Lamenting Despondency: Remembering God

[0:00] We are in Psalms 42 and 43 today, so if you would open your Bibles there. I will be preaching from both Psalm 42 and 43, since they were most likely in their original composition a single psalm.

[0:15] And we know that because many of the surviving Hebrew manuscripts present them together as one psalm, and because they share the same theme and refrain, as you will see as we read through them.

[0:25] And so far in this series in the Psalms of Lament, we have talked about focusing on turning to God rather than withdrawing from Him. And then we also talked about groaning to Him in lament and appealing to Him to act on the basis of His character.

[0:39] And today we are going to talk about the fourth step of lament, of remembering who God is and what He has done. Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.

[0:55] Father, we long for You. We do pant for You.

[1:12] But we need You even more desperately than we ourselves know. So won't You press us this morning with that need?

[1:25] So that we leave this place as people who desperately fling themselves onto Your arms, into Your care. People who trust You and praise You.

[1:47] Even when we don't feel like it. Even when our souls are downcast. So form us now in the preaching of Your Word.

[1:59] To be such people. For Your glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. If you are willing and able, please join me and stand for the reading of God's Word.

[2:15] From Psalms 42 and 43. To the choir master. A maskil of the sons of Korah. As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for You, O God.

[2:32] 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 the day long, where is Your God?

[2:47] These things I remember. As I pour out my soul. How I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God. With glad shouts and songs of praise.

[2:58] A multitude keeping festival. Why are You cast down, O my soul? And why are You in turmoil within me? Hope in God.

[3:09] For I shall again praise Him. My salvation and my God. My soul is cast down within me. Therefore, I remember You.

[3:20] From the land of Jordan and of Hermon from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the roar of Your waterfalls. All Your breakers and Your waves have gone over me.

[3:32] 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?

[3:46] Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me. While they say to me all the day long, Where is Your God?

[3:59] 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.

[4:12] Vindicate me, O God. And defend my cause against an ungodly people. From the deceitful and unjust man deliver me. For You are the God in whom I take refuge.

[4:24] Why have You rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Send out Your light and Your truth. Let them lead me.

[4:36] Let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your dwelling. Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy, And I will praise You with the lyre, O God, my God.

[4:49] 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.

[5:02] God's holy and authoritative word. You may be seated. Psalms 42 and 43 deal with a common human experience of despondency, despair, or depression.

[5:21] According to a Gallup poll conducted in February 2023, The percentage of U.S. adults who report having been diagnosed with depression At some point of their lives is 29%.

[5:34] Up 10% from 2015. And 17.8% of Americans say that they are currently depressed. That's almost one in five. Maybe you feel down on most days.

[5:48] Maybe you have diminished interest or pleasure in most of your activities. Maybe you feel tired, fatigued all the time. Or feel worthless and overwhelmed by guilt.

[6:00] Maybe you're having trouble concentrating or making decisions. Or maybe you just don't feel like getting up in the morning. Of course, this has spiritual implications.

[6:13] When you feel this way, you feel like God is absent. You don't feel His personal care for you. You don't feel like worshiping, let alone serving God.

[6:25] When we feel this way, is there anything we can do? Psalms 42 to 43 teach us that when our souls are cast down And we feel forgotten by God, We should remember God.

[6:38] And so we're going to first talk about feeling forgotten by God. And then we'll talk about remembering God. Chapter 42, verses 1 to 2, Express how the psalmist feels spiritually.

[6:50] He feels parched, longs for communion with God. As a deer pants for flowing streams, So pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

[7:03] When shall I come and appear before God? I didn't know this about deers until I looked it up this week. But deers apparently don't drink a lot of water Because they get most of their water from the food that they eat, Like plants and nuts.

[7:20] But when there's a drought, Or in desert climates like Palestine or Israel, With occasional prolonged seasons without rain, Deer get desperate for water.

[7:33] And because either there's not enough food, Or the food is dry, They don't get enough water To replenish their water need in their body From the food that they eat.

[7:45] And that's when they start to wander around In search of flowing streams. Bodies of water. And as they do that, They pant. Because that's how animals get rid of heat from their bodies.

[7:57] Expel heat by breathing really fast And then inhaling cool air. And so imagine a parched deer In the middle of a drought, Desperately longing for and looking for water.

[8:10] So pants my soul for you, O God. It says in verse 1. And then verse 2 continues, And here we see the nature of the psalmist's inner turmoil.

[8:26] His main problem is that he is far away from God. But he's surrounded. His enemies are nearby. This is in the old covenant days, We have to remember, When meeting with God was usually limited To a physical location, The temple in Jerusalem.

[8:42] It's different for us now, Because we are the church, The people of God, And we are God's temple. And the spirit of God is present with us, To meet with us in a special way Whenever two or three of us are gathered In the name of Jesus.

[8:55] The spirit of God is present. And so no matter where we are physically. But this is the old covenant days, And the psalmist feels effectively Caught off from God's presence Because he cannot worship God With God's people in the temple In Jerusalem.

[9:11] In verse 6, He tells us that he is in the land of Jordan And of Hermon from Mount Mizar. That's the northern extremities Of the country of Israel, The land of Israel, Where the mountain ranges meet the seas.

[9:23] He longs to appear before God, But his circumstances prevent him From doing that. And so his enemies taunt him, Seeing that he looks like He's been abandoned by God.

[9:35] The enemies taunt him in verse 3, All the day long, Where is your God? This is the nagging question That is at the center Of the psalmist's turmoil.

[9:46] It says again in verse 10, As with the deadly wound In my bones, My adversaries taunt me While they say to me All the day long, Where is your God? This taunt, he says, Is like a deadly wound In his bones.

[10:00] The word deadly wound Is a translation of a noun That can mean shattering. The Christian Standard Bible Translates that verse this way, My adversaries taunt me As if crushing my bones.

[10:13] A sprained muscle Will give you discomfort and pain. But a crushed bone Cripples you. And that's the kind of emotional agony That the psalmist is in.

[10:25] While he is down, His enemies are using The crushing weight of that question To push him down even further. Where is your God? If your God cares so much about you, Why did you lose your job?

[10:41] If your God really loves you, Then why do you have this chronic Or terminal illness? If your God is so powerful, Then why did he not answer your prayers?

[10:53] If your God is so good, Why is there so much evil in this world? All of these taunts can be summed up In this one haunting question. Where is your God?

[11:06] And the psalmist feels like He hears this from his enemies around him, Not once in a while, But all the day long. And remember the psalmist said in verse 1, That his soul pants for, And thirsts for God, As a deer pants for flowing streams.

[11:22] But there is a notable contrast In metaphors here, Because that flowing stream Is nowhere to be found. The flowing stream, Which represents God's life-giving presence, Is nowhere to be found.

[11:33] Instead, in verse 3, He says, My tears have been my food Day and night. It's a sad contrast. Instead of drinking From the vigorous, Life-giving streams of God, The psalmist has to settle For eating his own dripping tears.

[11:52] When a person is dying of thirst, I forget who told me this, One of you guys told me this, That if you're dying of thirst, Apparently our body is so efficient At sanitizing or cleaning The liquid in our system, That you can actually drink your urine Several times Before it will start, You know, I guess hurting you.

[12:12] And that's how people survive. So when there's buildings crumble And they're stuck underneath And they don't rescue for days, That's how people survive. They drink your urine. And that's almost the kind of Forlorn picture that you see here Because there's no flowing streams And he's eating his own tears As food While his enemies attack him All the day long.

[12:35] Then in verses 7 to 8, The psalmist turns these water metaphors On their heads. He writes, Deep calls the deep At the roar of your waterfalls, All your breakers and your waves Have gone over me.

[12:48] He's comparing his plight To being swallowed up by the waves. The word waterfalls, It doesn't necessarily refer to waterfalls. It's referring to any kind of Large body of water, Flood waters.

[13:03] And the phrase, Deep calls to deep, Recalls the cosmic scale of God's creation And flood judgment in Genesis During the days of Noah. So for example, The waters of the formless void Before God filled it with creation Was called the deep In Genesis 1-2 And when the flood waters Of God's judgment Descend during Noah's days In Genesis 7-11 He says that the fountains Of the great deep Burst forth And the windows of heavens Were opened.

[13:34] Similarly, Exodus 15-5 Describes the Red Sea Swallowing up the Egyptian army This way, The floods, Or literally, The deeps Cover them They went down Into the depths Like a stone So deep calls to deep It refers to Deeps above Falling down And crashing upon The deeps below So the deeps of God's rain And the waters above Meeting the waters below Of the ocean So imagine Howling rains And rolling seas And rolling seas Meeting each other And that's how the psalmist feels He feels so overwhelmed By the taunting Of the wicked He says All your breakers And your waves Have gone over me Here is an Unflinching affirmation Of God's sovereignty Even in the midst Of our deepest And most mysterious sufferings Look at what he says The psalmist says God has allowed These things to happen to him All your breakers

[14:36] And your waves Have gone over me Not the adversary's Breakers and waves Not Satan's Breakers and waves Your breakers and waves Oh God Have come over me Because he recognizes That God is still On his throne And God is still Ruling and reigning And so he sees That his hand Is somehow involved Even in his suffering God's allowed it But the struggle is real Because the waves And the breakers Are relentless So imagine In a stormy sea Trying to stay Above water He's gasping for air And just sputtering water And comes up Above the surface And then the waves And the breakers Come over him again And then he's washed down And pushed underneath That's how he feels He's so cast down So what does the psalmist do?

[15:29] He says he pours out His soul to God In verse 4 Notice the water metaphor again Pour out The psalmist does not Bottle up his emotions Or try to sanitize His feelings He just pours out His soul to God And that's how we Must respond to When we are cast down When the floodwaters of life Overwhelm you Pour out your soul to God Here's yet another Possible secondary meaning To the phrase Deep calls to deep As the waters of God The floodwaters of God Descend upon you You call out From your own deep Down below To the one Who has sent His breakers and waves Over you So your deep Calls out to the deep Of God And so don't try to Stuff your feelings Stoically Or act like You're not affected By what's going on Around you Be honest with God And share your feelings With God

[16:30] Pour out your heart To him The psalmist is having An ugly cry session Right My tears have been My food Day and night We get to eavesdrop A little bit On the outpouring Of the psalmist's soul In chapter 42 Verse 9 I say to God My rock Why have you forgotten me?

[16:52] Why do I go mourning Because of the oppression Of the enemy? God You're supposed to be My rock My bedrock My foundation The immovable Unshakeable ground Upon which I stand So that I don't sink In the mire So where are you God?

[17:11] Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning Because of the oppression Of the enemy? And he repeats That exact same question In verses 43 Verse Chapter 43 Verse 2 For you are the God In whom I take refuge Why have you rejected me?

[17:28] Why do I go about mourning Because of the oppression Of the enemy? As we see in chapter 43 Verse 1 He's being attacked By ungodly people Deceitful and unjust men And he wants to be delivered But God You're supposed to be My refuge My fortress To protect me From the arrows Of the enemy My shelter From the storm So where are you When I need you Most?

[17:51] He thinks that God's Not there for him And of course That's theologically Incorrect But we don't need To trip over the words This is not an expression Of what the psalmist Believes objectively Rather it's an expression Of what he feels Subjectively In Job 6.26 I've heard this John Piper Comment on this In the past Job 6.26 When his three friends Who are miserable comforters And worthless physicians Are trying to correct Job's theology When he is only Expressing his pain Job responds this way He says Do you think That you can reprove words When the speech Of a despairing man Is wind?

[18:41] When people are speaking Out of their deep pain And suffering Their words are just Fleeting winds Passing by And just like You can't catch wind You can't try to Fix Their theology Or correct their words In the middle of that They will come to their senses Soon enough God didn't correct Job's theology When he was calling out To him And crying out to him In pain And nor do we need to When our friends Are struggling And crying out In pain either There's a time for that But it's not In the middle of that So what next?

[19:20] Is that all we can do? Cry? Pour out our souls to God? Eat our tears as food? There's still more We can do And there's a very Important word In these psalms That's repeated twice At key junctures Remember When tears are his food And his enemies Are taunting him All the day long Where is your God?

[19:45] The psalmist Remembers God In verse 4 These things I remember As I pour out my soul How I 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 The psalmist Cannot now Gather with God's people And in the house of God And lead them in worship As he desires to He cannot now Keep the festivals of God To celebrate his provision And deliverance But he remembers them He thinks on them He meditates on them And reminds himself Of them And we see that same pattern In verse 6 My soul is cast down Within me Therefore I remember you Even when he feels Overwhelmed By the breakers And the waves The psalmist Brings God's character To remembrance In verse 8 By day The Lord commands His steadfast love And at night His song is with me A prayer to the God Of my life

[20:45] So here's the answer To the enemy's taunts All the day long By day And by night Remembering The Lord's Steadfast love Remembering His love And singing Of His love And praying To Him On the basis Of His Steadfast love It's a special Sweet word to us Steadfast love God's God's Hesed His loyal love His covenantal love That's what we remember When the realities Of our lives Seem to contradict The reality Of who God is We remember That God has Bound Himself To us In irreversible And unbreakable Covenant And that He Will keep His loyal love To us Forever So when our Souls are Cast down And we feel Forgotten by God We remember God This is a remarkable Central insight Of these two Psalms You probably Notice the refrain

[21:45] That occurs Three times Chapter 42 Verse 4 11 Verse 11 Chapter 43 Verse 5 Why are you Cast down Oh my soul Why are you In turmoil Within me Hope in God For I shall Again Praise Him My salvation And my God If you struggle With depression Often Commit that verse To memory And repeat That to yourself And speak to yourself Because who is The psalmist Here talking to He's not Talking to us The audience As he is In other parts Of the psalm And he's not Talking to God As he does In other parts Of the psalm He's talking To himself Why are you Cast down Oh my soul This is the art Of speaking To ourselves Or preaching To ourselves When we Are cast down Or depressed The

[22:47] Martyn Lloyd-Jones One of my Favorite pastors From the 1900s He's a Welsh Pastor And he Comments On this psalm In this way In his famous Book Spiritual Depression Quote The main trouble In this whole Matter of Spiritual Depression In a sense Is this That we allow Ourself To talk to us Instead of Talking to Ourself Am I just Trying to be Deliberately Paradoxical Far from it This is the Very essence Of wisdom In this matter 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 You have not Originated them But they Start talking To you They bring Back the Problem of Yesterday Etc Somebody Is talking Who is Talking to You Yourself Is talking To you Now this Man The psalmist Treatment Was this Instead of Allowing

[23:47] This self To talk To him He starts Talking to Himself Why art thou Cast down Oh my soul He asks His soul Had been Depressing him Crushing him So he stands Up and says Self Listen for a Moment I will speak To you You have to Take yourself In hand You have to Address yourself Preach to Yourself Question yourself You must Say to Your soul Why art thou Cast down What business Have you To be Disquieted You must Turn on Yourself Upbraid Yourself Condemn Yourself Exhort Yourself And say To yourself Hope thou In God Instead of Muttering in This depressed Unhappy way And then You must Go on To remind Yourself Of God Who God Is And what God is And what God has Done And what God has Pledged Himself To do Then having Done that And on This great Note Defy Yourself And defy Other people And defy

[24:47] The devil And the whole World And say With the Psalmist I shall Yet praise Him For the Help of His Countenance Who is Also the Health of My Countenance And my God End quote Don't Just Listen To your Doubts And fears Tell yourself That God Is sovereign And good And faithful And true Don't just Listen To your Guilt And self Condemnation Tell yourself That where Sin abounds God's grace Abounds All the More Tell yourself That Jesus Died On the Cross To justify The unrighteous Don't just Listen To your Feeling Of abandonment And forsakenness Tell yourself That God Has adopted You As his Child And that He loves You With an Everlasting Love Ever since

[25:48] Alec Coppin Published His article The biochemistry Of affective Disorders In the Journal of Psychiatry In 1967 Many of Us have Been told That depression Is caused By a chemical Imbalance In the brain Particularly Due to Lowered Serotonin Levels This idea Was popularized And publicized In the 90s With the Advent Of Antidepressants That increased Levels of Serotonin In the brain And it Was pushed Out With a lot Of money Behind it By the Pharmaceutical Companies And it Became the Standard Explanation In English Textbooks And then Surveys Suggest That 80% Or more Of the General Public Still Believes That The primary Explanation For depression Is chemical Imbalance In the Brain However This Has been Debunked By more Recent Studies For example The article Entitled The serotonin Theory of Depression A systematic Umbrella Review Of the Evidence In the Journal Molecular Psychiatry Published In 2022 Concludes

[26:49] That there Is no Correlation Let alone Proof of Causation Between Serotonin Levels And Depression This is Not to Say that There cannot Be physical Causes Of depressive Symptoms If you Have Food Intolerance Or Thyroid Problems Or You got Infected With mono Or You have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Or if You have Postpartum Or Menopausal Problems These Things May very Well Contribute To your Feeling Depressed Depressed But These Physical Issues Alone Cannot Wholly Account For Depression It's Far More Complex Than That And The vast Majority Of Cases Always Involve How We Respond To And Process The Losses And The Stresses Of Our Lives What Has Been Proven To Be Effective In Helping

[27:49] People Who Are Depressed Is Actually A Form Of Talk Therapy Called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Which Focuses On Challenging And Thereby Changing Distorted Thought Patterns And Beliefs In Order To Improve Emotional Regulation And Reduce Problematic Behaviors So CBT Nowadays Is Touted By A Chorus Of Mental Depression Anxiety Substance Abuse ADHD OCD And Even Eating Disorders But This Is No 20th Century Invention This Is What The Bible Has Been Teaching For 3,000 Years So I Don't Want You To Believe This Because CBT Says So But Because The Bible Says So Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Is Just A Fancy Name For Reminding Yourself Of The Truth Of Replacing Lies With The Truth And We'll Put It To Another Way Speaking To Yourself Rather Than Listening To Yourself To

[28:50] Frame It Biblically It's Not Being Conformed To This World But Being Transformed By The Renewal Of Our Minds As It Says In Romans 12 2 This Is Really Important I Hope You're With Me Our Feelings Are Not An Automatic Inevitable Result Of What Happened To Us Rather Our Feelings Are A Result Of What We Tell Our Selves About What Happened To Us Our Feelings Are Not Merely A Response To Events To Our Interpretation Of Events This Is Why Our Mind Is A Battle Ground So Are You Giving Your Mind Free Rain And Listening To It Idly Or Are You Speaking To It When The World Around Us Taunts At Us Where Is Your God Yes We Need To Turn To God And Go

[29:50] To Him And Appeal To Him Boldly Why Have You Forgotten Me Why Have You Rejected Me But We Don't Stop At Giving Voice To Those Raw Feelings We Need To Continue To Process Those Feelings And We Need To Speak To Ourselves Why Are You Cast Down Oh My Soul Why Are You In Turmoil mercies new every morning? And isn't God's faithfulness great? Why do you catastrophize and believe that your life is a disaster and that you can never get anything done or amount to anything? Why do you believe that you can never overcome your besetting sins? Did not

[31:03] God say that it is He who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure? Did not God say in Jude 24 that He is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy? Why do you think that you are ugly and unworthy of love? Did not God, your Creator, knit you in your mother's womb fearfully and wonderfully? Why do you feel like you need to rearrange and reorder your room compulsively or wash your clothes and bedsheets compulsively as if you have control over everything in your life? Is not Christ the sovereign Lord in whom all things hold together even in the midst of your disordered room and germ-infested world? Does God not say in Isaiah 45, 7-9, I form light and create darkness. I make well-being and create calamity. I am the Lord who does all these things. Woe to Him who strives with Him who formed Him, a pot among earth and pots. Does the clay say to Him who forms it, what are you making? Or your work has no handles? Why do you think that alcohol or THC or pornography will bring you happiness? Why do you think that you can manipulate these idols for your own pleasure without coming under their power and rule? Does not Psalm 106, 36 teaches that idols become a snare to us? Does not Psalm 16, 11 teach us that fullness of joy is found not in these substances or pleasures but in God's presence that at His right hand are pleasures forevermore?

[32:53] Please don't hear what I'm not saying. I'm not saying that once you master this technique that you will never be depressed again in your life. The Bible never offers false promises and that's not what we see in Psalms 42, 43. Once again, there is this dialectic back and forth that we've seen in other Psalms of lament between despair and hope, between what we feel and what we know, between what we see around us and around my life and what we believe. The psalmist speaks to himself in chapter 42, verse 5, why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you in turmoil with me and within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my salvation in my God. But then shortly afterwards in verse 9, he's back to saying, God, why have you forgotten me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? So he has to speak to himself again in verse 11. Why are you cast down,

[34:04] O my soul? Why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my salvation in my God. But then you keep reading in Psalm 42, verse 2, Psalmist is, back to saying, God, why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? So the psalmist has to speak to himself yet again. So he repeats this three times in the course of this psalm. Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you in turmoil within me?

[34:42] Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God. And that's how the psalm ends. There's no happy ending or resolution in that sense, but he keeps speaking to himself.

[35:00] These psalms helpful remind us that even when we remind ourselves of God by speaking to ourselves, the battle for our mind will continue throughout life. But if you don't speak to yourself with God's truth, the lies that incubate your anxieties and addictions and self-hatred, etc., will consume you.

[35:27] So when your soul is downcast within you, remember what 1 Corinthians 10, 13 says, no temptation has overtaken you. That is not common to man. God is faithful and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation, He will also provide a way of escape that you may be able to endure it. First, when you are downcast, remember this is common to men. That's comforting because it shows that you're not alone. So you can reach out to your brothers and sisters in Christ.

[36:05] And second, when you are downcast, remember that God is faithful. He will help you. And He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. With every temptation, He promises to provide the way of escape.

[36:19] And what is this escape? A pain-free, temptation-free, sinless life? No. The escape is this. That you may be able to endure it. God provides the way of escape by providing you the strength to endure. God will help you to endure through your grief. And God will help you to endure through your fears. And God will help you to endure through your depression. So persist in remembering God and persist and speak to yourself, why are you cast down, O my soul?

[37:03] And as Christians, we have even better reason than the psalmist to hope in God. To again praise Him, my salvation and my God. When I was searching through the Old Testament, trying to figure out the meaning of the phrase deep calls to deep, I came across an amazing parallel between Psalm 42 and Jonah's prayer in Jonah 2, 3-6.

[37:25] From inside the belly of the fish, Jonah prays, For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me.

[37:36] All your waves and your billows passed over me. And that last phrase, all your waves and the billows passed over me, in Hebrew is identical to Psalm 42, verse 7.

[37:47] All your breakers and your waves have gone over me. But that's not all. The parallels continue. Jonah 2, 4-6 say, Then I said, I am driven away from your sight, yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.

[38:02] The waters closed in over me to take my life. The deep surrounded me. Weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever.

[38:13] Yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. It seems like Prophet Jonah is deliberately echoing the words of Psalm 42 to describe his situation. Just like the psalmist, he feels that he is driven away from God's sight and longs for the holy temple.

[38:29] Just like the psalmist who feels like the floodwaters are swallowing him up at the roots of Mount Hermon and Mizar, Jonah feels the waters closing in over him at the root of the mountains. And just like the psalmist, Jonah prays with faith that God will bring up his life from the pit.

[38:46] The psalms 42 and 43 then were ultimately fulfilled by Jesus. Because Jesus said in Matthew 12, 40 that he himself is the sign of Jonah. He said, For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

[39:06] Jesus went down to the deep. When he died on the cross for our sins and was buried in the grave. But he rose again on the third day having defeated sin and death so that we might receive salvation.

[39:23] Jesus went down to the deep in our place so that we sinners do not have to. And that means no matter how deeply painful our suffering, we will never ever descend to that deep where Jesus had to go.

[39:46] And in this way, Jesus is the ultimate answer to the psalmist's abiding hope in the Lord in Psalms 42 and 43. Jesus is the reason why we can speak to our souls no matter what suffering comes our way.

[40:00] Hope in God. For I shall again praise him. My salvation. And my God. The psalmist's prayer in verses 3 to 4 of chapter 43 were answered.

[40:11] Send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling. Then I will go to the altar of God. To God my exceeding joy.

[40:22] And I will praise you with the lyre. Oh God my God. Who is the light? Jesus said, I am the light of the world. Who is the truth? Jesus said, I am the truth.

[40:34] God answered the psalmist's prayer by sending Jesus as the light and the truth to lead us into this age when we ourselves as God's people have become the holy hill and the dwelling place of the spirit.

[40:49] And so when our souls are cast down and we feel forgotten by God, let's remember God and speak to our souls. Why are you cast down?

[41:00] Oh my soul. Why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God. For I shall again praise him. My salvation and my God.

[41:15] Let's pray together. Let's pray together. God, breathe fresh faith and hope into the hearts and souls of every single brother and sister in Christ here.

[41:40] So that as they take on the difficult circumstances of their own lives, of which only you know fully, that they might be able to persevere, endure, in faith, in faith, preaching this gospel to themselves, addressing their souls, crying out to you in pain, that we may know you are near, and that we may bring you glory even in those circumstances.

[42:38] Thank you for the gift of these psalms to us. And for the saints who have gone before us, they will endure tremendous suffering, so that we can derive encouragement from what they have written down for us.

[43:00] what you have inspired them to write down for us. Thank you, God. In Jesus' name we pray.

[43:12] Amen.