ENTERING THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL - AND ITS EXIT
Do you ever feel "in the dumps?" This happens when the "feel good factor" has worn thin. There could be any number of causes that bring this on. "If people don’t feel good, they’re discouraged and discontented. Yes, feelings are important. If we’re a bit off colour; if we’re facing a head wind in the daily routine of life’s journey, there’s a great temptation to succumb to "feeling down".
I must tell you that "there’s nothing new under the sun". Certainly, the psalmist David has been there before us. In Psalms 42 and 43, which are really one poem in three verses with a refrain repeated three times, we have a vivid portrayal of someone who’s feeling downcast. Even the saints of church history have known what they would describe as the "dark night of the soul". Lesser mortals like you and me would say "we’re in the dumps" or "we’re pretty fed up with our lot"!
I wonder if you ever talk to yourself? It’s said that to do so is the first sign of madness; and the second sign is when you begin to answer! I don’t think that’s true. It can be a very sensible thing to do. To speak to yourself can be very therapeutic because you’ve begun the process of identifying the problem and can then go on to find help in solving it. First find the cause and you’re on the way to getting its cure.
That is what David did in this poem. "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?" The words occur three times. It’s quite likely that he wrote them at the time when he was an outcast, being hunted down by King Saul. Our own circumstances are different but I’m sure we’ve all known at some time or the other what it is to struggle with disappointment. We’ve found ourselves in what John Bunyan described in Pilgrim’s Progress as "the slough of despond". We’ve had to face that grim antagonist, "Giant Despair".
How does it feel to be discouraged? It’s sometimes difficult to put it exactly into words, but we’re out of sorts with the world, in fact "cast down" like the psalmist. Let’s see if we can benefit from his experience by stepping into his shoes and learning what he felt like, how he reacted and the remedy he found. In the first place we learn of his:
DEJECTION IN BEING THOROUGHLY DOWNCAST
David gives vent to his feelings by drawing three pictures of himself: "I’m parched" (42:1-3); "I’m overwhelmed" (6-7, 9-10) and "I’m misjudged" (43:1-2).
"I’m parched" he cried. In Britain, we generally take rain for granted unless there’s a drought, and then we complain. But usually rain is bad news. In Palestine the reverse is true - they get too much sun! From May to September it beats down ceaselessly and bakes the land. There’s no rain and the rivers dry up; the wild animals are often in considerable distress. The psalmist draws the picture of the deer panting for water. That’s how David felt in relation to his God, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God" ( 42:1-2).
David longed for fellowship with his God, but there was a problem. He was very conscious of his vulnerable position as a fugitive from King Saul. It would have been dangerous for him to go to the holy meeting place in Jerusalem, what he calls "the house of God". He remembers with gratitude the times, he says, "how I used to go with the multitude leading the procession ... with shouts of joy and thanksgiving" (4).
Life at one time had been so full and satisfying, but now all had changed. He felt deprived of what once had been the joy of his heart. But now it wouldn’t be safe for him to there and he’s sad and downcast. Life can play vicious tricks: one moment all appears to be well, as the saying goes, "God’s in his heaven and all’s well in the world", but suddenly fortunes change. An illness, an accident, a lost job and it seems that the bottom has fallen out of life. David had that kind of experience in his banishment from the royal court, and so he cries to God. And yet the fact that he’s speaking to God even as he makes his lament confirms that God is there with him in his distress - in the drought of his spirit.
One of images which remains with me is the sight of the Nile valley seen from 35,000 feet up when returning from the Middle East. There was a green fertile strip on both sides of the river and then nothing but sand - and that’s where David felt he was. When I was preparing this message television was showing The Open (golf championship) at St Andrew’s, Scotland. Some contestants had the misfortune of playing the ball into the rough or a bunker. That’s where David felt he was - and, perhaps, us too. And yet God is there.
The qualification for meeting God is not geographical. Yes, of course, it is desirable to come to church for fellowship, but even if circumstances prevent us from doing so, the very action of talking to the Lord in earnest prayer is sufficient to be in his presence. What a relief it is to come to God in prayer to share things that we wouldn’t think of mentioning to anybody else. What a relief it is to spill it out and know that someone listens, someone understands. We must learn not to bottle up our problems. It’s so true that "a problem shared is a problem halved" - at least if it’s with the Lord. But not only was David suffering from the drought of God’s presence:
"I’m overwhelmed" he said. His downcastness is best described as a dark depression that had overtaken him. He felt absolutely dejected. He remembers a scene from the north of Israel and pictures Mount Hermon with the streams swollen by the winter rains cascading down the mountainside in great torrents, creating waterfalls which made a deafening noise. That’s what he felt like, overwhelmed by external forces over which he had no control. He felt crushed and thought he was drowning. He desperately needed something to hold on to, a rock to cling to, to save himself from the flood. We sometimes see on the television news how people are caught in a flash flood and feel devastated by its power to cause chaos. David felt like that.
We find the key to his obtaining relief in his cry to God "Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?" (9). The question "Why?" must be the most unanswered question of all. How often have we ourselves asked it and found no satisfactory answer? Perhaps it’s because we addressed it to the wrong person. David’s agonizing prayer is addressed "to God my Rock" (9). But even so it wasn’t going to be easy. He was subjected to the taunts and jeers of his enemies. "All day long", his enemies sneered, "Where is your God?" (10). He had become a laughingstock, or worse still, someone who had been abandoned by God.
Yes, David was in a poor state of mind: he’d begun by saying, "I’m parched" - "I can’t get to God"; he was in a spiritual drought. In the second part of the psalm the screw gets tighter, the agony deepens: "I’m overwhelmed" - "God has forgotten me"; he was in a state of loss. But not only that, a third picture is given in Psalm 43:
"I’m misjudged", he cries. David had thought he could rely on the integrity of King Saul and his court, but they had turned against him, he had been falsely accused of treachery against the king. In his despair he even cries out, "Why have you rejected me?" (43:2). In effect he’s saying, "God had abandoned me". It’s one thing to be discouraged after something we hoped for turns to ashes, but it’s quite another to be hurt by some thoughtless words or unkind action by someone who should have known better. David’s hurt was intensified by the taunts and mockery of his godless opponents. Did no one care for him now?
Perhaps this is something with which we can identify. But the last thing we should do is to accuse God of having rejected us. God knows just how much we can take. If we are living the life of faith we can be sure, as the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, "God ... will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear" (I Cor 10:13). Remember Christian in Pilgrims Progress? At one point in his journey he thought he was done for. A ravenous lion was standing in the path he was to take. But as he came closer, Christian noticed that the lion was securely chained and could do him no harm. Life is very much like that; we may think in our moments of being downcast that we have been abandoned by God, but no, he is there all the time, although not seen, to provide "grace to help in time of need" (Heb 4:16).
We’ve seen how David felt in his moment of Dejection in each of the three sections of the psalms, but fortunately they go on to tell us of his:
REFLECTION ON THE MERCIES OF HIS GOD
The psalmist had really let himself go, but he knows when enough is enough. The outpouring of grief over adverse circumstances and situations can go on too long and become indulgence. In each of the sections where David recounted his distress, he moves on to a more positive note. He was right to make his heart cry, to express his frustration, to tell of his hurt, but the time comes to move on.
David reminds himself of the refrain to these psalms, "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?" So he makes himself stand back from his situation, unpromising as it is, and makes himself think. He reminds himself of other realities beside his present distress, as the old hymn urges, "Count your blessings, name them one by one; Count your blessings, see what God has done". David realized that after all the storm clouds of life had a silver lining as he recalls moments of past blessing in worship (42:4); personal experience of God’s grace (42:8); and the prospect of worship once again (43:3-4). First of all he recalls:
PAST BLESSING IN WORSHIP
"I remember" says David, "how I used to go to the house of God ... with shouts of joy and thanksgiving" (42:4). It’s true he couldn’t go now, but the reminder of past blessing conjures up thoughts of the reality of his faith in God. He had taken part in many a festival of Israel commemorating Jehovah’s mighty redemptive acts for his chosen people. How they had praised God as they had remembered the Passover. What was true then was still true - God hadn’t changed. When a cloud blots out the sun it doesn’t mean that the sun has gone for good. As the hymn states, "Behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face".
We, in the Christian era, know so much more about God, having seen him revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. When we’re downcast, that’s the time to recall his past mercies, to remember the times when "we’ve been lost in wonder, love and praise" in God’s presence. Those times can provide spiritual nourishment long after the event is over. The taunt from David’s enemies - "Where is your God?" Has he any power? Does he care? - receives its answer, "He’s my creator, my redeemer; he’s proved himself true in the past and he’s an unchanging God." Hasn’t he given the promise to his people "I will never leave you or forsake you" (Josh 1:5).
David not only drew comfort from past blessing in corporate worship, but also from his:
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF GOD’S GRACE
Although he was at present in the depths of personal despair and felt deserted by God in a way he couldn’t understand, that wasn’t his fundamental position. David was blessed with a personal experience of God. He tells us "By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me" (42:8). This day and night experience of God’s grace tells us that God was his life.
Christians aren’t immune from the troubles of life to say nothing of the attacks of the evil one because of their relationship with God. The great difference between the unbeliever and the Christian is that the faithless person has only his own resources to turn to in times of trouble, while the child of God has the assurance of God’s covenant-faithfulness proved through a daily walk with God. That is why it’s so important to cultivate a personal life of faith.
The psalmist recalled with gratitude his past worship and personal experience of God, and also his:
EXPECTATION OF BEING ABLE TO PRAISE GOD
The positive frame of mind that David has come into leads him into anticipation of being restored to blessing, "Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you" (43:4). David can’t be content with his present miserable situation. He longs to get back to the means of grace, where he can "feed on God in his heart by faith with thanksgiving".
Someone might say, "Isn’t David being a little presumptuous? He’s still being persecuted by his enemies, and yet he’s praising God?" No, he’s not presumptuous because "praise" means "to honour, acclaim and express approval". He’s recognized that God is in control of the situation, even though it hasn’t changed as yet. It’s not a question of trying to manipulate God but rather he’s content to leave it to his God to work out a solution and by faith he sees himself at God’s altar in joyful worship.
David doesn’t know, any more than we know how God will liberate us from a difficult situation, but he knows that prayer is the key that unlocks fast-closed doors. "Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain" (3).
David’s moment of Dejection when he let himself go in an expression of grief was followed by a time of sober Reflection when he made himself think of the reality of his relationship with God. When the immediate shock of his banishment had diminished he realized that after all his God was the same faithful God as he had ever been, and so he was able to joyfully write the refrain to the three parts of the psalm. It’s a refrain of:
RESTORATION TO HOPE IN GOD
David has taken himself to task, he’s pulled himself together, and he exhorts himself to reconcile the problems of the immediate past with his hopes for the future so that he can live at peace with himself in the present. "Why are your downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God".
It’s very possible that there were tears still in his eyes as he wrote the refrain. His experience had left him with very raw feelings, he felt bruised and broken, and yet he’s restored and renewed in spirit. He tells us the source of his confidence: "Put your hope in God". He’s now looking with expectancy to God for a restoration to blessing, faith having been born in his heart. He hangs on to his conviction that God is and will be faithful.
David knew the truth that Isaiah would expound, "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint" (40:31). What does this mean for us in our particular circumstances? We must be on the lookout for God’s answer to our prayer and in doing so, this faith in God will give us new strength now. We will be able to keep going because of this lively hope. Where there is hope there is life.
The classic New Testament definition of faith is: "Being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Heb 11:1). Faith bridges the gap between prayer and the answer, and what is more, it looks forward to praising God. It is starting to praise God even in trouble, not just when it is past, often finding that trouble itself is transformed, or perhaps we are transformed in it, and then coming back to say "thank you" to God for what he had done.
David has bared his soul to us in these short psalms, telling us frankly of:
- his utter Dejection in being thoroughly downcast;
- his calm Reflection of the mercies of his God; and
- his anticipated Restoration to hope in God.
May we have this attitude in our own spiritual pilgrimage. This won’t prevent us from entering into what might be called "the dark night of the soul", but if our hope is in God, it will be like a train going through a tunnel. It may be dark; it may seem long, but if the train keeps on the rails it will emerge into the light. Thank God, that with him, there’s always an exit.
"Why are you downcast O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God."
