Joy For The Downcast Soul - Psalm 42-43 Pt.1 Series

Psalm 42 For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah. 1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 4 These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng. 5 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and 6 my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. 7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. 8 By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life. 9 I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?” 10 My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 11 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Psalm 43 1 Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; rescue me from deceitful and wicked men. 2 You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy? 3 Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. 4 Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God. 5 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Introduction

This psalm is the diary of a man who is on a desperate quest. He is on the hunt … for God. You don’t have to be an expert to pick up on that – it is the first thing he says and the last thing.

42:1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

Anyone here have any trouble picking up on what he is saying there? Right out of the gate: “God! Where are You? I need to meet with You, now!”

Then look at the end of Psalm 43.

43:3 Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. 4 Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, the joy of my rejoicing.

He says that, then repeats the refrain and the psalm is over. He begins, “I’m dying to meet with God. When can I meet with Him? Then he ends, “Guide me to Your dwelling place God, then I’ll come to You.”

And as we go through this psalm you’ll see that his words are words of desperation. This is not just some religious phrasing that he picked up in Sunday school. I have always loved that song based on this text – As the Deer. It is such a beautiful song, but maybe a little too beautiful to fit the mood of this psalm. This prayer is loaded with angst and drama and desperation. You get the sense that if this guy doesn’t find what he’s aching for soon, he is not going to make it. He is going to fall apart. That is the feeling I get from reading his prayer.

A bunch of people in this room, already this morning, asked a bunch of other people in this room this question: “How are you doing?” And my guess is that they all said something like, “I’m fine, thanks.” Raise your hand if you believe that every single person in this church is doing just fine - not one person is discouraged. I am not faulting those people for answering that way. What else can you do when you have 10 seconds to talk to somebody? But if we were in a different setting where there were plenty of time to sit down and really listen, I wonder how many people in this room right now would say the same thing that the guy who wrote the psalm said.