Psalms 42 and 43 are a matched-set of what Derek Kidner called the “most sadly beautiful” psalms in the Psalter. They are connected by their respective laments and instructive refrains. Taking the psalms together there are three stanzas, each ending with the same refrain, “Why are you in despair [“cast down” ESV], O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help [“salvation” ESV] of His presence” (vv. 5, 11; 43:5). The psalmist seeks to “rise out of the depths” he finds himself in.
Let us consider the first stanza today (42:1-5). It concerns the “depths” of spiritual drought and discouragement.
The Soul Depths, vv. 1-4.
“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?” (vv. 1-2).
Here is a most healthy lament–a holy, hankering lament. He longs for God. He cannot live without the living God. Even as the psalmist confesses his soul-languishing he betrays a soul-liveliness. Dead souls don’t pant and thirst for God! Yet he feels himself in a spiritual drought. He is away from Him, at some distance, and he desires to enter before the face of God. He longs to be where God may be found, in this case most likely, His special meeting place at the temple in Jerusalem. He “remember[s]” what it was like to “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” (v. 4). The precious memory is a painful one under his present circumstances. Instead of enjoying the sweet “flowing streams” of God’s presence he has tasted only his own tears, while having to listen to taunts of his adversaries (v. 3). The panting of his soul has been met with the pouring out of his soul to God.
We do not know what has prevented the psalmist from being able to “go with the throng,” but we do know the longing to be together as a multitude to sing and declare our Lord’s praises. There is a peculiar and special blessing in our public gathering to worship. It is easy to get discouraged in these times of “social distancing” and “lockdown.”
The Soul Dealing, v. 5.
Now see how the psalmist deals with the drought and discouragement of his soul in the refrain of verse 5.
“Why are you in despair [“cast down” ESV], O my soul? And why have you become disturbed [“in turmoil” ESV] within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help [“salvation” ESV] of His presence”.
Having addressed His God, the psalmist now addresses his own soul! He “confronts” and “challenges” it in its tearful commiseration. He knows the situation that has brought about his soul’s despair and turmoil, but he now seeks to stir it out of its “pity puddle.” In effect, he says to himself, “What are you doing, becoming depressed and unglued?” He then corrects and counsels his soul. “Hope in God . . .” “You may be thirsting, but take up trusting in the One you are panting for!” Our circumstances rise and fall, but our God is unchanging in His kindness and faithfulness to us. We easily allow ourselves, our thoughts, to rise and fall with the tides of our lives. We follow our thoughts wherever they are inclined to take us, like a “man being walked by his dog”! The psalmist stops the “dogged” following of his thoughts. He challenges them and then directs them to God Himself.
Our own recovery from the depths requires this same thing—that we speak to our souls, ourselves, that we take our thoughts captive. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, in his excellent book Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure, opens the book declaring that we must to “speak to ourselves.” He writes that we must not succumb to the free-flowing tyranny of our thoughts, but hold them in check, reign them in, address them, and hold them accountable. “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?” This is exactly what the psalmist is doing in this psalm and the next, in each of the refrains. The good doctor (Lloyd-Jones) refers to our text, “Now this man’s treatment was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to [it]. ‘Why art thou cast down, O my soul?’ he asks. His soul had been depressing, crushing him. So he stands up and says, ‘Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you. You are misdirected, O my soul. Hope in God.’”
But the psalmist goes further. He reasons and resolves out of hope. “For I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence.” He purposes not to dwell in self-pity but rise to praise. The God in whom he tells his pained soul to hope in, will help him!
Dear saints, “get a hold of yourselves”!
Blessings in the One who hold us, who is our Help and Hope.
