Well, good morning, church family. It is so good
to hear God's people fellowshipping and spending
time together. Happy Fourth of July. I think
Zach already said that. Fourth of July weekend,
we're a little bit thinner than usual, but if
you are, as Chris said, if you are new, I want
to welcome you. My name is Rob Bunch. I'm on
staff here as the Discipleship Coordinator. and
someone hopefully has found you already, maybe
many someones, and welcomed you, but if not,
please stop by the desk, either just out the
door or right there, and give us a chance to
say hi and pray for you, answer any questions
you might have. In addition to that, over the
summer, we change our rhythms a little bit. We've
been going through the Gospel of Mark starting
back in March. We do expository preaching. We
start at the beginning of a book, and we keep
going until we run out of verses. Over the summer,
we... Do something. We take a break and do something
different. This summer, it happens to be the
Psalms. And we have three more Psalms after today.
In addition to that, our normal preaching pastor,
Pastor Joe, is on sabbatical. He happens to be
worshiping with us this morning. But please treat
him as just a member that you can catch up with.
Don't pastor him. If you need to pastor someone,
Tony, Zach, and Tyler are all here. But for a
much -needed rest, we're so thankful that they're
able to do that. But that means that I'm the
not normal guy doing the not normal thing. We
trust that the Lord will bless you today with
his word. I have just one brief announcement.
As the discipleship coordinator, I do help out
with the community groups. And in a couple weeks,
you will get, the whole church I'll send this
out to, there'll be a registration form. And
it will have all of the community groups that
we have. And we've got two new starting. The
Browns are going to start one and the Stegals
will start one. They will all be empty. Which
means you need to register for a group. And that
might mean you want to register for the group
you're already in. That is totally fine. You're
in the right place with the right people. It
might be that you want to register for a new
group. You're at a different place in life. Your
kids are older. You need a different night. You
want to meet some new people. Whatever it is,
it's kind of like a reset or open enrollment
or whatever. Whichever group you fall into, we
are asking for a two -year commitment. We don't
want musical chairs. We don't want people...
I did this. I was in three community groups at
once, and I just kind of went to the one that
I was able to go to. So we've all done it. At
least I've done it. But we want to avoid that
because it takes time to get to know the people
in the groups, to pray together, to confess together,
just to feel comfortable. So please pray over
that. Think about that. If you've got questions,
ask me. Ask your community group leader. Like
I said, if you just want to reaffirm you're in
the right place, join your group. If you want
to go someplace new, you can chat with me or
with the community group leaders. It's never
going to be easier to change groups if you need
to. Okay? Thank you so much for giving me a few
minutes there. If you would please turn to Psalm
chapter 42. It will be up on the screen here.
I love to hear pages of the Bible turning, even
though we've got it on the screen and most of
you are looking up here. So while you're doing
that, those of you who have paper Bibles, Psalm
43 goes with this. I'm not going to read Psalm
43, but if you want to, just briefly pass through
it. It is probably the same psalm. It echoes
everything that happens in Psalm 42. Starting
in verse 1. So pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God? My tears
have been my food day and night. While they say
to me all day long, where is your God? These
things I remember as I pour out my soul. How
it would go with the throng and lead them in
procession to the house of God. With glad shouts
and songs of praise. A multitude keeping festival.
Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are
you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I
shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.
My soul is cast down within me. Therefore, I
remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
Mount Miser, who deep calls to deep at the roar
of your waterfalls. All your breakers and your
waves have gone over me. By day the Lord commands
His steadfast love, and at night His song is
with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say
to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me? Why
do I go on mourning? Because of the oppression
of the enemy. As with a deadly wound in my bones,
my adversaries taught me, while they say to me
all day long, where is your God? Why are you
cast down, O my soul? And why are you in turmoil
within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise
him, my salvation and my God. This is the word
of the Lord. It is an intimidating task to try
and preach this particular psalm. In one case,
the funny part, he doesn't really give any kind
of structure that I like. And so as I'm trying
to prepare, he just kind of emotionally vomits.
It's like he's in agony. And sometimes he's got
a couple powerful verses in there of hope, and
he's got a couple that are awful. And so I guess
I give him a pass for not thinking about my sermon
structure 3 ,000 years in the future. But in
the second case, it is intimidating to preach
because... I cannot possibly tell you how precious
this psalm is to my soul. It's a fantastic irony
because I'm a theology guy, a wannabe scholar
at one point. And I've had a tendency to think
the psalms are just fluff. It's praises and prayers
and confessions. I can do that. I do that every
week at men's group or community group. Why do
I need the psalms? If I ask you what's your favorite
book or what are some of your favorite verses,
and you go to the Psalms, maybe I would say out
loud, oh, that's great, there's a lot of power
in the Psalms. But underneath, maybe I'm thinking,
oh, you obviously don't know anything about the
Bible. Right? You should have said Romans, or
you should have said Hebrews, you should have
said Genesis. But you say Psalms because it's
easy. And that incredibly naive attitude is true
until it's not. Last week we had corporate prayer,
and at the top of the handout was a quote by
Athanasius. Athanasius was one of the early church
fathers. He has a really profound and powerful
exposition of the Psalms. Athanasius said, most
of Scripture speaks to us, but the Psalm speaks
for us. And this Psalm speaks for me. And when
you run into one, the weight and the power of
that Psalm becomes so very real. And this is
an honest warning. I have spent a significant
portion of my adult life where this guy is at,
or at least where I think he's at, saying the
things that he has said, feeling the things I
think that he has felt. And I want to be honest
as I go through and set a good example like what
he has. I hope it is so encouraging. This might
be the type of message where you have no idea
what I'm talking about. You've never been here.
Life is really good. It might resonate in a profoundly
powerful way. Whatever it is, when the darkness
and when despair finds you, and it will. Jesus
said, in this world you will have trouble. Job
said, as surely as sparks fly upward, man is
born to trouble. You will have troubling days.
I hope they're short. And in my case, for a variety
of reasons, it's been very long, and hopefully
it's not as intense as what this guy is experiencing,
but if it is, you will have your marching orders.
You will know where to go. You'll have Psalm
42 to fall back on and to find a place of hope
where you can find, as I have, there's been times
when I've tried to pray at night. I'm literally
by myself in my bedroom. It's just me and God,
and I can't finish a prayer. It's such a blessing
to know I can go to Psalm 42 and see a man inspired
by the Holy Spirit who is suffering and fighting
for joy and know that someone else has been there.
If there was ever a guy preaching a sermon to
himself and a whole bunch of people happened
to be in the room, this is it. Let's pray. Father,
would you please help your people to learn today
how to suffer well when we must suffer. and how
to fight for joy when we face despair and grief.
Teach us how to cling to your Son even when we
are broken and afraid and feel alone, even when
we cannot find joy or finish a prayer when the
world doesn't make sense and you seem far and
we are downcast. May we testify to the love you
have for us in those most horrible moments and
so shine the radiant love of Christ. In Jesus'
name, amen. I live on a farm. Don't make the
mistake of thinking I'm a farmer. I am a pretend
farmer, or the right word may actually be fool.
I spend a lot of money and time farming, and
I make no money. So I don't know what that makes
me, perhaps fool. But this past Tuesday, we have
cows. My mom, my sister, and I, we bought the
farm during COVID. We all have a house, and the
previous owner left some cows. We didn't want
to be cow farmers, or cattle farmers, I guess.
We didn't want to do beef, but we suddenly have
cows, and we have to do something with them.
And I didn't know anything about them. Whatever
you know now is at least as much as I knew then.
And I've had to learn fast. But this past Tuesday,
we lost one. Her name is Annie. Yes, I know,
you're not supposed to name them. A few weeks
ago, I noticed Annie had a growth on her eye.
and I called the vet. We sent some pictures,
and the vet came out on Tuesday, and she had
to do surgery. She had to remove some stuff.
Without getting into detail, we have a tunnel
that the cow goes into, and then we have these
two big iron clamps that kind of lock around
just in front of her shoulders so that she can't
move so the vet can do the surgery. And I turn
around. I was in the barn just close enough,
but I didn't really want to watch. I turn around,
and Annie is on the ground. And I walked over,
and the vet said it went really well. She didn't
lose too much blood, but she collapsed, and we
need to get her up. And that's something I have
learned about cows, is if they go down, you need
to get them up fast, because chances decrease
dramatically as time passes. And so she and I
are fighting to get this cow up, Annie up. My
mom, my sister, my brother -in -law all joined
in. There were five adults for 45 minutes desperately
trying to get Annie on her feet. And eventually,
the vet... with a couple minutes left, said,
yes, I think she wants to die. And eventually
she rolled on her side and passed away. It was
very, very horrible. There was a study. This
happens to people too. Annie just gave up the
fight for life. The trauma and the difficulty
and the pain was so great, she just stopped.
A University of Portsmouth study done in 2018
studied people. It's called a psychogenic death,
where you suffer some, like you hit a wall. something
horrible happens. You lose a loved one, a massive
injury, rape, or whatever it happens to be, some
dramatic trauma, and you shut down. And you give
up the fight for life. And if at any point you
were to stand up, Annie had the strength. She
didn't lose too much blood. She could have stood
up, but she didn't. And slowly you die just from
giving up on that fight. I think that happens
spiritually to Christians. That as Christians,
we run into those same things. You're going through
a horrible divorce. You witness something horrible.
You're treated in a horrible way. Whatever form
it takes. Eventually, you get to a place where
you say, I could never serve a God who... Fill
in the blank. There's a zillion things you can
put in there. I have done it. I'm sure most of
you have done it, at least if you're honest.
In that moment... If you don't choose to fight
back, you will shrivel up. Your soul will shrivel
up and you will die a spiritual, psychogenic
death. That is exactly why Psalm 42 is in the
Bible. It is our marching orders when you are
in that place. And maybe you don't know what
I'm talking about. And praise God that you have
been spared. But when you are in the place where
you have no answers, you cannot find God. There
is nothing but darkness around you. You know
how to fight and where to go. Okay? The point
of the message is this. When we are crushed,
we are called to fight. The word fight for hope.
Okay? And there are three examples that we get
in Psalm 42 how we are called to fight. First
of all, we need to acknowledge. Acknowledge where
we are at. The psalmist puts forth an incredible
example. Secondly, we need to remember who God
is. And third, sometimes those two are not enough.
Like in the case here with the son of Korah,
we have to preach to ourself. Okay? Let's get
back to the text here. At the very top of Psalm
42, just a couple things before we start in on
acknowledge. It says book two. What does that
mean? Well, there's a book one, right? Book 1
is the first 41 chapters of Psalms, and they
are exclusively Davidic. There's only Davidic
Psalms with four exceptions. They're anonymous.
There's no author. But David is the only one.
Book 2, there's a big change in the tone, and
I would love to go over it, but we don't have
time. Book 2 starts with this psalm, and it introduces
the sons of Korah. There's a psalm by Solomon.
Asaph has some psalms. David has some more. There's
some more anonymous. But the sons of Korah have
seven. Nathan did one last week, Psalm 84. Okay,
so next question. It says, to the choir master,
a maskeel of the sons of Korah. To the choir
master, what does that mean? This was meant to
be sung, right? This is a hymn, like what we
have. It just happens to be inspired by the Holy
Spirit. As much as I love great is thy faithfulness,
it was written, it wasn't inspired, although
I would say certainly inspirational. This was
a hymn that is in our scripture that was meant
to be sung. A maskeel, you can check your study
notes. We don't know what it means. For a long
time, it was translated a psalm of instruction.
It might have been some kind of musical term.
It sounds like the Hebrew word to teach or to
instruct, but they stopped translating it and
just started spelling a Hebrew word with English
letters because we don't know what it means.
Okay? We get to the next part, and this is more
interesting, the sons of Korah. If there's sons
of Korah, there must be a Korah, right? In number
16, if you don't remember this story, Korah is
a Levite, and he gets 250 of the leaders of Israel
together. So these aren't just, this is not a
ragtag group of people. These are, this is a
significant group of leaders within the people
of Israel. He gets them together, and he goes
and confronts Moses and Aaron. All three of these
men are Levites. Aaron is a Levite, Moses and
Korah. Aaron, though, is the priestly line. So
all priests are Levites because they're sons
of Aaron. But not all Levites are priests, and
that's where Korah falls. Moses is in charge.
And Korah says, hey, this isn't fair. Why do
you guys get to be, why do you get to have these
great jobs? We should get to have some too. And
God doesn't take this as rebellion against Moses
and Aaron. He takes it as rebellion against himself.
And the next day Moses says, if these people
die in a normal way, I'm not from God. But if
they die in a special way, a way you've never
seen before, then I'm from God. And sure enough,
the earth opens up and swallows them. Okay, that's
Korah. So the sons of Korah are that man's, one
of the most infamous rebels in Israel's history.
But if we hop forward in the story into Numbers
chapter 26, we have a funny little verse. I'm
going to start in verse 9. There's a genealogy
here. It lists off the sons of the other rebels.
It says, these are the people who contended against
Moses and Aaron in the company of Korah. when
they contended against the Lord, and the earth
opened its mouth and swallowed them up together
with Korah, when the company died, when the fire
devoured 250 men, and they became a warning.
Verse 11. Maybe I didn't give that to you. Verse
11. But the sons of Korah did not die. Isn't
that strange? Everybody else did. 250 men were
devoured, their sons and so on. Their lines are
wiped out, but the sons of Korah were not. We
hop forward to 1 Chronicles 6. This is David
in verse 31. There's another long genealogy.
It says, These are the men whom David put in
charge of the service of song in the house of
the Lord after the ark rested there. They ministered
with song before the tabernacle of the tent of
meeting until Solomon built the house of the
Lord. And they performed their service according
to his order. These are the men who served and
their sons, the Korahites. So David took these
people, the sons of one of the most, if not the
most, notorious rebel in Israel's history, and
put them in charge of the worship in the tent
of meeting until there was a temple, and then
they were in charge there. Skipping ahead one
more time into 2 Chronicles. This is in chapter
20. There's a war coming. Jehoshaphat and the
people are scared. There's a prophecy, and it
says, then Jehoshaphat, chapter 20, verse 18,
Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the
ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping
the Lord. See, the whole people have bowed. Verse
19, and the Levites... Can you imagine this?
There is a huge army coming, and you're just
told God is going to fight for you. You won't
have to do anything. The entire nation of Israel
bows down, and you have this group of men who,
again, are descended from this horrible rebel
that was swallowed up by the earth, and they
let up this massive song of praise to God. That
is who is writing this song. A man who has every
reason based on his heritage to not serve God.
God in his infinite mercy has spared these men
and not only spared them but elevated them to
this place where they are in charge of worship.
Keep that in mind as we go through because the
context here makes everything so much more powerful.
Okay? Point one is acknowledging where we are.
In verse one, most of you probably know this.
It says, as the deer pants for the flowing stream,
so pants my soul for you, oh God. When I was
growing up, growing up I guess I was in high
school, but in the mid -90s, I shouldn't have
said that. In the 90s, a song we sang was called
As the Deer. It's literally straight out of this
verse. And I always had the impression, I always
imagined when we sang that song, of a deer that
is walking up to a stream. Or is already drinking
from the stream. And his thirst is being quenched.
It's just this beautiful image of how much the
psalmist here is desperate for God. Just like
this deer is drinking the water. But that is
not the picture that he is painting for us. He
doesn't say as the deer drinks the flowing stream.
He says as the deer pants. You don't pant when
you're drinking. And you don't pant when your
thirst is quenched. This is a picture of a deer
that's in the wilderness and is going to die
if it doesn't find water soon. That's where this
guy is at. He is in a horrible dark place. He
wants God badly. I'm thirsty, Lord, and I'm going
to die pretty soon. Verse 2, my soul thirsts
for God. Again, there it is, thirst for God.
You don't thirst when you're satisfied. For the
living God, when shall I come and appear before
God? He's not, conclusion, right? He's not before
God. He wants to be. I'm thirsty, but I'm not
before God. That's where I want to be. Verse
three, my tears have been my food day and night.
This man is on the verge of tears all the time.
Ever been there? Have you ever been there where
one of your children says an innocuous request,
but it's phrased just the wrong way, and you
lose it, right? You start screaming, or you start
bawling. Or you bend over and you're trying to
get everything together. You're trying to mellow
out and you stand up and you hit the bottom of
your head or you hit the top of your head on
the bottom of a cabinet door and you just lose
it. You just have no margin. You're just broken
everywhere. That's where this man is at. He is
crying literally all the time. The second half
of verse three, while they say to me all day
long, where is your God? Conclusion? God's not
with him. Or at least the people around him look
and, where's your God? Why don't you find somebody
else? Because this God of yours clearly isn't
making you happy. You're awful. We don't like
being around you. Or maybe they're prodding him
and poking him. We keep going. We skip verse
5. Verse 7. We'll come back to verse 6 as well.
Verse 7. Deep calls to deep at the roar of your
waterfalls. All your breakers and your waves
have gone over me. Have you ever been there?
You're trying to swim. There's a wicked current
in the ocean. You're trying to swim back to the
beach. You're almost there, and then, bam, a
wave just knocks you back out to sea. And who's
sending the waves? It says the devil's waves.
It doesn't say that. Nature's waves. It doesn't
say that. It says your waves. I'm swimming in,
Lord, and you're knocking me back out to sea.
In verse 9, skip verse 8, verse 9, I say to God,
my rock, why have you forgotten me? That's, again,
everybody has said that, even if only in your
heart. We will come back to this one in a second,
but such a potent, horrible thing for this man
to say. In verse 10, there's more mocking. This
time it's straight taunting. My adversaries taunt
me. Where's your God? They're having fun with
him, fun at his expense. He's miserable. We have
a God. Right? Where's yours at? And then the
two stanzas, verse 5 and verse 11. It's also,
as I said, in chapter 43, verse 5, we have the
same stanza. He says three times in this chapter,
my soul is cast down. Twice he says, my soul
is in turmoil. And twice he says again. Cast
down, what does it mean? It doesn't mean anything
other than exactly what it sounds like. Sometimes
it's nice when the words mean just what they
say. He is in despair. What does turmoil mean?
It means he is afraid and anxious. He says, I
shall praise him again. That means, right conclusion,
he's not praising him right now. Someday I will.
I want to be praising him, but I'm not. I'm in
turmoil. I'm downcast. I'm broken. End of Psalm.
Right? That's how the Psalm ends. Why are you
cast down, O my soul? Why are you in turmoil?
Within me hope and God, for I shall again praise
Him, my salvation and my God. It ends on a note
of hope, but it isn't resolved. God doesn't take
away His despair that we know of. He doesn't
remove these taunting enemies. It's just, I'm
going to have hope. I will praise again, but
I'm not right now. End of Psalm. That's not how
it's supposed to be in the Bible. Right? We have
a hard beginning and then something really good
happens, right? Jesus comes or God comes in a
profound way and we get good resolution. Not
for this guy. Right? That's not how the psalm
ends. It is so important as Christians to acknowledge
where we are at. We can and we do experience
depression. If you haven't experienced it in
a profound way, at some point... It will find
you. Again, I hope for just a short period of
time, even though we are saved, we experience
these things. This is a valiant man of God. He
is fighting. He wants to praise. He wants to
hope, and he doesn't have it. We do experience
that, and you need to be able to acknowledge
it because you can't heal until you do. Pretending,
right? God doesn't look at me in my bedroom.
and I'm miserable, but I'm pretending that I'm
not. And he looks down and says, Rob, well done.
You're unhappy, and you're pretending you're
not, and that's a mark for holiness. That's not
a thing. There's a ditch on both sides of the
road. You can't live in misery and just acknowledge
all the time and be a huge dark cloud. That's
not godly. But it's not godly to pretend that
everything is always good, and that when you
sing Great is Thy Faithfulness every time, You
feel that God is faithful. Sometimes we don't.
And this man gives us an example. It is okay
to say that. Okay? The psalm is here so that
you have a place to go when you are broken and
downcast, when God seems far, when you're swimming
in and a wave just knocks you back out to sea.
As I said, I cannot tell you how many times I
have been there in my own bedroom. with no one
around but me and my God, and I just read scripture,
and I try and pray, and I say, Father, I know
that you love me, but I, and nothing else comes
out. And I feel horrible. I feel ashamed, and
I feel guilty. I went to seminary. I've been
in ministry. I work for the church, right? Whatever
it is, Christians aren't supposed to be like
that. And this valiant, valiant man, of course,
shows us it is okay. to struggle with God. He
is not afraid of you. He is bigger than your
despair. It is so encouraging to be able to come
here and see someone who has struggled. Remember
that most of Scripture speaks to us. The Psalms
speak for us. An important note of application.
For those of you who haven't been there, and
a good reminder for those of you who have, In
verse 9, he says, I say to God, my rock, why
have you forgotten me? That's blasphemy, isn't
it? You can't say that. You can't say, why have
you forgotten me? I give you a slew of verses
that show that God hasn't forgotten you. Why
does he say it if it's not true? This is inspired
scripture. It's in here. How can he get away
with that? Why doesn't God strike him down? He
knows God hasn't forgotten him. He just said
it in verse 8. Verse 80 says, by day the Lord
commands his steadfast love, and at night his
song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.
And then he immediately says, I say to God, my
rock, why have you forgotten me? Why would he
say that? Because he doesn't feel God being close.
What's the application? The truth matters, but
grace matters too. It's okay when you're with
someone who is suffering and wounded and hurt
to let it go. Watch their life. Let their life
dictate where they are at. If we go to Job chapter
6, I wish we could spend more time in Job. But
in Job, his friends have come to him and they
are beating him up. They are just ruthless and
preaching at him and picking apart his words.
And this is in chapter 6, verses 25 through 27.
He says, how forceful are your upright words.
He's saying this to his friends who are beating
him up. but what does your reproof from you reprove?
Do you think that you can reprove words when
the speech of a despairing man is wind? What
does that mean? He's not, don't lecture me, please.
I'm hurt, and I'm crying out. I'm trying hard
to find God. This isn't a theological debate.
Cry with me. Hurt with me. And these are the
type of people who in the next verse, Job says,
You're the type of people who would bargain for
your own friend. You'd go and find orphans and
you'd sell their stuff. I'll make an example
of myself here. In my mid -late 20s, I was a
young, reformed doofus with everything to prove.
Right? My sister was trying to have a baby. Infertility
was plaguing. It was a long, long fight. And
she was crying one night. And I did exactly the
right thing. I went and I said, Jamie, it's okay.
Romans 8, 28. It says, all good things work for
the good of those who love him and call according
to his purpose. That was the wrong thing to say.
It was true. It still is true. But it was the
wrong thing to say. Give me the C .S. Lewis quote
from The Problem of Pain. The Problem of Pain.
is C .S. Lewis' intellectual dealing with pain.
So he tries to solve intellectually how pain
and suffering can exist. But he says, I'm not
so fool as to try and help you suffer through
pain. He says, when pain is to be born, a little
courage helps more than much knowledge, a little
human sympathy more than much courage, and the
least tincture of the love of God more than all.
Knowledge is at the bottom of that list. I'm
not saying it's not valuable. It's one of the
things I... Wisdom is one of my most precious
gifts. But when pain is to be borne, right, from
the top down, at least tincture of the love of
God, and then a little human sympathy, and then
much courage, and then a little bit of knowledge.
Jesus loves sinners. He is patient with sinners.
Suffer with... With your brothers. We'll come
to the verse in a minute. It's why it's so important
to be in a church where people can fight alongside
you. Point number two, remembering who God is.
You have to acknowledge first. You can't use
the knowledge of God unless you've acknowledged
where you are at. But that's an awful place to
end. To just say I'm sad and do nothing about
it is not godly. And atheists can do that. Lots
of atheists do that. Lots of people like to complain,
but don't ever move forward. Let's go back to
the same verses and see how the psalmist frames
everything. He frames that same despair, but
he frames it in a very, very special way. Verse
1, right? As the deer pants, right? I'm thirsty,
but I'm thirsty for God. He's not abandoning.
He could go find something else. It would make
a lot of sense. I'm really unhappy. I should
go find something that makes me happy, right?
Alcohol, drugs. sex, whatever it happens to be,
go pursue something else. He hasn't done that.
He's still after God. Verse 2, and Tony will
go over Psalm 63 next week. In verse 2, he's
not just wondering when he'll be able to come
before God because he's sad. He wants to be happy,
and he knows when he's in God's presence, he
will be. Why not find happiness somewhere else
if God can't provide it? Psalm 63, 1. Again,
Tony will have this next week. My soul thirsts
for you in a dry and weary land where there is
no water. Why don't you go somewhere else, son
of Korah? In verse 4, he says, These things I,
there's our word, remember as I pour out my soul.
And what does he remember? He remembers going
with the throng. He remembers leading the procession.
This is a son of Korah. He was leading the people
into the house of God so that it would sing.
Glad shouts, songs of praise. Multitude keeping
festival. He remembers the good times and he
knows God was there and he can find him again.
Nathan's psalm hit on this a lot last week, Psalm
84. The temple of the Lord was a big deal. It's
where God was present. It's where the people
of God were present. He's not there, but he knows
if he can get back there, that's where he'll
find God. It's so important to be among God's
people so you have somebody to fight with. And
on that note, even this morning, but there have
been so many mornings when I have shown up and
I am downcast. Yesterday I struggled with God.
I can't seem to pray or whatever it happens to
be. And I come in and you guys are singing. And
maybe you're struggling too. Right? Maybe you
sound awful. But you're here. You're here for
me. God, I always think that the reinforcements
to help me fight it is this huge, huge army of
like Viking angels. They're 20 feet tall. But
you, sorry lot, are my army. I'm yours. I wish
I was better. I'm sorry. But you're all I have.
You're who God commissioned. And I come here
and you're singing about God. And there's hope.
God's good. Great is his faithfulness. I don't
think so, but Joe's singing, right? And Shane's
singing. And Heather's singing. There's hope
among the people of God, and God is here with
us. In verse 5 and verse 11, he calls God his
salvation. Can you say that in good times? Because
if you can't say it in the good times, you definitely
won't be able to say it in the bad times. Why
are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you in
turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again
praise him, my salvation and my God. You have
to be able to reinforce yourself when you're
in the right place so that you can remember that
when you're not. When you're crushed. Verse 6,
he pouring out his soul. I hope you noticed this
word in verse 6. It says, and my God, my soul
is downcast within me. Therefore. What is it
doing there? Right? What is therefore, therefore?
My soul is downcast within me, so I'm going to
do something, and the thing I'm going to do is
remember you. Right? That's such a funny thing
to say. In a minute he's about to say, God forgotten
me, but right here he's saying, my soul is downcast
within me, therefore. I'm going to remember you.
And then we go to verse 8. Skipping over the
breakers. By day the Lord commands me his steadfast
love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer
to the God of my life. What is this verse doing
here? We talked about it already, but in verse
7, he just said, your waves are sending me out
to sea. I'm swimming in and you're sending me
back out. Verse 9, why have you forgotten me?
Right in the middle, he has this goofy verse.
By day, the Lord commands a steadfast love. At
night, his song is with me. Miscarriage is something
that most of us have had to live with in some
form or another. At least two couples I know
went through this book. It's called The Moon
is Always Round. And if you haven't read it and
you end up there, this book will wreck you. But
it is written by a seminary professor. and it
follows a little boy asks his dad. It is literally
a children's book. This will be in the library.
I got it at the Resource Center if you need it.
It is not complicated. It is very simple. Children's
book. And this little boy asks his dad, why does
the moon always change shape? And it follows
his mother's pregnancy. It's a little slice today.
It looks like a shriveled up orange today. And
his father, every time he says that, his dad
says, no, the moon is always round. And at the
end of the book, again, it will wreck you in
the right moment, but at the end of the book,
there's this scene. And if you can't see it,
it's a funeral. The birth was a death, and she's
stillborn. And the father says to his son, what
shape is the moon, son? And his son says, It's
always round. I hope you can see the metaphor
here. The God is always good. The reason the
moon looks like it changes shape is because the
sun hits it with a different amount of light.
Sometimes you can't see it at all. Sometimes
it's a tiny sliver. Sometimes it's big and beautiful
and round, but it is always round. That's what
verse 8, the psalmist is saying the moon is always
round. Right before it, he said your breakers
and your waves. They are crushing me. Verse 9,
he says, my God, why have you forgotten me? Right
in between, he says, remember, the moon is always
round. And I don't know if that means anything
to you, if you find yourself in despair, but
say it anyway. The God is always good. Don't
take that verse out of context. It is so much
more beautiful with verse 7 and verse 9 around
it. If I hop to Lamentations, this is such a
dreadful book to read. It's Jeremiah writing
about the despair of the people of God. He says
some awful things. He says, God is a bear lying
in wait for me. He says, God has bent his bow
and sent me as a target for his arrow. He drove
into my kidneys the arrow of his quiver. These
are awful things to say and to hear. And then
verse 21, out of nowhere, he says, but this I
call to mind, and therefore I have hope. The
steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His
mercies never come to an end. The moon is always
round. In verse 9, he says, I say to God, my
rock, why have you forgotten me? The one, why
does he say rock, right? Do you know a story
about a rock? I say to God, my rock, why have
you forgotten me? To who? The one I built my
house on. The one who doesn't shake. He knows
God hasn't forgotten him. I'm so sorry this man
suffered so badly. But I'm so glad he did. So
he would be moved to write this incredible song.
So that the Holy Spirit inspired these haunting
words so that we can remember who God is. William
Cowper, we'll sing one of his songs in a minute.
I'd give you more detail, but we're running low
on time. He was an Englishman. He was trained
as an attorney. He tried to commit suicide four
times. He believed he was out of God's reach,
out of the reach of God's mercy. And he constantly
struggled with... overwhelming depression, believing
he was eternally damned. That man, not too far
off from this son of Korah, wrote these words.
From God Moves in a Mysterious Way. Ye fearful
saints, fresh courage take. The clouds ye so
much dread are big with mercy and shall break
in blessings on your head. The clouds you're
so afraid of. Joe mentioned this a couple weeks
ago, a quote from C .H. Spurgeon. I have another
book of his called Spurgeon's Sorrows. This will
be in the library too if you need this. But God
sends us the best love letters have black singed
envelopes. Those clouds you're so afraid of,
those are big with mercy and they will break.
And when they do, it will be blessings on your
head. He wrote this. This is the song we'll sing
for communion. Eres since by faith I saw the
stream. Thy flowing wounds supply. Redeeming
love has been my theme and shall be till I die.
I'm so sorry that William Cooper suffered so
badly, but I'm so thankful that he did. To write
something like that, that we can sing centuries
later and see depression does not disqualify
from faith, but you have to remember, you have
to be that voice. God can bring forth praise
from affliction. Even people who feel abandoned
can still be used to declare his mercy. Right?
William Cooper tried to commit suicide four times
and still to the day he died struggled with whether
he was saved. Wrote, redeeming love has been
my theme and shall be till I die. Third point,
we have to preach to ourselves. Sometimes it's
simply not enough to sing great is thy faithfulness.
Sometimes it's not enough to quote scripture
to yourself. For this guy, it's not. So we have
number three. We have to preach to ourselves.
You have to acknowledge before you can remember.
Remembering is what matters. Sometimes remembering
who God is and what he's done isn't enough. And
you have to preach. You have to fight for yourself.
He's not winning. He's not winning yet. But he
is not going to die a psychogenic death. He says
in verse 5, why are you cast down on my soul?
And why are you in turmoil within me? Here's
the preaching part. Hope in God's soul, for I
will praise him again, my salvation and my God.
The most formidable book on Psalm 42. If you
look around for an exegesis or an exposition
or something on Psalm 42, you will run into this
book, Spiritual Depression by D. Martin Lloyd
-Jones. This is in the library too. And at the
beginning of the book, the moon is always round
is simple and potent. That book, if you need
more substance, is really powerful. At the very
beginning of the book, he writes this. Self,
can you give me the first quote, Joe? He says,
have you realized that most of your unhappiness
in life is due to the fact that you are listening
to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take
those thoughts that come to you the moment you
wake up in the morning. Somebody's talking. Who
is talking to you? Your self is talking to you.
Now this man's treatment in Psalm 42 was this.
Instead of allowing this self to talk to him,
he starts talking to himself. How very strange.
Why art thou downcast, O my soul, he asks. His
soul had been addressing him, crushing him, so
he stands up and says, Self, listen for a moment,
and I'll speak to you. What does that look like?
Right? You wake up. Or you're driving your car.
Or you're watching a baseball game. You're in
line at the grocery store. You're reading your
Bible. You're sitting in church. And self comes
to you and says, Rob, God doesn't love me. I
don't think God loves me. He's forgotten me.
What will you do? Will you do what Annie did
and just sink and give up? Will you die a psychogenic
death and just accept it? It's slow. Or will
you say, that's not true, self. Right? Just like
in the quote, self, that's not true. Look here.
It's in 1 John 3. It's in Zephaniah 3. And self
comes back and says, all the evidence is to the
contrary. God wouldn't let this happen to me.
Right? Look how I care for this silly cow. Why
can't God care for me as much as I care for this
silly cow? That's not true, self. It doesn't
matter what you think. Look here, Isaiah 43.
Look here at Romans 5. And sometimes that's still
not enough. And self comes back one more time.
And you have to grab self and say, no. I will
hope in God. You will hope in God, self. You
will praise him again. Maybe not today. And maybe
it's weeks. Maybe it's months. God help us, maybe
it's decades. But you will hope in God. You will
listen to meself. I will not listen to you. That's
the way you live the Christian life, when you're
crushed. That's what God is asking us to do here
in Psalm 42. This valiant, brave man fighting
for hope. Last quote, Joe, I suggest. From the
same book. He says, I suggest that the main trouble
in this whole matter of spiritual depression
is this. We allow ourself to talk to us instead
of talking to ourself. The main art in the matter
of spiritual living is to know how to handle
yourself. You have to take yourself in hand gently.
You have to address yourself, preach to yourself,
question yourself. You need to say to your soul,
why are you downcast? What business have you
to be disquieted? And then, You need to go and
remind yourself of God, who he is, what he is,
what he's done, what God has pledged to do. Then
having done that, end on this great note. Defy
yourself. Defy other people. Defy the devil and
the whole world and say with this man, hope in
God. I will praise him again. My salvation and
my God. That is a God glorifying, God praising.
God -focused man or woman. And I'm not saying
it's easy, and I'm not saying I succeed very
often. But that is how you fight for your hope.
Lee Strobel was a journalist. Ben, you can start
making your way up. He wrote a book called Case
for Faith. And in it, he interviews a guy named
Chuck Templeton, Charles Templeton. He was an
evangelist. He was good friends with Billy Graham.
He toured around, was a big deal, and eventually
lost his way, did a 180, and became an atheist
or an agnostic. I can't remember. And Lee Strobel
was interviewing him, and he's just railing on
God. He hates God, right? He could never serve
a God who allows so much suffering and pain and
misery in the world. And he's just going on and
on and on. And eventually Lee Strobel interrupts
him and he says, Chuck, what about Jesus? And
Templeton broke down weeping and said, I miss
him so much. In these quiet, dark moments, at
least for me, the thing I want to do, just like
this son of Korah here, I want to wrap my arms
around the father. I'm afraid and I'm alone and
I need something to grab onto. But the Father's
big, big, big, right? In Isaiah 6, he's holy,
holy, holy. And I'm small, small, small. My tiny
arms can't get around him. He's unsearchable.
He's transcendent. He's unknowable. And as awful
as this sentiment sounds, can the Father really
help me in my despair? And that statement would
be... The answer to that statement would be no.
Except for John 1 .14. The Word became flesh.
I can't wrap my arms around the Father in those
most horrible of moments. You can't either. This
man, this son of Korah, he can't either. He was
looking forward. We look back. Jesus wore your
clothes. He ate our food. He bled our blood.
He is the knowable God. You can wrap your arms
around him. Right? He was forgotten so you're
not forgotten. He was abandoned so you're not
abandoned. He won the fight so you don't have
to win the fight. And the point there, you might
not be able to appreciate that in that moment.
But make no mistake, you're not saved and you
don't have hope because God just forgave you.
You have hope because God condescended. Because
Jesus came down and became knowable and we can
wrap our arms around the Son. And He is eternally
attached to the Father. And you have come to
the place where God desires for you. The Father
has infinite love for us. He sent the Son. He
saw in eternity, I've lost my people and I want
them back. Son, go and get them back for me.
But Jesus said in John 14, 6, you won't be able
to come to him except through me. So whether
you're just putting this sermon or this psalm
in your back pocket for the day when this finds
you or whether you're in the lowest moment right
now. Remember at least this. It is not your responsibility
to win your fight against your despair. Jesus
has already won. Your job is to stay in the fight.
Do not surrender. Preach to yourself. Hope in
God. I will praise him again no matter what today
looks like. This psalm has no teeth without Jesus.
But because he has won the victory. you can have
hope. Let me read briefly in response to this
psalm. This is the end of chapter 27. This is
of David. He says, I believe that I shall look
upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of
the living on this side of eternity. Wait for
the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage.
Wait for the Lord. Let's pray. Father, thank
you that I can come to you. We can come to you
because of what Jesus has done. You are approachable
through your Son. And I pray that you will help
us to be crushed well when we must be crushed,
that we will fight for hope in you when we are
empty, that you will give us Psalm 42 as a shield
to remember we will praise you again, that you
will fill us up, that we are not forgotten because
you were forgotten. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.