And then turn with me, if you will, to Psalms 42 and 43. Psalms 42 and 43, that begins on page 595 of the Pew Bible. And by way of introduction, as you're turning there, while our English Bibles have this as two psalms, I think it's wise, as many do, to suggest that this was originally meant to be sung as one song. It's also a good reminder for us all that there's five books that make up the psalms. So the 150 psalms are split into five different books. And Psalm 42 is the first psalm of Book 2. And Book 2 is characterized by laments. A lot of the psalms in Book 2 are laments. So the psalmist expresses trouble to the Lord and cries out for aid. And that's what we have here. And this particular lament has three stanzas that share a common refrain. Chapter 42, verse 5, chapter 42, verse 11, and chapter 43, verse 5. So hear now the word of our God, the inspired and inerrant word. To the choir master, a masculine of the sons of Korah. 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 the throng and lead them 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 Miser. 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. 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. 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. 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 a lyre, O God, my 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. And there ends our reading. Have you ever felt that God is distant from you? Have you ever wondered if he is really just? And if he actually has your best interests in mind? Well, if you have, you're not alone because those are just some of the questions that the psalmist expresses in these two psalms that we're looking at tonight. The psalmist is a believer who's far from the presence of God. He remembers the days when he would worship with the believers. But those days are long gone now. And now he's looking to God for deliverance from the oppression of his enemies. He's just worn out. There's these cruel taunts coming at him. All his circumstances seem evil. But in the middle of the great sorrow that he's facing, three times we hear this refrain. 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. And so in the middle of the psalmist's despair, he checks himself. He realizes that he has cause for great hope. And so this psalm has been inspired and has been placed in your Bibles as an encouragement for you if you're a believer. God's encouraging you through this psalm. By showing you that because he is your salvation, you can hope in him despite your suffering. And that's the theme of tonight's sermon. Because God is your salvation, you can hope in him despite your suffering. We're going to explore this theme by first looking at the psalmist's questions. And then we'll see the Savior's answer. And finally, the believer's response. So we'll begin with the psalmist's questions. And we'll spend the bulk of our time there. Now, there are four aspects to the psalmist's struggle that causes him to question God. The first is that he feels depressed because of this distance from God. Second, he feels oppressed by his enemies. He also feels rejected by his God. And finally, he's pleading with his God for vindication. So we'll look at these four things in turn. So first, the first reason that the psalmist questions the Lord is because he suffers from depression. So what we have here in our text is a believer who is unable to come in the presence of God. Some people think this is King David because he wrote the majority of the Psalms, and they say that it's David and he's on the run from his enemies, and that's why he cannot come to Jerusalem or the temple. But others say, and I would agree with that, that the inscription above Psalm 42 suggests that this was written by the sons of Korah, who were music leaders in the temple worship. So why would they write it? Well, if we look at the greater context surrounding our text, both Book 2 and Psalm 44, which comes immediately after Psalm 43, have the theme of the Israelites as a people in exile. And so, these sons of Korah are in exile. But whatever the case, the key point here is that the psalmist is far from the temple. And that is what's so significant and depressing about their situation. So we begin with verse 1. Verse 1, we have this beautiful simile here where the psalmist compares his soul to a deer. Picture a deer running around in the desert in the dry places, hunting and being hunted. It's hot and thirsty. And so it's in need of some nourishment. So where would the deer go? Well, it would search high and low for a source of running water. And the psalmist is also hunted. He's oppressed. And he's thirsting for God and his presence. And so he needs the living God. He needs the source of life. That's the only way that he'll be able to quench his thirst. And so where's the place to go? Well, the place to go is the temple. because the temple is god's house now it's not that god has confined himself to this physical place and that he's not elsewhere but it's that god has committed to meeting with his people in a special way in the temple and so it makes no sense for the psalmist to go in the mountains surrounding the city to look for his god sure the mountains are beautiful to look at nice to spend time in but they will not quench his thirst they are no substitute for his god imagine if you will that thirsty deer looking for this source of running water and it comes across a cave and goes into the cave well sure that cave might provide it with a chance to rest it might provide this deer with shelter from the sun but it's not going to provide the deer with water and that's what he really needs. So, brothers and sisters, how do we seek to quench our thirst? Or maybe a better question is, do we thirst for the right things? Do we seek to satisfy the longing of our souls through people, places, and things? You know, personally, I'm very tempted to have the respect of others. That's a desire that I really have. Now, is that a bad desire? No. It's a good desire in and of itself. But if I look to that to satisfy the longings of my soul, well, then I'm in trouble. Or maybe for you, maybe you desire to be comfortable in life. I mean, how many of us haven't thought it would be nice to have a nice big house, a new vehicle or two, all the latest electronic gadgets, maybe a great vacation here or there, And again, none of these things are wrong in and of themselves. But if we look to those to satisfy the longings of our souls, we'll be disappointed. They're not thirst quenching. And so we need to desire God. But even here, people can often go so wrong. Because I don't know about you, but I've seen a lot of people that look to quench this thirst for God in Christian books, Christian music, or maybe an intimate experience with their creator in the outdoors. And again, all of these things are not inherently wrong. There's nothing wrong with them in and of themselves. But they will not quench your thirst. No, we need to spend time in God's word and in prayer. Because in God's word, he communicates to us. And in prayer, we communicate to him. And this and nothing else is at the heart of our relationship with him. But it's not enough to go off in a cozy corner of our house and do this on our own either. If you look at verse 4 of Psalm 42, you'll see words like throng, procession, multitude, festival. These are all words that suggest large groups. There's no room for individualism here. I don't know about you, but I've heard the phrase many times from somebody in conversation, oh, I'm spiritual, but I'm not religious. Typically what they mean is, I know enough that I think there's a God out there, but I don't want to commit myself to him. But this makes no sense, if you really think about it. The core of biblical spirituality and biblical religion is a relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ. But then again, what I just said there, that leads to the next phrase that I hear all the time. I love Jesus, but I don't love the church. But that doesn't work either. Jesus is the head of the church. And the church is called his body. And you can't be connected to the head if you're not part of the body. In a recent survey that Ligonier did, an important survey, of those who self-identify as Christians, 52% of those who say they're Christians agreed that worshiping alone or with one's family is a valid replacement for regularly attending church. And even worse, potentially how you look at it, 30% of evangelical Protestants agreed with this. We've totally lost this in the church in a broader sense. This importance of coming together as a community and worshiping our God. So the psalmist has fond memories of regularly leading the people but he's no longer with them and because he's no longer with them he's lonely and he's feeling the weight of oppression and so we come to the second reason why the psalmist questions the Lord it's because he suffers from oppression. If you look at chapter 42 verse 9 and chapter 43 verse 2 those two verses are virtually identical. The psalmist is mourning because of the oppression of his enemies. Who are his enemies? Well, if he's in exile, then his enemies are the people of the nation who's keeping him from his God. But they're not just oppressing him physically, they are taunting him. If you look at verse 10, as with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me. You know, when I was in elementary school all the time on the playground we would shout out that phrase that most of us know sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me that's a stupid phrase it's not true and if the psalmist you know knew about that phrase which i don't think he did he would agree with that because it's obvious that the biting words of his enemies hurt him deeply as they challenged him to explain the supposed absence of his God. Do we not feel this today when a hurricane ravages a region or a suicide bomber destroys a school full of young children? Do we not hear the taunt from the world, where is your God in this? Or if your best friend maybe was hit by a car or killed in the prime of her life or a young mom develops cancer, Do we not hear this question, where is your God? I think a great example of this kind of mocking, oppressive taunting is found in the classic story, The Count of Monte Cristo. In there, the main character, Edmond Dantes, is falsely accused of treason from the French government. And so he's taken off to this island prison where he's meant to serve a lifetime sentence for a crime that he didn't even commit. As the warden leads him to the cell that's about to become his home, he comments on an inscription that's etched into the stone wall of the cell. And the inscription is, God will give me justice. And the warden says, God will give me justice. People are always trying to motivate themselves. Unfortunately, it makes for an unsightly wall. After then explaining to Dantes that he will receive a severe beating every year on the anniversary of when he arrived at the prison, he says this, he says, and if you're thinking just now, why me, oh God? The answer is, God has nothing to do with it. In fact, God is never in France this time of the year. Dantes replies saying, God has everything to do with it. He is everywhere and sees everything. To which the warden says, all right, let's make a bargain, shall we? You ask your God for help, and I'll stop the moment he shows up. And he goes on to beat the man. And clearly the warden is taunting both God and man as he oppresses this innocent man. And this is exactly how the psalmist was treated. Yet despite the oppression that he feels, he feels most overwhelmed by the very God whom he is seeking. because he feels rejected by him and so this brings us to the third reason why the psalmist questions the lord it's because he suffers from this feeling of rejection if you look at the second half of verse seven you'll see that he is oppressed by more than his enemies seemingly when he says all your breakers and your waves have gone over me this verse verse seven is really intriguing actually because of the amount of terms it uses for water floods of water it says waterfalls breakers and waves and this should bring to mind for us the old testament imagery of floods which is all about persecution and judgment most notably we think of the judgment in the great flood where only noah and his family and a remnant of animals were saved so see the irony here the psalmist is thirsting for life giving waters and instead god sends destructive waters and the imagery gets worse if you consider the geography of the area where the psalmist is it's wild and it's mountainous so we get this picture of the psalmist being tossed about by billowing waves and crashing into rocks helpless to control himself maybe you've been caught in a wild swirl of water before helpless to control yourself if you have then you might have a sense of the imagery here so given this swirling chaos the psalmist is likely to smash his head on a metaphorical rock so he turns to his rock and his stay his god in the midst of his oppression he confesses that god is his rock and his refuge it's as if god is an anchor for him in the middle of raging waters and yet At the same time, he feels crushed by God's mighty waters as they sweep over him. Which leads to his question in chapter 42, verse 9, where he says, Why have you forgotten me? Or the parallel in chapter 43, verse 2, Why have you rejected me? He feels forsaken by the one that he trusted. Do you know what this is like? Do you know what it's like to be completely abandoned and forgotten by someone you love deeply? It's got to be bewildering. And so the word that stands out in these questions is why. Each verse contains two why questions. And perhaps you've asked that why question as well of God when you've been faced with trials at work, maybe trials in your church, trials with your families and friends. Maybe you've wondered, saying something like, the God whom I've confessed has always shown me so much commitment in the past. Why is he neglecting me now, right when I need him most? Again, if you have asked this before, you're in good company. Because the psalmist is struggling with exactly this, as he suffers far from God. And so as he wonders why he is seemingly rejected, he also wonders when he will be vindicated. And this leads us to the final reason why he questions the Lord. He questions the Lord as he pleads for vindication. His cry for help changes from questions to a demand as we turn to chapter 43. And he says, Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people. From the deceitful and unjust man, deliver me. To be vindicated is to receive justice or to be delivered. And we get this sense, don't we, that it's all he can do to hold on to his belief that he will, in fact, be vindicated. His life is falling apart, and yet he continues to cling to his God and to plead. Can you see the tension in his mind? Can you see the struggle in his mind? He says, vindicate me, O God, for you are the God in whom I take refuge. Refuge. Sounds hopeful, right? But then he goes on to say, why have you rejected me? And so we see that the struggle from chapter 42 is carried over into chapter 43. And this is a struggle between what he knows to be true and what he's experiencing in the moment. And this has often been a struggle for believers, maybe for you too. This contrast between what you know to be true, but it's not jiving with what you're experiencing in the moment. And this is where chapter 5 of the Canons of Dort is really helpful, and that's why we read from it earlier. In Article 5, which we didn't read, in reference to the feeling after committing a grievous sin, it says that we may lose a sense of God's favor, but we don't actually lose it. No, instead, we have the solid comfort of obtaining the victory and the unfailing pledge of eternal glory, without which we would be of all men most miserable. So you see, our God is a God of comfort. He's the Father of all comfort. He won't take his favor away from us. He won't reject us. But ultimately, he will take us home to glory. This is so comforting, isn't it? It's exactly what the psalmist needed to hear. Too bad the canons were written so much later. So in chapter 42, we have a series of questions. But in chapter 43, we get to the heart of what he desires. In chapter 43, verse 3, he shifts gears from the problem of his enemies to the problem of being distant from the presence of God. He pleads for guidance, for God's light and truth to come and lead him so that he might once again dwell in the presence of God. And so we come to the end of the psalm, and this should leave us with a question. Did God reply to his request? When and how? Well, we're not exactly sure about the psalmist's situation. We do know that there's more psalms from the sons of Korah, so possibly the psalmist as well. We do know that the Israelites returned from exile and that the temple was restored. But perhaps our focus is better placed elsewhere, for what is applicable to the psalmist is applicable to all psalm singers, and we all are psalm singers. We are all pilgrims thirsting for the presence of God. And so what is God's ultimate reply? We know, don't we? He sent his son to be that guide that the psalmist asked for. He sent his son as the light of the world, the true light that gives light to everyone. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He's the founder and the perfecter of our faith, and he has led the way so that we might dwell. In fact, he dwelt with us so that we may dwell with him. Did the psalmist suffer from depression? so did christ jesus was the man of sorrows he didn't have a life of joy and laughter and ease but actually just the opposite it's interesting in our refrain the word soul follows the adjective sorrowful or cast down and the only other time in scripture where we see this is in the account of jesus in the garden of gethsemane where he tells his disciples that he's sorrowful in his soul and then he pleads with God he says let this cup pass from me but not as I will but as you will and here's something critical for us to notice Jesus didn't get an immediate response that precluded suffering either so if you ever wonder about the psalmist situation or you wonder about your own situation and you ask that question is God good does he have my best interests in mind can i trust him notice jesus also cried to god but nevertheless was faced with tremendous sorrow throughout his entire life but especially on the cross and in the time leading up to it and so see that god is good even in the midst of great suffering jesus saw this and that's why he endured the cross and despised the shame for the joy that was set before him and there's joy set before you too brothers and sisters the troubles of this world may seem heavy and they are we shouldn't we should respect our suffering we shouldn't make light of it but our troubles are light compared to the eternal weight of glory that's being prepared for us did the psalmist suffer from oppression so did christ those who were seeking to arrest and kill Jesus were constantly hounding him. I just did a sermon series through part of the book of John this summer and it's so obvious to see how the Jewish leaders are constantly harassing him, constantly trying to trip him up, trying to stone him even. But it came to a climax at the foot of the cross where he was wounded and he was taunted mercilessly. Matthew 27 gives us a bunch of the details the Roman soldiers took a scarlet robe and they placed it on his shoulders they took a reed and put it in his hand to act as a scepter they made a crown of thorns and they placed it on his head mockingly they knelt before him and then they spat on him and they took that reed out of out of his hand and beat him with it they put a sign over his cross that said this is Jesus king of the jews but they did not mean any respect by this no that was just an insult one of the robbers that was crucified next to him continued this taunting and the onlookers as well they were shaming jesus and wagging their heads at him they said you who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days save yourself if you are the son of god come down from the cross the jewish leaders also joined in they said he trusts in god let god deliver him now if he desires him for he said i am the son of god do you hear that question in there to jesus where is your god did the psalmist suffer from this feeling of rejection so did christ as jesus hung from the cross he suffered immense physical and spiritual pain the nails had pierced his body causing the skin to bruise causing blood to flow he was faint from the loss of blood and his muscles were weak in fact by the end likely he was in spasms and yet the weight of the sin that he was carrying far outstripped any physical pain that he faced think of it the weight of the sin every sin from every believer who's ever lived that's got to be a tremendous weight and so that's why jesus cried my god my god why have you forsaken me hated before the people it's as the angel said in matthew 28 verse 6 he is not here for he has risen just as he said he would and brothers and sisters one day he will return just as he said he will and he will be vindicated before all men from all times and all places and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord and so as we move to the believer's response we see that despite the deeply distressful situation that the psalmist finds himself in as a believer he's able to worship if you look at verse 8 it's halfway through the 16 verses that we read by day the lord commands his steadfast love and at night his song is with me a prayer to the god of my life that's a beautiful verse and it stands out in the middle of the rest of this gloom like a lit candle in a room that's gone completely dark you know 22 times in these two psalms God's name is used but only once is Yahweh used and we know that Yahweh is a bit of a special name in the Old Testament it's that covenantal name the name that emphasizes God's loyalty and his faithfulness and his committed love and so in this verse the psalmist affirms that daily he sings and prays to the living God the faithful God the God who keeps his promises, who keeps his covenant with steadfast love. And so there is a sense that God is with the psalmist despite everything that's gone on. Because the psalmist hasn't forgotten the history of God's covenant dealings with his people. And this is so important. I don't know if you remember two Sundays back in the morning series through Exodus, we talked about the Feast of Unleavened Bread and how one of the essential things going on in that feast is that the parents tell their children what God has done so that collectively they remember God's works, his acts. And that would be easy to do in a situation like this morning. Exodus 15, they've been delivered. They're singing a triumphant song. Things are glorious. But it hadn't been that way in the interim. As those Egyptian chariots were coming, the people started to feel this oppression. They wondered at the goodness of their God. They felt as if he had left them. And they complained to Moses, saying even that they wanted to go back to Egypt. How quickly can we forget our God's promises and his goodness? For we are all psalm singers, from the Israelites to the psalmist to us. We all share in these emotions at times, and we're all tempted to forget God's goodness and his power and the redemptive work that he has done, and particularly in these moments of trial as we've gone through. But if you are a believer, you are called to hope despite sorrow. It's as Moses said in Exodus 14, Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of Yahweh, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. You see, the oppression of the enemy is temporary. The faithfulness of our God is forever. And so we are left with the message of the refrain, which I believe is the message of this psalm. Hope in God, for he is your salvation. The word used for hope here could also be wait. Wait upon the Lord, for he has done great things and his intentions for you are incredibly good so praise him and beloved we're called to worship him the psalmist thirsted for god and he hungered to be in his temple c.s lewis called this longing for god this great love for god an appetite for god you see for the psalmist worship is not just a duty but it's a delight his fingers are itching to play the harp well how about you how is your appetite for god is worship a duty or is worship a delight you know what we're doing here seems rather regular and ordinary some might say unimpressive but it's remarkably significant it's extremely special and we can't lose sight of that it's as king david said in psalm 27 one thing have i asked of the lord that will i seek after that i may dwell in the house of the lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the lord and to inquire in his temple brothers and sisters we are made to be with him and nothing should be able to stop us from worshiping him as much as we've been given opportunity this may leave one last question in your mind so we'll close with this well where is god's presence because it is true that the temple is no more the veil has been torn we're told we have greater access to god because we have a high priest who has gone through the heavens for us but even though the church building is not the house of god when we gather together each week it is the place where god is the emphasis has shifted somewhat but let us not forget the sense in which we come into god's presence together as his people beloved we need to be here and so in closing jesus leads us to worship because he is the light of the world and the way the truth and the life he is our vindication and he has invited us to come and drink freely from the water of love of life beloved may god be your exceeding joy and may you seek him in his house let's pray lord god father we thank you for this encouraging message that we've heard tonight from your word that in the midst of our suffering we could have hope lord in times when we feel depressed oppressed or even rejected help us to look to you knowing that you providentially care for us in such an amazing way that not even a hair can fall from our head without your will and approval we thank you oh god that your son jesus christ is our vindication and father we pray that you will help us to continually seek him in your presence in jesus we pray amen