Hope For the Downcast Soul

Psalm 42-43
December 5, 2021
Abraham Hong

Sermon Script

All of us who are in Christ go through times in which we are downcast. We may go through times of sadness. We may go through times of depression. We may go through times of hopelessness. All of us.

But God knows this. God loves us. And he has given us his written word to help us.

The writer of Psalm 42 and 43 is very downcast. No less than three times does he cry out these words: “Why are you cast down, O my soul…?” The reason why the writer is deeply troubled is this. There are people who are against him and it seems that God has forgotten him and rejected him. Most likely, the writer is speaking as one who is living in exile after the destruction of Jerusalem and conquest of of Israel by foreign nations (remember our series in Lamentations). And most likely, the writer is speaking in the voice of Israel’s king - not a particular king, but a king of the throne of David. So Psalm 42-43 are words of a king without a kingdom, an exile far away from home. There are people who are against him and it seems that God has forgotten him and rejected him. Thus, the writer is downcast.

People were against him. They taunted him and said to him all the day long, “Where is your God?” They were ungodly and deceitful and unjust toward him. They were his adversaries, his enemies, and they oppressed him. And so he wept. He mourned because of them. He cries out, “My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, ‘Where is your God?’” He cries out, “Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” People were against him.

And it seemed that God had forgotten him and rejected him. The writer describes his dark experience as if God was drowning him in water. “Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me.” And the writer asks God two heartbreaking questions. “Why have you forgotten me?” “Why have you rejected me?” It seemed that God had forgotten him and rejected him.

All of this made the writer of Psalm 42 and 43 very downcast in his soul. But he does a bit of thinking and remembering. And his thoughts and remembrance brings him hope. He remembers how he would lead his people in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise. And he thinks about the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. In other words, he remembers all the promises of God - all the promises that the temple and the land pointed forward to. He thinks about all of God’s promises in his covenant of grace. He remembers his true home with God. He thinks about God’s love for him. And all of this brings him hope.

Because ultimately, the writer has faith and hope in Christ Jesus. He believes in God’s promise that one day a king would come to save sinners from sin and from death. And this king would actually fulfill the very words that he wrote here in Psalm 42-43.

All the saints of the Old Testament were given the good news of Jesus in the form of promises and prophecies. They did not see Jesus fully. But they did see him truly. They saw him in all of the sacrifices, in circumcision, in the passover lamb, and in various other ordinances. They received real forgiveness of sins and real eternal life. They had Jesus. They had faith and hope. The same Jesus and the same faith and hope that we have. The writer of Psalm 42-43 believed in the gospel of the promised savior Jesus Christ and looked forward to him.

And here’s an awesome and heartwarming truth. The promised savior whom the writer puts his hope in - this savior would himself be downcast. Jesus, the Son of God, cried out to the Father these words with a loud voice as he was crucified on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” How do you think Jesus thought and felt about this? Downcast. Jesus, who was without sin, was taunted and oppressed and afflicted by ungodly and deceitful and unjust sinners. People spat at his face and struck him and slapped him. How do you think Jesus thought and felt about this? Downcast. Christ in his humiliation was betrayed by Judas, forsaken by his disciples, scorned and rejected by the world, condemned by Pilate, and tormented by his persecutors. He was forgotten. He was rejected. He suffered. How do you think Jesus thought and felt about this? Downcast.

The eternal Son of God took upon himself true human nature. Dear Highland, do you not realize that Jesus knows what it is like to be sad and weep? Do you not understand that Jesus knows what it is like to suffer and die? Does it not occur to you to that Jesus had feelings? The same feelings that you go through when you are sad or depressed or hopeless?

Therefore, you are not alone. You are united with Christ. He knows how you feel and what you are going through. He is with you.

Listen to these words from Isaiah 53 and see clearly how Jesus fulfills Psalm 42-43. “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned — every one — to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.”

But this savior is not downcast anymore. He has been vindicated. He has risen from the dead. And now he is the light and the truth who leads his people to his heavenly holy hill and to his eternal dwelling place. Praise the Lord!

And we who are united with Christ - we don’t have to be downcast either.

Look at what the writer does here in Psalm 42-43. Pay close and careful attention. And be humble. Do not think that these are simple and easy things that the writer does. One could argue that the main reason why believers in Christ remain stuck in sadness, depression, and hopelessness is because they do not actually do what we see the writer doing here in Psalm 42-43.

So what then does the writer do?

First, he reorients his questions. Instead of just posing questions to God (to be clear there’s nothing wrong with asking questions to God the way that he did), the writer poses a profound question to himself three times: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” There is nothing wrong with God. There is something wrong with him. So he reorients his questions.

Dear Highland, if your soul is downcast, if you are going through sadness, depression, or hopelessness right now, are you asking the right questions to the right listeners? O my soul, have I uttered what I do not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I do not know? (Job 42:3)

Second, what does the writer do? He draws near to God. He writes, “As a deer pants for flowing streams, 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?” And he writes, “By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.” Instead of turning away from God - even if it seemed that God had forgotten him and rejected him - the writer turns to God and goes fully to God. So he draws near to God.

Dear Highland, if your soul is downcast, if you are going through sadness, depression, or hopelessness right now, are you drawing near to God in the Bible and in prayer? O my soul, do I long for God and desire God like this? Whom have I in heaven but God? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides God. (Psalm 73:25)

Third, what does the writer do? He asks God for help. He asks God to vindicate him and show to those who taunted him with the words “Where is your God” that God is truly with him. He asks God to defend him and deliver him from all of his ungodly and deceitful and unjust adversaries who oppressed him. The writer trusts in God and depends on God. He knows that he cannot help himself. So he asks God for help.

Dear Highland, if your soul is downcast, if you are going through sadness, depression, or hopelessness right now, when was the last time you actually and sincerely asked God for help? O my soul, from where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. (Psalm 121:1-2)

Fourth, what does the writer do? He asks God to bring him back home. He writes, “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, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.” The writer asks God to end the exile and bring him back to Jerusalem and where God’s dwelling place that was the temple on the holy hill of the city. So he asks God to bring him back home.

Dear Highland, if your soul is downcast, if you are going through sadness, depression, or hopelessness right now, do you have a profound desire to go to your true home? O my soul, do I hear the loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:3-4)

Fifth and finally, what does the writer do? He puts his hope in God. As he speaks to himself, to his own soul, the writer says this, “Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” He knows the future. He knows the salvation victory that he has in Christ over sin and death. He knows that God is his rock and God is his refuge. He knows that God is his God - that God belongs to him and that he belongs to God. So he puts his hope in God.

Dear Highland, if your soul is downcast, if you are going through sadness, depression, or hopelessness right now, where do you really put your hope? O my soul, the Lord is my portion. Therefore I will hope in him. (Lamentations 3:24)

In closing, to all of you who are downcast, do what you see happening here in Psalm 42-43. And put your hope in Christ Jesus, your salvation and your God. All of us who are in Christ go through times in which we are downcast. We may go through times of sadness. We may go through times of depression. We may go through times of hopelessness. All of us. But God knows this. Jesus loves you. May his grace be with you all.

Soli Deo Gloria