DEPRESSION-Psalm 42-43

Old Testament, Psalms, Sermons

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God” (Ps 42:1). “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (Ps 42:5, 11; 43:5).

“D” words from translations of Psalm 42, 43: downcast, disturbed, discouraged, depressed, dejected, disquieted, cast down. Also: so sad, troubled, groan, upset, unease, restless, perplexed, in turmoil.

When downcast, disturbed and discouraged:

  1. The drought (Ps 42:1-5)–thirsty. Looking back: God in the past. A remembrance of the past.
  2. The depths (Ps 42:6-11)–drowning. Looking around: God in the present A reflection of the present.
  3. The release (Ps 43:1-5)–delivered. Looking ahead: God in the future. An anticipation of God’s presence and deliverance.

* Psalm 42-43 is one of the most sadly beautiful of the psalms.

 
Ps 42:1. This poignant famous line reflects the distinctive tone of this supplication: instead of emphasizing his suffering he expresses above all his passionate longing for God. He addresses God but feels distant from God, removed from the Temple, plagued by enemies (Ps 42:3-4). “I” is the intensive form of the 1st-person pronoun, nafshi, abundantly used in this psalm, and translated as “my whole being” (Alter). “pants” (NIV), “yearns” (Alter), “craves” (Motyer) refers to the sound a thirsty deer makes as it drinks, or to the animal’s bending its neck toward water.
 

Ps 42:4. Adverse conditions create an optimum context for reflection. The period of exile was the transition between the old age and the new age. The transition period is immensely difficult for the godly (Ps 137; Lam 1-5). The pouring out of the soul is an expression of the intensity of one’s emotions. 

 
Ps 42:5. Inner feelings express themselves in:
  1. Questions.
  2. Despair.
  3. Hope in God.
Faith and doubt are twins. When doubt and despair seems to triumph, true faith calmed its questions. Faith answered. Faith despairs and in despair, hopes. This “self–talk” is the major refrain of Psalm 42-43; a dialogue between the 2 aspects of the believer. We live in eternity, with a mind stayed on God, but also in time, where mind and body are under pressure from troubles in this life, including our sin. Do we take seriously both aspects of our existence? Was his distress avoidable? Unendurable? Did it shake his faith?
   
Martyn Lloyd-Jones: “I say that we must talk to ourselves instead of allowing ‘ourselves’ to talk to us! …the main trouble of spiritual depression is that we allow our self to talk to us instead of talking to our self. This is the very essence of wisdom in this matter. Have you realised that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? …understand that this self of ours, this other man within us, has got to be handled. Do not listen to him; turn on him, speak to him, exhort him, encourage him; remind him of what you know, instead of listening placidly to him and allowing him to drag you down and depress you. We must stand up as this man did and say ‘Why my soul are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God (Ps 42:5, 11; 43:5).'”
A sense of abandonment by God is expressed in all lament psalms. “Why do you delay when I need you?” as in this psalm to the ultimate abandonment expressed in Psalm 22, or Psalm 88. Being in trouble he consistently senses that God is far away, slow to act. Help never comes quickly enough for the one in pain. But as he pours out his soul in anguish (Ps 42:4) and his soul is downcast (Ps 42:5), he remembers God (Ps 42:6).
 
Remembrance and forgetting (both divine and human). Memory is important in the O.T., appearing > 350 times {the verbal root zkr   [zāḵar] and all its related nouns} (Ps 42:4, 6)}. When other idiomatic expressions that do not use zkr are included (“bring to mind,” “keep in your heart”), concern with memory is even more pervasive.
 
“Remember” in the OT is akin to our “recall.” But for Israel it is never as simple as bringing to mind a set of feelings or facts. Almost without exception, a call to remember is at the same time a call to action. It’s a call to remember God–Yahweh in order to remain faithful to him:
  • Remember the commandments and keep them.
  • Remember God’s wonderful acts and praise him [among the worshipping congregation in the temple].
  • Remember God’s deliverance in spite of our lack of righteousness and be humbly dependent on him.
Memory is never passive but requires an active response to what is remembered. To remember God is to ground one’s life in and on him and so to draw all of one’s life decisions and actions out of that foundation.
 

Why is forgetfulness so tragic and condemned in the O.T.? Because it is not a simple passive loss of memory but a willful resistance or rejection of memory and a consequent failure to act appropriately. To forget God is to resist making the connection between who God is and how one is to act in response. It’s to act as if God has no claim on me that embodies this forgetfulness. To forget God is not simply to lose memory of God’s name, deeds, and commandments, nor even to fail to call him to mind. Forgetting God is a willful act of “unlearning,” whereby rebellious humans reject what they have known and–through lack of commitment, disobedience, and refusal to live by the truth–seek to create a world in which God does not act or even exist. So they say, “Where is your God?” (Ps 42:3, 10)

 
* Refrain: “Self–talk” (Ps 42:5, 11; 43:5). Recall that God is my Savior! Thus, the reason for hope and praise. But when we listen to ourselves, we tend to dwell on bad news. But when we speak to our souls, we can dwell on gospel truth.

* Quote: “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?” Martyn-Lloyd Jones.

 
* Note: Question “Why” 9 times (Ps 42-43: Ps 42:5, 9, 11; 43:2, 5).

* Warning: There is great danger when you forget God, forget his mighty works, and forget the church–the worshipping community of faith.

* Questions: Do followers of God face tough times? Face troubling times of anguish, agony and anxiety and a sense of defeat, despair, discouragement, drowning, dryness, darkness, dejection and depression? Why (Ps 22:1)?

* How do you counter the defeating sense of being abandoned by God in Psalm 42 and 43? How does the Psalmist deal with his feelings of abandonment with his trust in God?

* How do his expressions of sorrow reflect your own experiences in times of hardship (Ps 13:1-2, 38:2; 51:3-4; 22:1-2)?

* When God is silent (Ps 28:1; 83:1; Job 30:20), what truths help you put one foot in front of the other?

* Do you remember God’ work and presence in your life?

* Does God’s song in the night (Ps 42:8) encourage you?

* Does the community of believers helping the discouraged (Ps 42:4)? Why is the church and community worship important for Christians?

* Do you listen to yourself OR talk to yourself? Does self-counseling help you?

* Are my circumstances due to my sin (Psalm 32, 51)?

* Should I change my circumstances or wait until God acts? [Elijah by the brook; Joseph in prison in Egypt; Victor Frankl.]  

* If I can’t change my circumstance, how can I change my perspective? [An ambassador in chains or a mere prisoner.]

* Does God’s sovereign control of the situation comfort you?

 
Life together: Communal worship in response to individual suffering. Psalms are replete with communal laments, communal praise, communal thanksgiving. Individuals come together in worship to lament or celebrate their lives together, focus on the experiences of the individual: laments, praise, thanksgiving, instruction. The individual is not swallowed up in society, but neither is society disbanded in favor of the individual, which places the individual in the midst of the worshiping congregation (Ps 31:1-22, 23-24). Israel understands the interweaving of individual and community in worship (Ps 30, 32, 34, 52, 64, 66).

* The one delivered from trouble brings sacrifices of thanksgiving to the temple and stands among the congregation proclaiming his faithfulness.

* The one who still suffers does not sing laments in isolation but proclaims his or her need in the congregation and seeks hope there.

Strength in numbers. He/she can encourage, challenge or admonish the community toward faithfulness, endurance or repentance (Ps 51:13, 18-19). The community can provide a collective memory of the mighty acts of God that exceeds the memory or experience of one and provides the continued context for enduring faith, hope and love.
Anguish of Alienation from God. Hoping in the Lord‘s Salvation. It’s an honest, human experience, especially in difficult times, to ask why? Why am I experiencing this hurt, this sadness, sorrow and suffering? Why does God seem unconcerned? Why can’t I shake this sense of loneliness? Why do I feel unfulfilled? Why, if I’m doing the things I’m supposed to be doing, does God still feel distant? Psalm 42 expresses such queries. The unfettered emotions present invite us into an experience of theology with hands and feet. It is to speak truth to your heart even as you are enticed by the lies of despair. The joy of experiencing a confident trust in the Lord one day, or one moment, only to feel the joy sliding away, as you receive another bit of bad news or some previously unconsidered challenge makes its way to the forefront of your mind. This is the dance of discipleship as we, partnered with the Spirit, learn the steps of the Christ-life and live them out in our own day-to-day lives. Psalm 42-43 invites you to bring your doubts, hopes, and disappointments to God, and allow its words to give voice to the cries of your heart. Learn through these words what it means to practice the application of truth as you trust the Lord each moment of each day.
References:
  1. Tremper Longman III & David E Garland. Psalms. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary. 2008. Psalm 42-43: Anguish of Alienation from God. Hoping in the Lord‘s Salvation.
  2. Talk to Yourself, Not Listen to Yourself (Tim Keller).
    1. Pour out your soul to God (Ps 42:4). Get in touch with God, with your feelings.
    2. Self-dialogue (Ps 42:5). He’s not talking to God nor to readers but to himself. We must talk to ourselves instead of allowing ourselves to talk to us.
    3. Reorder your hopes (Ps 42:5; 103:2).
  3. John Stott. Favorite Psalms. 1988. Psalm 42-43: The Causes and Cure of Spiritual Depression.
    1. The causes of spiritual depression.
    2. The cure for spiritual depression.
  4. Tim Keller. The Songs of Jesus. 2015.
  5. Gerald Wilson. Psalms Vol 1. The NIV Application Commentary. 2002.
    1. Longing to Meet God (Ps 42:1-5). Thirsty from drought.
    2. Overwhelmed and Forgotten (Ps 42:6-11). Drowning in the depths like Jonah.
    3. Plea for Vindication and Joyous Return (Ps 43:1-5).
  6. John Goldingay. Psalms for Everyone, Part 1. 2013. Psalm 42: Where Is Your God? Psalm 43: When Life Continues to Be Darkness. 
  7. Derek Kidner. Psalms 1-72, 1973. Psalms 73-150, 1975. Psalm 42-43: Far From Home.
    1. The drought (Ps 42:1-5).
    2. The depths (Ps 42:6-11).
    3. The release (Ps 43:1-5).
  8. Alec Motyer. Psalms by the Day. A New Devotional Translation. 2016. Psalm 42-43: Downcast Soul: Up-beat God.
    1. Looking back: God in the past (Ps 42:1-5).
    2. Looking around: God in the present (Ps 42:6-11).
    3. Looking ahead: God in the future (Ps 43:1-5).
  9. Robert Altar. The Hebrew Bible. A Translation with Commentary. 2019.
  10. Feeling Down, Looking Up. Skip Heitzig.

Lessons to Learn:

  1. Even followers of God/Christians face tough times and are not exempt from them.
  2. Tough times should lead Christians to thirst for God.
  3. Thirst is quenched by faith (Ps 42:5, 11; 43:5). Faith is being sure of what we hope for (Heb 11:1) in loneliness, fear, anxiety, depression, feeling of abandonment, when it seems that God is not listening, has forgotten him, or hidden his face from you, or not going to deliver you. Present tense longing is met by God’s past tense faithfulness and God’s future tense promises.
  4. God is always the answer.
I’d Rather Have Jesus Song by Jim Reeves.
I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold
I’d rather be His than have riches untold
I’d rather have Jesus than houses or land
I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand
Than to be the king of a vast domain
And be held in sin’s dread sway
I’d rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today
I’d rather have Jesus than worldly applause
I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause
I’d rather have Jesus than worldwide fame
Yes, I’d rather be true to His holy name
Number of Views: 1,281