Dealing With

Spiritual Depression

(Pss. 42-43)

Heading

For the choir director. A Maskil¹ of the sons of Korah².

Structure

Psalms 42 and 43 comprise a single, beautiful poem³ in which the writer, exiled in far north Palestine (42:6), yearns to return to the temple in Jerusalem.

The psalmist is in an experience of spiritual depression. His soul is downcast and disturbed within him. Yet he does not acquiesce in his condition, but three times, in words that form a common refrain, he questions himself about his despondency and summons himself to hope in God (42:5, 11; 43:5).

He first expresses his yearning for God (42:1-5), and then reveals the depths of his distress (42:6-11). Finally, he prays that he might return to Jerusalem and to the Temple and its worship experience (43:1-5).

So the song is in three stanzas. Each begins with the psalmist’s lament, in which he addresses God or his readers, and ends with the common refrain, in which he addresses himself.

Outline

I. The Longing for the Living God (42:1-5)

II. Overwhelmed By His Enemies (42:6-11)

III. His Request to Return to Jerusalem (43:1-5)

Exposition

I. The Longing for the Living God (42:1-5)

As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So my soul pants for You, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God;

I say, “When will I go and appear in God’s presence?”

My tears have been my food day and night,
as they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?”
I remember and I pour out my soul within me.⁴
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 the holy festival.
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.

The psalmist first describes himself not as cast down, but as thirsty. He is thirsty for God, as a deer in the daylight sun pants for the water brooks. He is not thirsty for things God can give, but for God Himself – His presence, His communion, His glory. This is what C. S. Lewis described as “the appetite for God,” who is “the All-Satisfying One.” This should be the normative experience of every believer, for, as Augustine said, “Thou hast made us for Thyself, O God, and our hearts are restless, until they find their rest in Thee.”

The soul of man thirsts with a thirst that only God can quench (John 6: 35). We try to satisfy that thirst with created things (rather than the Creator), but all such things are like broken cisterns. They dry up. "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jer. 2:13)

God satisfies with water that never runs dry. And He delights in our drinking the water that is Christ, a water that eternally ultimately satisfies. For God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.

Asaph said, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:25-26)

David prayed, “In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” (Psalm 16:11)

Question: C.S. Lewis once wrote about the psalmists desiring God, that “these poets knew far less reason than we for loving [or desiring] God.”⁵ Is he right? Explain.

Notice that his thirst is due to two things. First, he is discouraged and spiritually dry because he cannot visit Jerusalem for the major festivals. He writes from northern Palestine (42:6), a temple singer in exile. The psalmist desires to experience God, and particularly in the Temple (42:2, 4) and in one of the great festivals⁶ (42:4). This should tell us something about the true heart of Israelite worship. The joyous, festive rituals of music, processions, and sacrifice provided opportunity for the satisfying experience of God Himself. That should continue to be the aim of every believer – to enter His presence in worship, and to experience Him genuinely, which is truly satisfying.

The second reason for his thirst is the opposition of men who taunt him, saying, “Where is your God?” (42:3, 10; c.f., 43:2). Because of their oppression, tears are his diet.

In his discouragement, the psalmist addresses himself: “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.”

Here is the therapeutic value of healthy self-talk. He does not give in to his unhealthy emotions. He speaks to himself, recognizing that his soul is weighed down as by a crushing burden, and inwardly disturbed like the raging waters of the sea (Psalm 46:3). But He asks himself, “Why?” And “within his repeated self-questioning is an implied rebuke. Instead of answering his own questions, or excusing himself, he immediately prescribes his remedy: he must trust or ‘hope’ in God. He must give up his introspection and self-pity, his wistful reminiscences and his pained resentment at he mockery of his enemies… The cure for depression is neither to look in at our grief, …nor round at our problems, but away and up to the living God.”⁷

He has a resolve and discipline of hope. He will accept nothing less.

II. Overwhelmed By His Enemies (42:6-11)

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.
Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls;
All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.
By day the Lord decrees his loyal love,

and by night he gives me a song,

A prayer to the God of my life.
I will say to God my rock, "Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because my enemies oppress me?”
As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me,
While they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?”
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.

This stanza is similar to the first. His soul is in despair. “Therefore, I remember You.” Looking to God is the remedy for his despair.

Then he describes his despair. He plays on the loud and threatening waterfalls, breakers and waves of the highwaters of the Jordan River to illustrate the waves of sorrow that are overwhelming him at he moment.

Yet in the midst of the flood of adversity, and longing to see God, but removed from the rituals that made Him seem so real, the psalmist is still mindful of the loyal love of God and his access to God in prayer. He will ask God why the Lord is not delivering him from the oppression of those who mock God for not answering him. In this way, he hopes to motivate God to deliver him.

The refrain is repeated. He is resolved to hope in God. Nothing less is acceptable to him, because nothing else is consistent with the “loyal love”⁸ of God and the songs He gives in the night (42:8).

Notice here that the refrain adds a lovely description of God as, “the help of my countenance and my God” (42:11). The help of my countenance is a figurative way of saying that the Lord restores my joy and its child, a smile. It is natural that a father wants to bring joy to his child. God is a great father, and wants to crown His children with a great joy. We should live with such an expectation, trust, and hope that He will.

William Carey once said, “Attempt great things for God. Expect great things from God.” We should live daily with a confident hope of great things from God, for He is the help of our countenance. And He is my God!

III. His Request to Return to Jerusalem (43:1-5)

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 my enemies oppress me?

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.
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.

The psalmist’s mood changes to one of confident trust that God will deliver him from the oppression and taunts of his enemy. Again he wants to return to Jerusalem (43:3-4). He prays that God will send out His light and His truth, which like guides in the desert will lead him safely back to meaningful worship and the nearness of God. Again he repeats the refrain, summoning himself to hope in God.

Causes and Cures of Depression

in Psalms 42-43

I. Causes of Depression

1. Forced absence from the experience of God in the collective festival. (42:1-2)

2. Opposition of unbelievers (42:3,10)

3. Memories of better days (42:4)

4. Overwhelming trials of life (42:7)

5. Failure of God to deliver in a timely way, as we see it (42:9)

II. Cures for Depression

1. Prayer (much of this psalm)

2. Biblical self-talk

3. Hope in God!