Psalm for Discouragement--42

Psalm for Discouragement

This is a wonderful Psalm for these difficult days in which we live–especially for those going through a hard trial of affliction. We don’t know who wrote this Psalm so we can think of it as a universal Psalm for all who know the Lord in the very difficult and low times of life. These things of trouble, trial, affliction are in everyone’s experiences. If you really understand what scripture says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?” And you see all the terrible things that human beings do to each other, the wonder is that in spite of all that there is so much good and beauty in the world. And we know why–because God restrains and prevents a lot of the evil that men would do to each other. In His Providence He preserves us–until His time for us–“the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” Psalm 139:16 NIV--but allows us to suffer. That’s what this Psalm is about: how do we go through suffering and hardship victoriously and joyfully? “As sorrowful and yet always rejoicing?” The answer is here.

Psalm 42

“As the deer pants after streams of water, so pants my soul after thee, O God.

Picture the terrible thirst of the wild deer in a dry and thirsty land where no water is!

The Hebrew word translated “pants” here is the “distressing cry of the doe making a mournful sound and eagerly seeking the cooling water. It seeks the streams of water with intense desire and plunges into the cooling streams probably seeking to escape from a lion seeking to kill it.

“My soul thirsts for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? Or “when shall I see the face of God”?! 43:4 The Psalmist wants to go into the very Presence of God Himself, “unto God my exceeding joy.”

Fellowship with God was far more important to him that anything in this life–all earthly enjoyments, riches, pleasures, honors. Do you have that intense desire for fellowship with God? Jesus said, “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.” Mt. 5:6 If you hunger and thirst after righteousness, you are thirsting after Christ for He alone is our righteousness.

Be glad with exceeding joy if you have intense desire for God–for that’s why God created us in the first place. Nothing in this world will satisfy the deep longings of your heart. Nothing. “Our souls are restless until they rest in Thee, O God,” St. Augustine wrote so many years ago. And C.S. Lewis put it this way, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”

And so we were. 2 Cor. 5:5 “God created us for this very purpose”–and you read the context the purpose was to share the glories of heaven and eternal life with us–in fellowship with Himself.

The Psalmist had this same intense desire for God–probably especially since he was being persecuted with the taunts of the wicked, in the midst of trouble, “Where is your God?!” surely said with a sneering tone. Satan’s goals have always been the same from the garden of Eden onward: first he wants you to doubt God’s sovereignty or God’s wisdom and then he wants you to doubt God’s goodness. He did so with Eve and he does so with all of us. He is a liar and the father of lies. But we have the demonstration of God’s power and goodness throughout history and throughout our lives in His daily providence, “God daily loadeth us with benefits” we’re told in another Psalm.

But he is discouraged in the midst of his troubles. And he doesn’t feel joyful or even thankful (and that may be a hint of his problems because those are the two things we need–spiritual joy given by God and a thankful heart so that we can say with Job, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” Or with the writer to the Hebrews,

“be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” Heb. 13:5-6

But in Psalm 42 the Psalmist is discouraged and THREE times he asks himself the same question, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?” WHY indeed?! There’s no reason to be! The future is still as bright as the promises of God.

“Why are you cast down” literally means “Why do you bow down” to temptation and taunts?! In the Hebrew it’s in the active voice–it’s something you do; it doesn’t just happen passively. (That’s why Jesus said, LET NOT your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid.”)

But the Psalmist wisely starts talking to himself, “Hey, man! Cut it out!” God didn’t “cast you down” you did it to yourself increasing your own troubles unnecessarily. Quit feeling sorry for yourself. God is still on His throne. He’s still the same sovereign Lord who said not a sparrow could fall without the Father–and “be of good cheer, Little Flock, you are of more value than many sparrows.”

An important truth is not clear in the KJV which says “hope thou in God.” The Hebrew word yachal means to wait; by implication, to be patient, to hope. And hope is a perfectly good word, of course, but in scripture it always means to hope or wait or look forward expectantly–look to God for He is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Actually there are three different Hebrew words for wait that mean about the same thing but they all have expectation as part of the meaning. Two NT words mean “to expect” or “to expect fully.”

Ponder these other verses in the Old Testament about waiting on the Lord:

Psalm 37:7. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.”

Psalm 27:14 “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”

Isaiah 40:31 “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

Jesus gives you the power to control those dismal feelings when he said, “LET not your heart be troubled, neither LET it be afraid.” He said that twice in John chapter 14:1. "Let not your heart be troubled;” and again in verse 27: "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

The Psalmist realizes that God is “my exceeding joy” and He knows from experience God’s goodness and kindness to him. So he complains once again in verses 6-7 NKJ “O my God, my soul is cast down within me; Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan, And from the heights of Hermon, From the Hill Mizar. Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me. “

He’s talking about the marvelous waterfalls falling from snow-covered Mount Hermon, water roaring down the mountainside until it reaches the source of the Jordan River and eventually winds its way to Lake Galilee that marvelous source of fresh water for all of Israel even today.

He feels like the waterfall is crashing down on his head and pulling him under the rapids. But Isaiah 43:1-2 “Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. . . .”

And the Psalmist knows that because the very next verse 8: “Yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. [There you have it! Praise God in spite of your troubles.]

I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” [He knows God has NOT forgotten Him, but it does seem like it sometimes, so he will quit “mourning because of the oppression of the enemy.”

“I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.”

Three times: v. 5, 11 & 43:5– God is the health of my countenance–He can put joy back into my face. The expression on our face–our countenance often reveals the thoughts and emotions of our heart. And He is “my God.” Well, if God is your God, then that means He has taken responsibility for you! So don’t worry about it. He is the Living God, the faithful God who does all things after the counsel of His own will. Trust God’s timing and God’s way.

“God my exceeding joy.” 43:4

Joy is part of the fruit of the Spirit. (Gal. 5:22) Jesus said that He wants His disciples to have “His joy”–“fulness of joy.” Joy is a gift from God and rejoicing is something we can do! It’s an ATTITUDE of thanksgiving and trust in God.

You rejoice in the midst of trials. “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, [you’re being tested] being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Whom having not seen, you love; in whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:” 1 Peter 1.6-8

There it is! That’s what we want: joy unspeakable and full of glory.

What blocks our joy that God gives? Sometimes it’s the sin of unbelief. Or the sin of bitterness! Or complaining! How can you complain against our God of grace? “Do everything without complaining or arguing.” Phil. 2:14 NIV.

Bitterness or an unforgiving spirit destroys joy and your whole relationships not only with God but with others. Heb. 12:15 “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God [fail to accept and use the grace and strength God is giving you; reach out and take it–with your empty hands of faith just as you did when you received Jesus as Savior–] lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby MANY be defiled. . . .”

It’s is a serious sin to become resentful towards God or His providence in your life. Confess that sin to God. Don’t have an unaccepting attitude towards God’s Providence in your life. Be willing to accept whatever comes to you from the good hand of your God! For He has promised never to leave you nor forsake you and promised also that NO TESTING would come your way but that which He gives strength to endure. 1 Cor. 10:13

You say you don’t know WHY God allows certain things to happen to you? Well, Job had a LOT more trouble than you or I have ever had and he asked God the “why” and God answered him! Read Job chs. 38-42 and you’ll see God’s answer. “Then God answered Job out of the whirlwind. . . .”

And what did God say? (Paraphrase) Job, where were you when I created the world? Tell me about the depths of the sea and the heights of the stars and the way the planets stay in orbit. If you can’t explain the most basic of questions, how are you going to understand all my good and gracious purposes.

Actually God has given a precise reason for what He allows in our lives. It’s in Romans 8:29 He tells us we have been “predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son” so He is in the process of making us more like Jesus and 2 Cor. 3:18 “we are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory”–by the Holy Spirit who is gradually changing us to be more and more like Christ.

And the Psalmist Asaph put it in a beautifully poetic way in Psalm 77:19 “Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.”

You cannot see God’s footprints but you can see the results of His actions in your life. Like a tapestry when you only look at the back side and see a helter-skelter of loose threads, but on the right side, on God’s side, His work in your life is beautiful, just like a magnificent tapestry.

And in that same Psalm 77 he changes the figure of speech and shows you the point of verse 19 by verse 20. “ Thou leddest thy people like a flock. . . .” “God leads His dear children along. Some through the waters, some through the flood, some through the fire, but all through the blood; Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song, In the night season and all the day long.”

Come back to our passage: why did the Psalmist appear to have lost his joy?! The answer is clear: because he became discouraged. How do you avoid that? Very simple: do exactly what Jesus said, Let not your heart be troubled or afraid. “Be anxious for nothing but in everything let your requests be made known unto God–and then you’ll have not only joy–but the peace of Christ which passes understanding shall keep your hearts and minds on Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4:6-7

Where is your ‘MIND’? Is every thought brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ? Col. 3 tells us where our minds should be: “Set your affections and set your minds on things above, not on things of the earth.” For you died with Christ and you live in the heavenlies with Him right now. Eph.

Don’t forget how Psalm 43 fits with Psalm 42. 43:2 “Thou art the God of my strength”–it’s to His strength we must look and not our own. Remember in 2 Cor.1 Paul said these troubles happened” “that we might not trust in ourselves but in God.”

Where do you find joy? In the Presence of God Himself. And where do you find God? In His Word (and He indwells your heart also if you know Him)–but look in His word and find joy. “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart” Jer. 15:16 “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth.” Psalm 119:103

Remember: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.” Psalm 34:19

“Be of good cheer,” Jesus said, “it is I. Be not afraid.” Mt. 14:27

                                                                          --Pastor Burnside