Don’t Lose Hope
Psalms 42 & 43
June 30, 2019
Well tonight we are actually going to study 2 Psalms.
The reason is because they clearly belong together.
That doesn’t mean that they are one Psalm wrongly divided,
But simply that they continue with the same theme.
The theme is evident: DON’T LOSE HOPE
As you see the same chorus repeated 3 times.
(42:5 c.f. 42:11; 43:5) “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence.”
And so the message is clear.
As the Psalmist delivers his lament or complaint,
He stops himself and has a moment of internal contemplation.
It’s really even an internal rebuke.
“Why are you in despair, O my soul”
“despair” is the Hebrew word SHACHACH
It means “bowed down” or “depressed” or “deflated”
So as the Psalmist seemingly listens to himself talk,
He pauses his lament to ask himself that question.
“Why are you in despair, O my soul”
• Why are you so depressed?
• Why are you so deflated?
• Why are you so defeated?
“And why have you become disturbed within me?”
• That is to say, “What’s wrong with you?”
• What’s your problem?
I don’t know if you’ve ever been at a point in life
Where your mood was just sour or your attitude was depressed
And you had to sort of shake yourself and say, “What’s your problem?”
That is what the Psalmist is doing here.
But not only does the Psalmist confront himself,
But he also rebukes himself.
“Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence”
(11 & 43:5) “…The help of my countenance and my God”
But basically the same point.
Why are you so beaten down, it’s as though you’ve forgotten God.
His presence will show up, and He will win the day.
• It’s time for you to have a little hope here.
• It’s time for you to exercise a little faith here.
• It’s time for you to close the book on this pity-party.
That’s the sermon this Psalmist is preaching to himself.
(He rebukes himself for being depressed)
Now, I am a little compelled here to discuss it
Since it has been so real for my family and for some of you as well.
Any time you mention the word “depression”
And especially the need to simply “get over it”
You open a raw and touchy subject.
In my observation (and I tend to simplify things for my own understanding)
If you feel depressed, it can be lumped into 1 of 3 categories.
1) CHEMICAL
Ten years ago I didn’t believe this existed,
• Personal struggle has proven me wrong.
• I walked with Carrie through this dark reality.
• Something to do with hormones, something to do with brain chemical levels.
• It’s real, and it will mess with a person.
And obviously, just telling a person whose chemicals are off
That the need to get over it is a harsh message.
Now, I will say this.
• Despite my experiences in this arena
• I would still say that this one gets way over diagnosed
• And far too many people get credited with this type of depression when that is not what they have.
But it is real.
2) SPIRITUAL
• Listen, a fruit of the Spirit is “joy”.
• Jesus said that if we abide in Him our “joy would be made full”
• We learn about Jesus that “in Him was life and that life was the light of men”
There is a reason some people live in a defeated state of depression
And it’s because they do not know the Lord.
His Spirit does not abide within them and they have no mechanism or hope for dealing with the disappointments of life.
• They have no faith in the future…
• They have no hope for a better day…
• They have no power for joy in despair because their flesh can’t muster it…
The only reason every lost person on the planet
Is not always in this form of spiritual depression
Is only because they have their “proverbial head in the sand”
And have not been awakened to their awful state or the coming judgment.
If they were to discern their condition,
It would lead to sorrow and depression as well.
They would echo with Paul, “Wretched man that I am, who will set me free from the body of this death?”
Incidentally, this is a necessary depression.
2 Corinthians 7:9-10 “I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
Spiritual sorrow is that which comes to a sinner
When they realize their pitiful spiritual condition
And the solution for this depression is repentance.
SOOOOO many people suffer from this depression
(sadly they often get diagnosed as having a chemical depression and they spend their life treating the symptoms but never the problem which is sin)
But that’s a real depression.
3) EMOTIONAL
This is simply the pity party
• It is what people in the flesh have when they don’t get their way.
• It is what a 2 year old exhibits when they pout for not getting a toy.
And it’s easy to spot this type of depression
By what causes people to come out of it.
If a person can be pulled out of their despair
By satisfying their flesh
Then it’s obviously nothing more than an emotional depression.
That is to say if you can give them their way
And all of a sudden they are happy, that’s not true depression,
It’s merely a selfish person who finally won.
This is a very common form of depression as well, and by the way, it can even show up in the life of a believer who is walking in the flesh.
1 Corinthians 3:3 “for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?”
James 4:2 “You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.”
Galatians 5:13-15 “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.”
Those are just selfish people who get “depressed”
When they don’t get their way.
And I genuinely believe you can throw all depressions into one of those 3 categories, and incidentally for you to have a life of true joy you need to have all 3 working correctly.
• Obviously your physical body needs to be functioning rightly with all your
chemicals and such.
• You need Christ and the Holy Spirit who is the source of joy.
• You need to get over yourself.
Well it’s really that 3rd type of depression
We are dealing with here in these 2 Psalms.
You have a man who is looking at the circumstances
And is having a pity party and he realizes it
So he tells himself to get over it.
The solution is to quit focusing on the problem and to rekindle his faith.
• To hope in God.
• To trust God.
Quit focusing on the flesh, quit focusing on your problems,
Quit focusing on how hard things are and start focusing on God.
NOW LET ME TAKE IT ONE STEP FURTHER.
This type of depression (this 3rd type, the emotional one): IS A SIN
It is actually very closely akin to the sin of worry.
• You are familiar with Matthew 6 where Jesus deals with the issues of worrying about what you will eat and what you drink and what you will wear.
• That worry is a sin.
• It is basically accuse God of not being able to care for you.
Well emotional depression or the pity party is the same type of sin.
• It is to basically accuse God of not being sufficient.
• It is a lack of contentment.
• It is filled with grumbling and complaint.
And it is not ok.
And this Psalmist knows that.
And so when he spotted this mentality in himself,
That’s why he gave himself a rebuke.
Get over yourself!
“Hope in God”
But that’s what we’re dealing with, it’s the call to not lose hope.
It’s the call to not fall into some sort of depression
Based on unsuitable circumstances.
Now because the Psalmist has to rebuke himself 3 times
You and I see that there were 3 things
That caused him to be so defeated and downtrodden.
Here’s the kicker…these are things that probably push your buttons too.
Now, let me again be clear.
You aren’t going to like 2 of these 3 things either, but not liking them doesn’t mean you are in some sort of selfish depression.
I’m going to show you in this first one where Jesus clearly didn’t like it either,
But that doesn’t mean He was sinfully depressed.
The Psalmist however; in his frustration lost perspective
And did fall into that despair of which he had to pull himself out.
The point of the Psalm is that you not lose hope even though you may very well find yourself in these circumstances as well.
So let’s look at why our Psalmist was in despair.
#1 THE DROUGHT OF CORPORATE WORSHIP
Psalms 42:1-5
You are certainly familiar with the first verse of this Psalm
As we sing a song inspired by its words.
“As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God.”
That is actually a beautiful statement and one that deserves to be sung.
• It pictures the most basic and urgent of needs.
• We may go without food for a time but water is much more urgent.
• And a deer dying of thirst has tunnel vision for the water.
That is what the Psalmist is relaying.
God, I want You like a thirsty deer wants water.
It is a tremendous expression of desire and contentment and joy
And sufficiency in God alone.
It echoes the statement of Asaph:
Psalms 73:25 “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.”
But we also find it is a statement
That is driven by the current circumstances.
The Psalmist is in a drought.
(2) “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?”
The Psalmist is away from home.
• He is away from God’s temple.
• He is away from Jerusalem.
And his heart is hungry for to once again experience corporate worship.
The fact that he says, “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God”
Gives indication that our Psalmist is not dwelling in a place
That is void of worship, it’s just void of true worship.
• He misses accurate worship of God.
• He misses true worship of God.
• He misses the worship which God has prescribed.
All he is bombarded with is some semblance of false worship
To a false version of God.
(3) “My tears have been my food day and night, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
To make matters worse those around him mock him
And his desire for worship.
And his memories don’t help.
(4) “These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.”
He remembers “the Good Ole Days”
• Back when men desired worship for God.
• Back when worship of God was a corporate thing and a true thing.
• He can’t find it and he longs for it like a deer longing for water.
And I think you probably understand that frustration a little.
• I fight this frustration every time a school function or a sporting event pulls kids out of church on Wednesday night.
• I fight this frustration when I see Facebook posts from people who are checking in at the movies on Sunday afternoon instead of attending evening worship.
• I fight this frustration when I start trying to schedule something like Disciple Now and hear excuse after excuse from people who remind me that they’ll participate but only if it doesn’t conflict with anything else…at all.
I get frustrated because corporate worship has lost its priority.
And it’s not just me.
I remember my pastor as a boy speaking of the first time his church told him they didn’t want to have a week-long revival anymore but that 3 nights would be enough.
He told me how he went to the church those last two nights and sat out on the front steps of the church and glared at everyone who drove by.
And now Sunday night church
Doesn’t even exist in many congregations any more.
It’s frustrating to see a culture (even a supposed church culture)
That doesn’t hunger for true corporate worship.
I think this is a frustration Jesus certainly felt.
In Mark’s gospel we read:
Mark 11:11 “Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.”
If you keep reading you’ll find that the next day
He went back to that temple and tore it apart.
Mark 11:15-17 “Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL THE NATIONS’? But you have made it a ROBBERS’DEN.”
There was certainly frustration for those
Who no longer valued true worship of God.
It’s a frustration we can feel.
But what we can’t do is allow it to
Rob us of our hope or throw us into depression.
Which is what the Psalmist says:
(5) “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence.”
• Snap out of it man.
• You are whining and crying like God has lost.
• You are acting like it’s lost forever.
But we know better.
Corporate worship will most certainly return.
We read:
Revelation 5:11-14 “Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped.”
We can all, with the Psalmist,
• Reminisce back to the time when our churches were full on Sunday nights.
• We can remember when going to church was the norm and expected.
• We can remember schools and secular organizations left “The Lord’s Day” alone.
But we must not be given to despair or depression
Because corporate worship will return.
Don’t get discouraged.
Don’t fall into despair.
Don’t become disturbed.
IT’S COMING BACK.
That is the self-encouragement of the prophet.
Well the Psalmist corrected himself after that first pity-party.
But the flesh is powerful
And there is another area that causes him to struggle.
The Drought of Corporate Worship
#2 FOR DROWNING IN PAGAN OPPRESSION
Psalms 42:6-11
The Psalmist begins here by taking his complaint to God.
“O my God, my soul is in despair within me; Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.”
• He is not in Jerusalem, he is not at the temple.
• He is further north near the “peaks of Hermon”
• He wishes he was near God.
• He wishes he could be in a place where true worship was occurring.
Instead he is in a place where it feels like he is being bombarded.
(7) “Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.”
That is poetic language speaking of one who is being battered by waves.
He can’t seem to catch his breath as he gets hit by wave after wave.
Or he likens it to be being under a waterfall
That just keeps thrusting him downward and he can’t escape it.
The oppression he is in is relentless.
• He is away from God’s house…
• He is away from true worship…
And whatever he is facing is just a relentless onslaught
Like waves battering him over and over and over.
Now, in that struggle he does know that he can run to God.
(8) “The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; And His song will be with me in the night, A prayer to the God of my life.”
• He knows that God is faithful.
• He knows that God is loyal.
• He knows that when he feels alone he can sing to the Lord
This isn’t a lack of faith in God or some concern
That he has no access to God at all.
He knows that.
The problem is that he is being bombarded by a pagan influence.
(9-10) “I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
Now we realize that those waves that bombarded him
Was “the oppression of the enemy”
He said it’s like “a shattering of my bones”
And they mock him continually.
Earlier he was frustrated at the apathy of God’s people.
Now he is frustrated at the zeal of the pagan.
When I read that I think about the apostle Paul in Athens.
Acts 17:16 “Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols.”
I think about Noah who was a preacher of righteousness in a world doomed to destruction.
I think about Lot
2 Peter 2:8 “(for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),”
Or we think about the frustrations of Jesus
• As He witnessed the mocking and bombarding of the religious leaders or people who only wanted Him for a quick fix but not for genuine repentance.
And that is frustrating.
Our mission team had that look on last Sunday evening in the meeting.
I told you this morning about that former pastor from Spur holding the banner at the gay pride parade in Houston that said, “I’m Sorry”
Now, it certainly frustrates me as I think about the message that those at the parade heard.
• They heard a wrong message.
• They heard a false gospel.
• Certainly that is grievous.
But what really just cut me was the reality of this nation
We live in where so many churches in the name of “Jesus”
Are living lives so contrary to the message of Christ.
I couldn’t imagine living in Houston trying to be a faithful proclaimer of the gospel.
• And then you realize some churches are out there apologizing at gay pride
rallies.
• Beyond that Houston is home of the infamous Joel Olsteen and his messages
of word faith prosperity.
It would just feel overwhelming
And you’d want to quit or give up or fall into a depression.
That is where the Psalmist was.
And yet again he was forced to correct himself.
(11) “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.”
There it is again.
Pick your head up.
“Hope in God”
He is “the help of my countenance”
He is the lifter of my head.
God is going to win this day.
Pagan oppression will not endure.
False prophets won’t win the day.
Peter said:
2 Peter 2:4-10 “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.”
We’ve read Revelation.
• We know what happens to the harlot of false religion.
• At the end the true gospel will shine forth.
• At the end the real Jesus will immerge.
• At the end all false religion will be gone.
Jude 14-16 “It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.”
It is one thing to be frustrated but don’t lose heart.
Don’t fall into despair.
Maintain hope.
Well, there’s one more reason why our Psalmist struggled.
The Drought of Corporate Worship
For Drowning in Pagan Oppression
#3 FOR GOD’S DELAY IN FIXING IT
Psalms 43:1-5
Well our Psalmists frustration is once again clear.
(1-2) “Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation; O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man! For You are the God of my strength; why have You rejected me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
It is a common frustration seen from the righteous in Scripture that they don’t understand why God would let the wicked seem so successful.
• It just doesn’t seem right that God would allow Joel Olsteen to have such a huge ministry with so many people.
• It just doesn’t seem right that the Pharisees would get to be the religious leaders in Israel.
Here he was standing for truth but wasn’t having any success.
He was rejected and mocked and maligned
And it didn’t seem like God was doing anything about it.
And that was frustrating for him.
And that is frustrating isn’t it?
When you strive to serve God with all your heart
But just don’t seem to be having the success of the false prophets.
The Psalmist is frustrated.
He is so frustrated that he just wants to go home.
He just wants God to bring him home back to the place where he can once again worship God like he remembered.
(3-4) “O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your dwelling places. Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And upon the lyre I shall praise You, O God, my God.”
I can only imagine missionaries at times feeling this way.
Sent out into a foreign land or a pagan land and desperately working but receiving nothing but shame and reproach.
It would be so frustrating.
I can understand wanting to come home.
I think of Joseph here.
• Sold by his brothers, wrongly imprisoned, undeservedly forgotten, rotting in an Egyptian prison just wanting to go home.
Daniel must have felt that way at times living in Babylon.
• Fighting to keep from defiling himself with food
• Fighting to keep a basic routine time of prayer
It must have been terribly hard.
AND WE CAN SEE THAT.
We wake up we turn on the news and see the pagan influence of our culture.
• We see the rise in false churches and false prophets telling the culture what their itching ears want to hear.
• We see church member falling into apathy about true worship
• And when we do try to stand we are branded haters and Pharisees and whatever else.
It’s not hard to imagine just wanting to be called home.
That is where the Psalmist was.
And once again he had to correct his thinking.
(5) “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.”
There it is again.
Get over it.
Hope in God.
The days of struggle will end and the days of praise will resume.
Philippians 2:10-11 “so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
We know the wicked will not stand.
And so we are called as believers not to fall into despair
Or depression just because the mission where we serve is hard.
• So corporate worship has lost its priority…
• So pagan influence is bombarding the world…
• So it doesn’t feel like God is stopping it…
What do you want to do?
• Do you want to quit?
• Do you want to give up?
• Do you want to go crawl into bed and mope about it?
• Do you want to have a pity party?
• Do you want to pout?
• Do you want to tell God that’s not fair?
DON’T
“Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence.”
I just want to close with one last passage.
TURN TO: ROMANS 8:18-25
That is where we dwell even in this world of suffering.
• We groan
• We desire full redemption
• But at the same time with eyes full of hope and “with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”
Don’t be depressed, hope in God.
