The Way Into God’s Presence - Psalm 42-43 Part 2 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 (the salvation of my face) 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

If you are depressed, does that mean something is wrong with you? Is it an indication that you are spiritually immature? The answer to the first question is yes, and the answer to the second one is no. Does it mean you are spiritually immature when you get depressed? No. Anybody here want to accuse the guy who wrote these psalms of being spiritually immature? From the heading we see that he was a worship leader. Do you think he should have been asked to step down from his position as worship leader until he got his emotions under control? No. Rather than asking him to step down, God took his prayer and put it in the Holy Scriptures as a model for all the saints throughout the centuries. God wants us to imitate this man – he is a model believer. If you ever find yourself looking down on someone or assuming someone is spiritually unhealthy because he’s depressed, you need to realize that that person may be one of the spiritual giants like these men who wrote these psalms.

So, are you a bad Christian if you’re depressed? No. But what about the first question? If I am depressed, does that mean something’s wrong with me? Yes, of course something is wrong with me. It is obvious from reading this psalm that the psalmist regarded his depression as a problem that needed to be fixed. The entire prayer is an effort to recover from his depression.

God wants us to have joy in Him. When we don’t – when our sorrow gets bigger than our joy, something is wrong. That happens even to the most godly, spiritually mature people among us. It doesn’t mean you are a failure as a Christian; it just means you get a flat tire and you need to get it fixed. And these two psalms teach us how to do that.

Review

I told you last week that the principles in this psalm can be summed up under three main headings.

Pray for help, Enjoy the presence of God, Preach to your soul.

Last week we covered the first one briefly. I didn’t spend a lot of time on that, not because prayer isn’t important, but because we just did a whole sermon series on prayer at the end of our study of James, so that’s still fresh in our memory. If you weren’t here for that, I would strongly urge you to go back and listen to those messages – especially the first two. If you are down and discouraged or depressed, pray for help.