cambridge dictionary, the 412 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:53,920 feeling that there is no hope and nothing you can do to 413 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:58,240 improve a worrying situation. And if we're going to define it 414 00:20:58,360 --> 00:21:02,080 theologically for us, we would say this, this is being cast 415 00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:03,680 down. It, it's not living without 416 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:06,720 hope, but it's being tempted to live as if there was no hope. 417 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:11,240 It's being tempted to live like the world lives because you are 418 00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:14,240 going through a difficult circumstance where God has 419 00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:17,480 chosen not to intervene and then sometimes he doesn't. 420 00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:20,880 It's amazing when you we go back to Psalm 5, you know, David is 421 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:23,360 pouring out his soul. He expects a response from God. 422 00:21:23,360 --> 00:21:25,640 We went to Psalm 40. David has poured out his soul 423 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:27,920 and God responds. You come to Psalm 42. 424 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:30,800 The psalmist has poured out his soul and God has chosen not to 425 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:34,120 respond. And we would call this bitter 426 00:21:34,120 --> 00:21:36,680 Providence because he could have responded. 427 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:38,640 He chooses not to for whatever reason. 428 00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:41,800 And so the psalmist is picking up on this theme. 429 00:21:42,120 --> 00:21:43,920 You're going to see how difficult the situation is in 430 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:46,760 verse 9:00 and 10:00. But when God isn't intervening, 431 00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:50,440 it says he's, he's not far off, but he feels far off. 432 00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:55,400 And we call it bitter Providence because Naomi says in the book 433 00:21:55,400 --> 00:22:01,360 of Ruth, call me Mara, which means bitter, for the Lord has 434 00:22:01,360 --> 00:22:04,320 dealt bitterly with me. Call me Mara. 435 00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:08,000 Does anybody ever call her Mara? No, nobody calls her Mara. 436 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:09,720 She says, call me Mara for my soul. 437 00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:12,160 God has dealt bitterly with my soul. 438 00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:14,520 And you look at this affirmation. 439 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:18,760 If you look at verse 7 of God's sovereignty, he, he in the midst 440 00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:21,680 of his bitter Providence, he declares the sovereignty of God. 441 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:23,120 He confesses the sovereignty of God. 442 00:22:23,120 --> 00:22:24,960 He knows where his help comes from, but he knows where his 443 00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:26,760 distress ultimately comes from too. 444 00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:30,880 He says they are your Breakers, they are your waves. 445 00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:35,560 This isn't Satan's waves. This isn't the waves of his 446 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:37,400 enemies. They are God's waves. 447 00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:41,640 And the psalmist in that moment says, put your trust in him, put 448 00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:45,040 your trust in God. And he reminds his soul that he 449 00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:46,880 has hope. He speaks to his own soul and he 450 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:51,480 says, why are you in turmoil? Turmoil mean meaning turbulence 451 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:54,840 or an uproar to be in a stir. He says to his own soul. 452 00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:56,960 He asks his soul, why are you despairing? 453 00:22:57,760 --> 00:22:59,320 Why are you in turmoil? Why are you despairing? 454 00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:01,320 We would call this in my family spiraling. 455 00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:05,320 Why are you spiraling? Oh my soul, why are you 456 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:07,640 repeating negative thoughts? Why are you escalating? 457 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:10,200 Why are you disoriented? Why are you isolated? 458 00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:15,360 And when you're in this kind of moment, one of the greatest 459 00:23:15,360 --> 00:23:18,080 resources that the God has given you is your local church. 460 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:20,600 It's amazing how you can come into a local church, come into 461 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:23,400 the fellowship of believers, and they give you perspective. 462 00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:26,040 They speak truth to you. They balance you. 463 00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:28,840 You have a believer. It's a believer is over for 464 00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:30,360 dinner. You go to to dinner at another 465 00:23:30,360 --> 00:23:33,440 house where there are believers. It's amazing how quickly your 466 00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:36,040 soul will be corrected, corrected, how quickly your 467 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:39,920 sorrow can be turned into joy. You can go to come to hymn sings 468 00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:41,760 at the church or worship services. 469 00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:43,360 It's amazing. You come in and there's candles 470 00:23:43,360 --> 00:23:46,320 around a piano and Carol Bell is playing and we sing for an hour 471 00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:48,120 and all of a sudden you're like, what was I sad about? 472 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:50,000 You got to go back. Oh, yeah, that's that's what it 473 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:51,520 was. It's corrective. 474 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:56,560 And even a phone conversation can help until you're in the 475 00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:59,400 physical presence of believers. This may be a horrible 476 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:01,320 illustration. There's one that's in my head 477 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:03,600 and I'll share it with you if you ever watch Cesar Millan 478 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:07,080 train dogs. And there's just this, this dog 479 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:10,040 that's overly emotional and it's in distress and he'll bring it 480 00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:13,120 into his home where there's a hundred well trained dogs, just 481 00:24:13,120 --> 00:24:17,600 this pack of healthy dogs. And you put this psycho dog in 482 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:18,800 the instead of all of these others. 483 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:21,800 And what happens? They begin to correct one 484 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:23,360 another. And he leaves him there for a 485 00:24:23,360 --> 00:24:26,160 few weeks and a few months and the dogs he brings in become 486 00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:27,720 healthy again. That's what this church is. 487 00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:31,000 We are, we are people who are souls long for God. 488 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:33,800 And we're, we're healthy and, and people can come and benefit 489 00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:35,640 from this health. And when you're sorrowful, you 490 00:24:35,640 --> 00:24:37,920 come here and people speak truth to you and they sing over you. 491 00:24:38,120 --> 00:24:40,920 And all of a sudden your sorrow is turned into joy. 492 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:43,960 It's not overnight, but it's healing. 493 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:46,440 It's where marriages can come when you're in a fight. 494 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:49,040 It's where you come when you're find yourself in depression and 495 00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:51,480 you can be corrected. David offers another corrective 496 00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:54,680 in verses 5 and 11. He says you have the church, 497 00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:58,000 yes, but why don't you speak to your own soul in the midst of 498 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:01,560 your spiral? Address your inner thoughts, 499 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:05,520 address your emotions, command your own will, Speak to 500 00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:09,240 yourself. There's a famous 20th century 501 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:13,000 preacher named D Lloyd Jones. D Martin Lloyd Jones, the 502 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:16,840 doctor, and he wrote a book called Spiritual Depression, 503 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:19,200 It's Causes and Cure. It's up in the library if you 504 00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:21,760 want to read it. The introduction of the book is 505 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:25,720 built around Psalm 42, and he says this in that introductory 506 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:28,640 chapter. Have you realized that most of 507 00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:30,920 your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you're 508 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:33,600 listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? 509 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:38,080 Take those thoughts that come to you in the moment that you wake 510 00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:40,400 up in the morning. You have not originated them, 511 00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:42,960 but they start talking to you. They bring back the problems of 512 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:45,520 yesterday. Somebody is talking who's 513 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:48,040 talking to you, Yourself is talking to you. 514 00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:50,760 Now this man's treatment in Psalm 42 was this. 515 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:53,760 Instead of allowing the self to talk to him, he starts to talk 516 00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:56,080 to himself. Why are you cast down on my 517 00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:56,920 soul? He asked. 518 00:25:57,280 --> 00:25:59,600 His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. 519 00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:02,320 So he stands up and says, self, listen for a moment. 520 00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:05,360 Now I will speak to you. That's what the psalmist is 521 00:26:05,360 --> 00:26:07,640 doing. He says to his soul, Soul, why 522 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:10,200 are you cast down? Why are you in turmoil within 523 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:11,720 me? Why are you despairing? 524 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:15,720 Put your hope in God at church. You have to train your soul to 525 00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:18,200 hope in the Lord. You have to speak to your own 526 00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:20,920 soul and train your soul to bless the Lord. 527 00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:22,000 You speak like the psalmist does. 528 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:27,120 In Psalm One, O 3 soul, he says bless the Lord, bless the Lord, 529 00:26:27,120 --> 00:26:30,360 O my soul, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and 530 00:26:30,360 --> 00:26:33,920 forget not all his benefits. Who redeems your life from 531 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:37,120 destruction, who heals all your diseases, maybe not in time but 532 00:26:37,120 --> 00:26:40,760 in eternity, Who crowns you with loving kindness and tender 533 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:43,960 mercies, Who satisfies your soul with good things. 534 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:47,640 You speak to your soul and you remind Him of those things. 535 00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:52,760 These benefits that he gives are external to your circumstances, 536 00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:55,680 meaning that whatever spiral you're in, whatever depression 537 00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:57,880 you're in, all of these benefits are still yours. 538 00:26:58,360 --> 00:27:01,160 You have to train your soul to remember these benefits. 539 00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:03,320 It doesn't matter whether you're persecuted or spiraling or 540 00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:04,960 depressed. They are objectively and 541 00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:08,760 fundamentally true. And so Psalm 42, verse 5 and 11 542 00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:11,040 says, ask your soul this question. 543 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:13,480 Why are you despairing? Why are you in turmoil? 544 00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:18,480 And command yourself hope in God, you interrupt your your 545 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:20,640 thought life. You command your own will. 546 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:22,960 And you say that my hope is external to all the 547 00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:24,680 circumstances that I'm facing right now. 548 00:27:25,120 --> 00:27:28,760 And it's that thought and logic that is going to sustain you in 549 00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:31,400 the depression and in those circumstances, it's external to 550 00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:35,320 them depression or your your hope and your joy are external 551 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:36,840 to the things you're experiencing. 552 00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:38,560 Their hope is not circumstantial. 553 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:43,480 And if some 40 it reminded us to preach the gospel to others, and 554 00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:46,840 it did over and over again. Psalm 42 reminds us to preach 555 00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:51,600 the gospel to ourselves. Why do you encourage other 556 00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:53,840 people? And you will not encourage your 557 00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:57,440 own soul. Why do you have concern for the 558 00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:00,240 souls of others? And you will neglect to concern 559 00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:03,240 yourself with your own soul. Why would you call out the poor 560 00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:06,320 thought patterns of others? And you'll neglect the poor 561 00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:10,560 thought patterns in yourself. You have to call your own heart 562 00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:13,880 back to its first love. And you have to correct your 563 00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:15,680 soul. It's so important. 564 00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:17,960 He says it three times. Why are you cast down? 565 00:28:18,120 --> 00:28:21,200 Oh my soul. Hope in God, hope in God, hope 566 00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:24,640 in God. And finally, the psalmist 567 00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:26,840 recognizes that spiritual depression is not about thinking 568 00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:28,520 positive thoughts. And all of a sudden everything 569 00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:31,240 becomes perfect again. And it's rosy and optimistic. 570 00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:32,920 That's not how the Christian life works. 571 00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:37,160 Spiritual depression is also an opportunity to practice the 572 00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:41,600 spiritual discipline of lament, and we won't get into it much. 573 00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:43,880 This, this is lament. There are so many psalms that 574 00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:46,600 that teach this, but lament is a spiritual discipline. 575 00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:49,720 The fourth response is your soul laments. 576 00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:52,240 It's involuntary. When horrible things come upon 577 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:54,680 you, the first thing you do as a Christian, as you take it before 578 00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:56,200 the Lord, look, look at all the things. 579 00:28:56,200 --> 00:28:58,320 Remember Hezekiah, Lord, look at the bad news. 580 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:00,360 This army is marching against me. 581 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:03,000 Look at my health report. I'm going to die. 582 00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:06,560 You bring this before the Lord in prayer and you can lament 583 00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:09,880 it's it's further pouring out your soul to God and it's 584 00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:15,200 entirely appropriate to do this. Lament always begins by giving 585 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:18,120 voice to the horrible things in the horrible circumstances in 586 00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:20,320 the horrible context. But I want you to understand is 587 00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:24,120 lament is not about you. The focus is not you and your 588 00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:27,000 pain. The focus is always on God. 589 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:29,440 You're taking it back to Him. Lament always starts with your 590 00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:32,880 pain, and it always ends with declarations of trust to the 591 00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:35,040 Savior. And so that's what happens in 592 00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:37,040 verses 6 to 10. The psalmist reminds you that 593 00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:39,600 lament is appropriate. Read with me, verse 6. 594 00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:43,880 My soul is cast down within me. Therefore I remember you from 595 00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:46,280 the land of Jordan and of Herman, and from Mount Mitzar. 596 00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:50,080 Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls, all your 597 00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:53,320 Breakers in your waves have gone over me by day the Lord commands 598 00:29:53,320 --> 00:29:56,640 his steadfast love at night his song was with me a prayer to the 599 00:29:56,640 --> 00:29:59,640 God of my life. I say to God, my rock, Why have 600 00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:02,640 you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of 601 00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:06,120 the oppression of the enemy as with a deadly wound in my bones. 602 00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:09,040 My adversaries taught me while they say to me all the day long, 603 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:12,640 where is your God and so he calls to God and his context is 604 00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:15,440 pathetic. You get a glimmer of of what it 605 00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:17,560 is in verse 9. He says whatever it is, I feel 606 00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:21,200 forgotten by you. Verse 9, I'm mourning verse 9, 607 00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:24,280 I'm oppressed. He says verse 10, he's taunted 608 00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:27,240 as his enemies call out again and again, where is your God and 609 00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:31,720 why won't he rescue you And I want you to see in this 610 00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:35,160 incredible Psalm. Verse 8 and 9 go together. 611 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:39,080 More than that, verse 8 and 9 are are side by side because in 612 00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:41,120 in the Christian world, two things can always be true at 613 00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:43,520 once. He says in verse 8, by day the 614 00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:47,040 Lord commands his steadfast love, and then he says in verse 615 00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:53,400 9 he feels utterly forgotten. And so you see two things true 616 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:57,640 which causes a perceived issue. God is near, but God feels far 617 00:30:57,640 --> 00:30:59,040 away. Has anybody been there before? 618 00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:02,920 God is near, God feels far away. And they are. 619 00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:07,080 We profess those are both true. This is experiential religion. 620 00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:12,240 This is honest worship. This is true religion, faith and 621 00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:16,840 suffering, putting your trust in God and bringing your pain to 622 00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:19,080 God. It's hurting and trusting. 623 00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:21,560 And you see here he says, there's the memory of all this 624 00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:23,800 past joy of getting to go to the House of the Lord. 625 00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:25,680 But then there's the present circumstance where it's 626 00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:28,040 completely unavailable to me. And then at the same time and in 627 00:31:28,040 --> 00:31:29,800 the same breath, he says, and I will do it again. 628 00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:32,840 I will praise God in the great assembly again. 629 00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:36,160 This is the tension of the apostle Paul in 2nd Corinthians 630 00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:40,000 610. You are sorrowful, yet always 631 00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:43,520 rejoicing. Romans 823 you groan inwardly, 632 00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:47,120 yet wait eagerly. Both are true. 633 00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:50,000 And so lament with praise is just honest. 634 00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:52,280 And the following verse 8 is verse 9. 635 00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:54,840 I say to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me? 636 00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:57,760 Why do I mourn? Because of the oppression of my 637 00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:01,360 enemy. Mourning is used 19 * m OUR 638 00:32:01,360 --> 00:32:04,120 mourning 19 times in the Old Testament, and the word 639 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:06,600 literally translates to be dark or black. 640 00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:13,840 It's a state of depression. And John Piper said that he had 641 00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:16,400 an insight into this kind of language from Scripture that 642 00:32:16,400 --> 00:32:19,320 absolutely rocked Bethlehem Baptist Church. 643 00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:21,720 He said his his church understood this language. 644 00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:24,880 They understood what Psalm 42 meant, and it endured for a 645 00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:26,520 generation. He said his church was never the 646 00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:32,360 same once they understood this. And he says there are some words 647 00:32:32,360 --> 00:32:35,240 that are the words of Job 625 to 26. 648 00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:37,960 And they apply to how we counsel ourselves. 649 00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:39,160 They apply to how we counsel others. 650 00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:42,560 I want to read these to you. He says, How forceful are 651 00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:44,840 upright words. This is the words of Job. 652 00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:47,040 But what does reproof from you reprove? 653 00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:50,320 Do you think that you can reprove words when the speech of 654 00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:54,480 a despairing man is wind? So if Bethlehem Baptist Church 655 00:32:54,480 --> 00:32:56,880 was here and they were to counsel our church, they would 656 00:32:56,880 --> 00:33:01,320 say to you this There are some words that you speak, Job says, 657 00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:03,960 that are wind words. The words of the wind. 658 00:33:03,960 --> 00:33:06,200 You speak them and the wind blows them away. 659 00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:10,360 To quote John Piper, don't be picky about my language when I'm 660 00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:13,360 in pain. Don't be picky about my language 661 00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:15,640 when I say God has forgotten me. That's not the time for you to 662 00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:17,240 come in and say, well, God never forgets his own. 663 00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:18,680 He's he's got your name written on his heart. 664 00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:22,080 He says, let me express myself. These are wind words. 665 00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:24,320 You know you're forgotten. Time will show that you're a 666 00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:26,480 believer and that you're going to persevere through this. 667 00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:27,960 And your theology is actually really good. 668 00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:30,560 But in this moment, let me express words of the wind. 669 00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:33,640 Let me express the hurt and pain that is in my heart. 670 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:37,400 Let me lament like the psalmist laments and give the people 671 00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:39,680 around you the opportunity to express like this and give 672 00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:43,480 yourself the opportunity to express like this, but lead 673 00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:47,360 yourself at the end to put your trust and to put your hope in 674 00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:51,800 God. So you see, I hope the response 675 00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:55,360 of the psalmist, this fourfold response to his despairing soul. 676 00:33:55,520 --> 00:33:57,400 He would say to you, you are to long for God. 677 00:33:57,960 --> 00:33:59,880 You are to pour out your soul to God. 678 00:33:59,880 --> 00:34:02,520 You are to speak to your own soul, and it is entirely 679 00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:06,560 appropriate for you to lament. And as Christians, we can't help 680 00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:09,480 longing for God like a deer pants for the water. 681 00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:12,199 We can't help but bring our distress for God as sufferers 682 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:15,239 and worshippers. But what you can do is you can 683 00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:17,920 voluntarily pour out your soul to Him in prayer. 684 00:34:18,159 --> 00:34:22,000 You can train your soul to bless Him and train your soul to hope 685 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:24,480 in Him. And if you are experiencing 686 00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:27,560 spiritual depression, then you're in good company. 687 00:34:28,679 --> 00:34:31,480 Christopher Ashe says the grief portrayed in these Psalms is a 688 00:34:31,480 --> 00:34:35,520 very particular sadness, one felt supremely by Jesus Christ 689 00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:39,280 in the Garden of Gethsemane and now by all who are in Christ. 690 00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:43,639 And Jesus said in the garden, my soul is very sorrowful. 691 00:34:43,639 --> 00:34:46,560 Sorrowful is the New Testament equivalent of the Old Testament 692 00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:49,840 word cast down. His soul was cast down. 693 00:34:49,840 --> 00:34:54,159 And one last quotation from Luther's greatest disciple was 694 00:34:54,159 --> 00:34:56,800 Philip Malangston. And he said many in the church 695 00:34:56,800 --> 00:35:01,720 have enormous sorrows, some more severe, some less severe also. 696 00:35:01,720 --> 00:35:03,840 Let us all learn that the will of God is that we would not 697 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:07,280 succumb to such sorrows, but that we would rouse ourselves in 698 00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:09,960 faith and hope. And it is necessary to lean on 699 00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:12,520 this faith and hope and not on our righteousness and dignity, 700 00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:15,760 but on the mercy of God alone, revealed in the promises. 701 00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:22,080 How can you do that practically? How do you do this? 702 00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:25,480 You quit listening to yourself and you talk to yourself. 703 00:35:25,920 --> 00:35:27,840 And when you open your mouth, what do you say? 704 00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:30,400 Except why are you cast down my soul? 705 00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:32,840 Why are you in turmoil within me? 706 00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:37,560 Hoping God, for I shall again praise Him my salvation and my 707 00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:39,760 God. Pray with me, and we will sing 708 00:35:39,760 --> 00:35:41,520 these words of the Psalm over one another. 709 00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:45,680 One more time, Lord, many of us from sorrows deep we call. 710 00:35:45,680 --> 00:35:50,080 We all have trouble, Lord. If we were free from it, then we 711 00:35:50,080 --> 00:35:52,920 would be in heaven with you. But You have promised not that 712 00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:55,160 you would deliver us from every trouble, but that you would be 713 00:35:55,160 --> 00:35:58,160 with us in the trouble. And so, Lord, thank you for 714 00:35:58,160 --> 00:36:00,640 giving us spiritual disciplines like lament. 715 00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:04,600 May we, may we use them, may we not neglect our own soul when we 716 00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:08,200 are depressed and when we are spiraling or, but give us the 717 00:36:08,200 --> 00:36:10,760 confidence in the, the presence of mind and the Peace of Mind to 718 00:36:10,760 --> 00:36:14,200 say to our own soul, soul, bless God and hope in him. 719 00:36:14,720 --> 00:36:17,880 And we pray that we would be available to one another for 720 00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:20,280 correction and for balancing. And we would be the church, 721 00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:23,480 whether it's 3:00 AM or 3:00 PM, that we could be this balancing 722 00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:26,120 presence and that we could balance ourselves and know how 723 00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:29,720 to self correct and self teach, to teach ourselves and talk to 724 00:36:29,720 --> 00:36:33,720 ourselves. Lord, reminding us of your hope, 725 00:36:33,720 --> 00:36:35,960 your peace, your joy. God impressed us on us. 726 00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:37,760 Now, even as we sing together, we pray. 727 00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:39,400 All this in Christ's name. Amen. 728 00:36:41,640 --> 00:36:43,880 Thanks for listening. To learn more about Heritage 729 00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:46,880 Church or if you'd like to respond to this sermon, visit 730 00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:51,240 our website at www.heritageshawnee.org.