It's a privilege to be with you this evening. Let's come to the Lord in prayer as we come to the text this evening. Lord God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, we come to you and ask that you would help us to see your word clearly, that you would illumine it through your Holy Spirit, that you would give us sight, and that you would communicate it to our minds and our hearts. Lord, our emotions inside of us may be in turmoil, but we ask, Lord, through prayer, that you would give us sight and that you would be our God and you would give us life and salvation. In Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
Please turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 42. You'll find that in the Pew Bible on page 554. We will read the passage together, starting at verse 1. Psalm 42, beginning at verse 1. "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? My tears have been my food day and night while they say to me all the day long, where is your god These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I would go with a throng and lead them in the in procession to the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. 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. My soul is cast down within me. Therefore, I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mazar. Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls. All your breakers and your waves have gone over me. 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? 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? 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."
When traveling through the desert, there is one thing that people say that you must bring: make sure you pack enough water. In the desert, it is hot. The sun is beating down on you, evaporating all of the moisture. You need water. You need it to sustain you. The deer, of course, in this passage cannot bring water. They rely on God's providence to provide them with a flowing stream of water with mountain springs. Deserts and the wilderness can be vast oceans of sand.
The psalmist uses this picture of a deer and says, "This is me. This deer in the middle of the wilderness. This is how I feel right now. This is my struggle." Just like the deer is panting for streams of water, so my soul is panting for God. His soul thirsts for God, for the living God. His soul longs for the living God the God who is the God who is The spring and source of living water. The longing soul seeks what is most necessary, what is most necessary for life. And so the psalmist asks, "When can I go and meet with God? When can I appear before God? When can I have this opportunity?" Tears have become his food day and night. People around him have begun to see his troubling state, and they're beginning to come to conclusions about him. They're saying, "Where is your God? Your God seems distant. You wouldn't be languishing like this if God was near. Your God doesn't seem to care, or he might come and save you." Perhaps Job's friends would diagnose the situation: "Clearly you have made God angry. Clearly he has hid his face from you because you have done something unrighteous." They all seem to have an answer. They think they know what's going on. They are like taunts, vain suggestions from the ignorant.
But where does the psalmist's mind go next? He remembers. His longing thirst directs him to former days. Verse 4: "These things I remember as I pour out my soul, how I would go with a throng and lead them in procession to the house of God. With glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude-keeping festival." He possesses such rich memories, praise and joy among the people of God, a time to give God praise. It could be that the sons of Korah, the leaders of the tabernacle worship, had fled with David from Jerusalem, and that's the context of this psalm when he was driven from Jerusalem by his rebellious son, Absalom. It explains the longing for worship in the tabernacle. He remembers where he met with God before. It was gathering with God's people.
Our Lord says, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am also." What a privilege it is to meet together every Lord's Day among the festive throng! And more importantly, to meet with God, to meet with the living God, to give him thanks, to give him praise, and to give him glory For all that he has done and to hear his word preached. For various reasons, this gathering is neglected by some. Some believe that other things are more important. Some think that time with family is more important. Some declare, "Nature is my sanctuary."
I remember a time this past summer when I was exhorting in the Czech Republic. I was in a small, medium-sized room, and I was exhorting from 1 John about the love of God. And I came to a point in my sermon when I was trying to communicate with a few that were gathered there about the wedding supper of the Lamb, how God is gathering his people together for that future time when we will be in God's presence, when we will behold the Lamb of God. And I remember looking out into those faces, and I wanted them to know how loved they were, how they were part of this larger group of people. Tears filled my eyes as I remembered the gathering here every Sunday. There are people around the world who are praying for you, who wish that you can gather together. They are praying for you. And I wanted to say to them, "You're not alone."
"Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you in turmoil within me?" God appears distant, and the soul thirsts for God. The festive throng a distant memory. Grief stains his heart when he thinks of the nostalgia of how things once were. Yet he rebukes his soul with counsel: "Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my Savior and my God." Despite his own awareness of his depressed state of mind, even though the folks around him are asking troubling questions, he urges his soul, "Hope in God. There will be a time again for praising God, and even now there is salvation." He's seen it before. He knows what his God has done. His attitude is filled with hope.
I'd like to draw a comparison to the prophet Habakkuk, and in Habakkuk 3, verse 17, he is wrestling with the Lord. He sees this injustice that's being done in the land, and he's wondering, "What are you going to do about it, Lord? When are you going to judge this wickedness? How is it going to happen?" At the end of his prophecy, at the end of his pleading with the Lord, he writes this: "Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive bale, and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls. In verse 18: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
How can he say this? What is this hope? Nothing is going for him, and yet he will hope in the Lord and in Him for salvation. Both the psalmist and Habakkuk are remembering the Lord. They see His power. They understand that He is sovereign and in control. They know that His promises are sure. Their focus extends beyond the present circumstances and looks towards a future state. Both see salvation coming through the Lord, and they will wait quietly for it to happen. He writes, "I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God the Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the deer's. He makes me tread on high places."
Habakkuk is also using the imagery of a deer. This deer has his spirits lifted. He's up on the heights and looking down upon creation. He's not like the deer who is searching for streams of water. God is providing strength. From the heights of mountains come spectacular views. All of a sudden, you gain perspective as you look upon the land. Reflection becomes easier.
"I will remember you," says the psalmist, "from the land of Jordan and of herman from Mount Mizar." From the valley of the Jordan River, going down to the Dead Sea, to the heights of Hermon in the north, near the Sea of Galilee, and to Mount Mazar. We're not really sure where that mountain is, but we can imagine it was in ancient Israel. The point is is that in all these places, the heights And the depths, he will remember his God. And then from the heights, he looks down to the water below. Verse 7. Deep calls the deep in the roar of your waterfalls. All your waves and breakers have swept over me." All at once, the deserted wasteland gives way to an overwhelming amount of water. Many of us know what it's like to have water come over top of us in the waves. Reality is inverted. You can't tell which way is up. There's no way to breathe in the churning. You're at the mercy of the wave until it passes on.
But the psalmist says, "These are God's waves. These are his breakers and his waterfalls." The depths of God at full force, meeting the deep spiritual dryness. But even in the midst of these waterfalls, the suffering is not removed. Rather, God demonstrates his power and control in the midst of trial. The prophet Jonah knows this too well. Having been sent to preach God's judgment on Nineveh, he decides to go the opposite way. He ignores the command of God and flees to Tarshish. Well, God's will will be done. And so God causes a great storm to come upon him. And eventually, Jonah is cast into the water. Waves and breakers sweep over top of him. But the Lord rescues him, doesn't he, from the waves? God causes a fish to swallow Jonah, and it's from the belly of this fish that Jonah reflects on what God has done.
Jonah 2, verse 3: "I called out to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me." God rescued him from the waves. He goes on to say, that "Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me. All your breakers and your waves passed over me." His life was fainting away, but he remembered and prayed to his God, and therefore he vows to complete his God-given task. "What I have vowed, I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord."
Jesus Christ experienced these waves and breakers in the Garden of Gethsemane. He faced the cross. His suffering was intense. In the Garden, he prays urgently to his Heavenly Father: "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Let salvation of sins come some other way." He faced the intense suffering of the cross, yet he prays nevertheless: "Not as I will but as you will."
In suffering for many, Jesus Christ demonstrated his great love. Again, he prays, "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done." He will be obedient even obedient to the cross. But the waves and breakers were God's plan from the beginning. Isaiah 53, verse 10, describes the outcome: "Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer. And though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand."
Psalm 42, verse 8: "By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me." Interestingly, if you compare verse 8 to verse 3, it says, "My tears have been my food day and night." And when we come to verse 8, these tears have become a recognition of God's love through the waves and the breakers. Instead of tears at night, his song is with him. His song is with me.
Psalm 92 also reflects this sentiment: "It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High, to declare your steadfast love in the morning and your faithfulness by night." Day by day, night by night, God's love and faithfulness he knows. It's worth declaring, especially during trouble and distress. These become a prayer to the God of his life. Prayer guides and structures his flow of thought.
And in the stories that we considered, it is prayer where they begin to make sense of what God is doing. In prayer, Habakkuk sees God's power and salvation against the nations. He says, "You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed." Jonah also, he prays from the belly of the fish: "To the roots of the mountains I went down, to the land whose bars closed upon me forever. Yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord, my God." Likewise, Jesus also prays in the Garden of Gethsemane: "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done."
The prayer is expanded upon in John 17: "I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed." You see, he's making a connection between the present reality of intense suffering to the future promise of his glorification. From deep distress in the belly of the whale to deep mercy. From intense emotion to resting on God's sovereign will.
Prayer is so important. It's where we take our stand against the lies of the devil. In Gethsemane, Jesus urged his disciples, "Watch and pray that you would not enter temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Often I have seen people bring clarity to their troubled thoughts in prayer. They are wrestling with a theological topic, or they're wrestling with their own emotions and their own misery. And then they pray, and all of a sudden all of their thoughts begin to make sense. It's as though they're making a breakthrough.
The psalmist continues to press into the Lord in prayer. Verse 9: "I say to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me? You see the trouble? He recognizes God as his rock, and yet his emotions are saying that God has forgotten him. He's wrestling with these emotions and can understand why he's in turmoil. "Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?"
Can we blame him for this line of questioning? He's lacking water and lonely, cut off from the community. At the same time, God's presence is in torrents of water, churning him up, causing him to gasp for air. His enemies oppress him, throw insults at him and taunt him. Wouldn't we too begin to wonder, "Where is your God?" The enemy is quick to assess his situation. Suffering must mean that God is absent. This taunt and reminder is like a deadly wound that won't heal. It can't be ignored, and it is so painful. What if what they say is true? Like an echo that goes on and on: "Where is your God? Where is your God? Where is your God?" This is intense spiritual warfare.
If the voices of the enemy become too loud, they might begin to believe them. This is why we must pray. In doing so, we set our gaze into the heavens to our God, the living God, Jesus Christ, our Savior. In prayer, God is brought near. And we find that God was never far away. He was there through it all and faithful, even when we were not faithful to him especially when we were not faithful. He demonstrated his love to us by dying on the cross to save sinners. Jesus, submitting to the will of God, sweats drops of blood. Even though he knew the outcome, his suffering was vivid.
From the cross, what does he call? "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, meaning "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" In this situation, he's quoting Psalm 22, verse 1. But the language is strikingly similar to Psalm 42: "Sali, lama sycoctony. My rock, why have you forgotten me?" These questions are filled with anguish. But the reality is is that God is not that far away, especially in suffering. The spiritual dryness, the overwhelming sense of dread...
I remember experiencing the Lord's discipline myself. God removed something from my life that had plagued me for a long time. And I remember in agony one time I was having a shower, and verse 7 came to mind: "Deep calls the deep at the roar of your waterfalls. All your waves and breakers have gone over me." At that moment, I knew that these were his waves and his breakers. He was disciplining me to wash away sin from my life. The deepness of my need was being met by the deepness of his mercy. In those days, I knew that God's grace would be sufficient for me. And it was. It was more than sufficient.
Let us not forget what Hebrews says concerning when he addresses us as sons and daughters: "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises the son he receives." Suffering is not only discipline. At the beginning of James' epistle, he reminds the believers scattered amongst the world and says to them and encourages them, That's not to say God is not concerned with the present circumstances. After all, He asks us to pray for our daily bread. But God sees our present situation with regard to our entire lives. God sees the present as part of the whole.
Present discipline, though painful, leads to righteousness. Present hardship leads to perseverance and steadfastness. Both righteousness and perseverance are things that God knows that we need. And so, His presence in our life is for our good. It's for our strengthening. And that's why we do not want to scorn the Lord's discipline. And that's why we want to count it all joy when we face trials of various kinds. God has a plan and is present every step of the way.
The adversary that says "Where is your God?" is mistaken and confused. Such a narrow vision prevents them from seeing God's presence in any other situation except for the good times. For them, God is only at work in the good times. But we need to expand our vision to see that God is at work in suffering. Even in suffering, God is working out our salvation for all those who trust Him and have faith in Him. Pray that this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus: to bring many sons to glory.
The psalm concludes with the refrain from verse 5. At this point, the question is rhetorical. The sons of Korah write this line knowing that they will return to Jerusalem. Their hope is in God. "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."
The soul might have any reason to be cast down. Perhaps it longs to be satisfied. Perhaps it is overwhelmed by his waves and his breakers. But in God, there is still hope. Satisfaction of living water for the thirsty. Peace for those overwhelmed by the waves and the breakers. There is hope for those who say, "He is my salvation." Let the people of God praise him once again. Amen.
Let us pray together. Lord God and most gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for showing us that you are very near, that you are nearby us, especially in the suffering, especially when our souls are in turmoil within us. We recognize that you are still at work. You are producing perseverance and steadfastness within us. And Lord, we pray that we would be filled with your words of encouragement and that we would not lose heart in this life, but that we would persevere to the very end so that we may one day see you and give you all the glory for all that you have done. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.