Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Psalm 42. And reading for
our text, verse 11, the last verse. Psalm 42 and verse 11. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? And why art thou disquieted within
me? Hope thou in God. For I shall yet praise Him who
is the health of my countenance and my God. Psalm 42 and verse
11. And this evening I want to come
straight to three points. Firstly, communion with our own
soul. This is what the psalmist is
doing here. And then secondly, there are
three reasons in this verse. The psalmist gives as to why
his hope should be in God. And then lastly, the downcast
resolve, hope thou in God. But firstly, communion with our
own soul. This comes in several other psalms
as well as this one, where the Lord's people, without having
another person to speak to, they're speaking to themselves and going
over those things that are happening in their lives. They're posing
the questions, they're proposing answers, they are making those
results, coming to conclusions, And it shows the life of God
in the soul when the thoughts are organized thoughts, they're
ordered thoughts, and they're to do with the things of the
soul. It's something that an uncalled,
worldly, ungodly person cannot, will not have, that which is
going on with their soul and it relates to God and their relationship
with God and what has been happening in their lives and the questions
and the concerns and the troubles and the burdens. Many times these
things happen at night as we lie awake at night and go over
things with none other but with ourselves and often that will
join into prayer and be turned into prayer and with the Lord. But may we know something of
what it is to have inward exercise. We read in Hebrews 12 about those
that are chastened and every one of God's children are chastened. Now no chastening For the present
seemeth to be joyous but grievous, nevertheless afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby."
And so that is the exercise is like this communion that is going
on in the soul. Many things, many questions,
much of what is going on inwardly is a direct result of what we
are passing through. Some of the Psalms, they tell
us what the Psalmist was passing through. Psalm 34 tells us that
when David was so fearful for his life with Achish, the Philistines,
and this poor man cried, the Lord heard him, delivered him
out of all his troubles. We think of the confessions and
breathings of Psalm 51. The Psalms in many ways reflect
the inward life of God, of the people of God. We have in tied up with this,
bound up with this, the question why. Comes some six times in
this Psalm, and then Psalm 43 as well. Many times we might ask why. Why is something happening? Why
are we feeling as we are? Why is the Lord dealing with
us as he is? And in the case here, the psalmist
is asking himself why he is cast down. Why art thou cast down,
O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within
me? What does disquieted It's a lack
of calmness, it's an anxiousness, a worry, no peace, uneasy, disquiet. Why aren't they disquieted within
me? And so we have these questions. Maybe you've come this evening
and we have those questions and those things that go on, we can't
resolve them. answer them, but we have the
questions. We might say in the context here,
surely the psalmist did have the answers. He says in verse
9, again he's asking, why hast thou forgotten me? And why go
I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? And the enemy is
saying, reproaching daily, where is thy God? You might say, is
not that a reason enough to be cast down? Feeling the Lord has
forgotten us, the enemy of our soul is oppressing us, and they're
saying, where is thy God? Isn't that enough? Wouldn't we
look upon that and say, that is why you're cast down. That is why you're disquieted.
But often it's not those things that seem most obvious. And sometimes, like the Samasthita,
we can't put a finger on it. We can't really realize what
it is. You might have gone many months,
many days in very much the same trials, but able to bear them,
able to be lifted up above them, And then brought down low, we
think, well, why? These are the things outwardly,
but why is it at this particular time that I don't feel able to
cope with it, to bear it, to be lifted up above it? And so though there may seem
to be the answers, and we might feel in our life, well, there
are answers. There are reasons. And yet there
is still a question why, as to this particular time and in this
particular way. Our text reminds us that our
feelings are not to be our source of assurance and eternal comfort. Our feelings, they change. But the law does not change,
and how the psalmist goes from his feelings and goes to the
Lord and to God. It directs us there. True religion is a feeling religion. It does have a life of God within. But when we are down, it's not
that then we are going to hell. And when we are on the mountain
top, then we are going to heaven. We read, they that have no changes
fear not God. But with the people of God, they
do have changes. We can see it with David, we
can see it with Elijah, so strong on Mount Carmel, so greatly used
by the Lord, fearless in the presence of Ahab and all the
prophets of Baal and all the children of Israel. And yet suddenly
at the word of Jezebel, then he is running away and wishes
that he might die. Very easy we can be cast down
and very easily discouraged and our feelings do change and maybe
it's a timely reminder for us this evening that where is our
hope based? Is it just upon our feelings? I know many years ago I was very
shocked to hear a young man, a relative actually, proposed
to me and he said, do you think heaven is a real place? He said,
isn't it just how you feel as you die? If you have nice feelings,
that that's going to heaven, and if you have bad feelings,
terror feelings, that's going to hell. And for one ward up
in our chapels, I was really shocked and amazed that one could
say that thing. But it highlights again one's
thoughts as going to feelings, as if our eternal state was to
rest upon them. When we think of our Lord Jesus
Christ, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? I believe the Lord knew, knew
we knew for whom he stood, He knew the sins that he was bearing,
but he still has that same question as the psalmist here. And it's
for us to really consider that. What was laid upon the Lord?
Why did his Heavenly Father forsake him? He had laid upon him the
iniquity of us all. We think of then the path of
the people of God. and the need of a deeper anchor,
a more sure word of comfort and a rest upon and our hope in God
himself. So firstly then there's the communion
and the questioning and going on in the soul. a soul that is not dead but is
alive. But secondly, there are three
reasons set forth in this text that the psalmist gives why his
hope should be in God. The first is his belief that
he shall praise Him in due time. He says, why art thou cast down,
O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within
me? Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise him. In verse five, which is very,
very similar, yet slightly worded differently, we have the reason
why he should praise. For I shall yet praise him, for
the help of his countenance. For when the Lord looks upon
him, smiles upon him, sees him, he sees the countenance of the
Lord as being that which lifts him up and is a reason for his
praise and a reason for his joy. That is his reason why he can
hope in God. He believes the time will come
that the Lord will draw back the veil, he'll look through
this cloud, and he will see his smile. He will see the end of
the matter. What I do thou knowest not now,
but thou shalt know hereafter. And I believe the psalmist would
have been basing this on other trials that he'd had. We know
that all things work together for good, to them that love God,
to them that are the called according to his purpose. And we know also
that the Lord has said, this people have I formed for myself,
they shall show forth my praise. In the long view, of course,
the Lord's people above brought to be with Him at last, to praise
Him forever and ever. But here below, they also have
those times that are aiming for the praise of God. When the children
of Israel were groaning under their burdens in Egypt, then
the Lord was appearing for them even eighty years before they
were brought out in raising up Moses, being with him those 40
years in Pharaoh's house, and then 40 years in the wilderness,
watching over the sheep. And then Moses was sent to them. And at first they gave thanks
to God. They believed that God had appeared. He was beginning to work. He
was coming to deliver them, as he said, from that bondage. They weren't wrong to praise
Him then, but then when the burdens got greater, when Pharaoh would
not let them go and made them serve with great rigor, then
they were so shaved in their minds that even when Moses tried
to reassure them and tell them of what the Lord was doing, they
would not hear, they could not hear, they could not praise.
And even then, when they came out of Egypt, they came to the
Red Sea. The Red Sea in front, the Egyptians
behind, the mountains either side. And they felt the Lord
had brought them out into the wilderness to destroy them there. But the Lord said to Moses, saying
to the children of Israel that they go forward. And the Lord
made a way for them right through that sea. the destruction of
their enemies and their deliverance. And then they come to the song
of Moses and they praise the Lord when they saw their enemies
dead upon the seashore. And they knew what it was to
walk through those times of great darkness, trial and fear. But in the end of it, there was
praise and there was an exalting of what the Lord was doing. And
I believe the psalmist here, if Stephen, when just before
he was stoned, could rehearse all of the history of the children
of Israel, if it could be that Rahab could remember 40 years
back to what happened at the Red Sea, then the psalmist also,
he remembers what the Lord is and how the Lord deals with his
people. And whoso is wise and will observe
these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness
of the Lord. How Psalm 107 finishes the many
changes. They fell down, there was none
to help, and then the Lord delivered them, and then they praised.
But praise is backward often, isn't it? Oh, that men would
praise the Lord for His goodness, for His wonderful works to the
children of men. But this is a first reason why
he was to hope in God. For I shall yet praise him and
praise him for the help of his countenance. The second reason
is that God is the health of his countenance. And this is
a difference between verse 5 and verse 11, because in our text,
We read, I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance. Whereas in Psalm 5, it is he
praise him for the health of his countenance. For the people
of God, the health of their countenance is dependent on their God. You
might say with a person naturally, the health of their countenance
depends on whether they are well or whether they are ill. If they've
got a disease or an illness, then you look at them and you
say, you're looking poorly today, you're not looking very well.
And that is dependent on natural things. But with the people of
God, when the Lord smiles, that affects their countenance. When
the Lord frowns, that affects their countenance. They're bound
up together. Quite often you'll find that
in families as well, or between a child and a parent. If the
parent is happy with the child, then the child is happy. If the
child is doing wrong and the parent chastens them, the child
is not happy until the parent is smiling upon them again. And the health of the countenance
of the people of God is dependent on the Lord. When they have a
healthy countenance, it is from God. We have a most solemn account
right at the beginning of the Word of God with the effect of
the countenance of the Lord. Canaan of Abel bringing the offering
to the Lord. And we read that God had respect
unto Abel and his offering, but unto Cain and his offering he
had not respect. And Cain's countenance fell. And the Lord said to him, that
if thou doest well, shall not thou be accepted? But Cain was upset because the
Lord had not accepted his offering. His countenance fell. Rather
than change what he was doing, rather than doing that which
was pleasing to the Lord, bringing a blood offering, beautiful type
of the coming sufferings and death of our Lord, he slew his
brother. And the countenance of The Lord,
in a way, was reflected in those he was dealing with. And yet
with Cain, the Lord, in effect, was saying to him, your countenance
will be different when you walk in my ways. My countenance towards
you will be as you walk in my ways. And we find with the children
of Israel, how often the Lord hid his face from them. And often
he dealt with them in chastening. He says, I'll go and return them
to my place until they acknowledge their iniquity. And he was making
it so they would notice his countenance towards them was not as it was
before. And in a way, it's a measure
for us, a measure of realizing the way that we are walking,
whether it's the right way or a wrong way. How Jabez in his
prayer prayed that if he kept from evil, that it do not grieve
thee. Grieve not the Holy Spirit, whereby
ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. And where the Lord
is grieved, then his countenance is not towards his people as
it was. But how dear David in Psalm 51
He prays, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. And he desires again to see the
countenance of the Lord towards him. But this is the second reason
that he had put his hope in God, because he views that his countenance
is dependent upon God. And in one way, it's a beautiful
token of our union with Christ. If he meant nothing to us, if
God meant nothing to us, we wouldn't be upset when he hid his face
from us. We wouldn't perhaps even notice
it. Some of us, we've had parents
that when we've done something wrong, we only needed to look
at them. And just the change in their
countenance, we knew that what we'd done has grieved them. And
it's a good thing if we're tender in that way. But this, the Sama
says, is one of the reasons why he will hope in God because of
this being bound to her. My joy is thy joy. I am happy
when thou art happy. When thy smile is upon me, then
my soul is healthy. When thy frown, then am I sad. The third reason is that God
is his God. He says, who is the health of
my countenance and my God? I say, how did he know that the
Lord was his God? Well, one reason is because of
his confession. The children of Israel, they
served Baal for many years. And Elijah was sent to bring
them back to the true and the living God. And one's confession,
who is your God? Who is it that you have served,
Baal or the true and living God? That was the question on Mount
Carmel. So in one sense, The psalmist,
he's making this profession that thou art my God. That is why
I will hope in thee. The other reason is because of
what he had proved. I don't think of the illustration
of a parent and a child. If a child was asked, how do
you know that your parent or these people are your parents? How do you know? And they might
say, well, because of the love that they show, because we sleep
under their roof, they feed us, they clothe us, they care for
us, they do things for us that they don't do to the neighbours'
children or to those round about. There's a very distinct care
over them and it is a realising in that care that we are the
people of God. We read a solemn word in, I think
it's Paul's epistle to Timothy, that if a man not provide for
his own household, then he is worse than an infidel. And forbid the thought that God would
not provide for his own household. household. For his own people,
he does provide. The Lord will provide. He will help them. He will appear
for them. And in that provision, there's
this sweet token, there's this blessing that the Lord is our
God. You know, dear Jacob, when he
had the promise when he was leaving home, thinking it was only going
to be for a little while, lying there with his head upon stones
for a pillow. And he said that if God was to
be with him in the way that he went and bring him again to this
land in peace, then the Lord would be his God. And what he
was speaking is in this way, this will be this true token
Yes, he'd had this wonderful vision, the ladder, the angels,
the wonderful promise. But what he was looking at was
that the Lord would be with him and that it would be a daily
realization of the Lord's care, the Lord's keeping. With the
children of Israel, we read that he withheld not the manna from
their mouths. They always had that manna. So we have these reasons, and
may we have reasons for why we hope in God, trust in Him, where
our expectation is. In all the promises of God, in
all what God says He would do for His people, all the fear
knots He gives them, He always gives a reason. May we also have
those reasons in looking upon what the Lord has done for us,
and be able to say, like dear Thomas, as the Lord appears to
him, my Lord and my God. And all his doubts and all his
fears, they're all gone and all banished. Well thirdly, let us notice the
downcast resolve. That is, hope in God. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? And why art thou disquieted within
me? Hope thou in God. Christ, I yet
praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. There's something here that he
is not seeking to do the work of God. He's not saying, well,
this is a remedy that I've just got to make these steps and to
think of what the Lord has done and how he's appeared for me in the
past. And in doing that, it'll lift
me out. of this cast-down state and condition. Sometimes we might think, well,
this is all that we need to do. We can reason ourselves out of
it. But that is not what the Samas
is doing here. And I trust that as those of
us here know that when we are low and cast down, we cannot
reason ourselves out of it. However much we might see a long
catalogue of all the appearances of the Lord for us, all of his
blessings, all of his favours, we don't doubt that he is our
God, we don't doubt that he is the health of our countenance,
and we believe that we will yet praise him, but we can't bring
ourselves up out of that low pit and out of that downcast
position. We read Psalm 40, Psalm of David,
Really, a psalm that beautifully sets forth our Lord and Saviour,
Jesus Christ. Certainly, direct quotes to this
psalm from the Hebrews. We have a psalm beginning, I
waited patiently for the Lord. You know, he is hoping in the
Lord, and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. brought me
up, also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set
my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a
new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God." And he's ascribing
it all to what the Lord is actually doing. This is not him doing
it, he's not applying it, he's waiting for the Lord. There are
many natural illustrations, maybe there's something we need doing
at home, maybe it is something of a electrical thing and we haven't got the
ability or skill to do it, but we have a friend that is able
to do it, we call them and we expect them to come over and
to do it. and that they will come and they
will do it and they will do what we couldn't do ourselves. How often the Lord brings his
people into a place where they, as in Psalm 107, fell down, there
was none to help. Then they cry unto the Lord in
their trouble. More to a place where there's
a hoping in God that he will perform it, the true, the living
God. One of the things with the idols
which Israel loved and man likes with an idol, you can make it
say what you want, you can make it do what you want, it is just
a puppet, just to do what you can imagine you want it to do. It is a servant to us. A man
likes a God like that, that he can dictate to. But such a God
can never help us, never appear for us, never answer our prayers,
never work the miracles of grace or miracles in providence and
appear for us like the true and living God can. We think of what
the Lord says in Ezekiel 36. for his people in all of their
corruptions, in all of their sins. He says, I will sprinkle
clean water upon you and you shall be clean. From all your
filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new
heart also will I give you. A new spirit will I put within
you. And I will take away this stony
heart out of your flesh. and I will give you an heart
of flesh. I will put my spirit within you
and cause you to walk in my statutes. And it's all what the Lord will
do, what he will perform. Later on we read, I will yet
for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for
them. It is the same spirit as our
text that Mary and Martha had when Lazarus was sick And they
sent to our Lord, he whom their lovest is sick. And they left
it with love to do what was necessary. They didn't say, do this or do
that, come now and raise him and heal him. They left it all
to love. It didn't turn out what they
thought, but the Lord had praise in view, greater praise, greater
wonder at the end of that. And it's that committing it unto
the Lord with the thought He will perform and He will do it. He will accomplish. So the hope
thou in God is that God will bring about this change. One
of the hymns says, my heart will move at His command. And I believe some of us have
proved that, when we found our heart so unmovable, so hard,
and yet at his command it moves and is softened. We can wonder, well, what will
cause it to be softened? What will cause it to bow? Years ago, over in Australia,
when I had my Dutch friend living with me, And I went through a
time I felt so hard and so rebellious to the Lord and I could not be
softened. I was ironing trousers one day
and the ironing went strong, went straight through the trousers.
I was boiling something in the pressure cooker and it went dry
and it bowed the bottom tremendously out of shape, could have easily
exploded. cutting something up with a saw
and the wood went flying across the room and smashed a painting
at the end of the room. And each time I got harder and
harder, I felt like throwing the Bible across the room. I
felt so angry with the Lord, so hard, and nothing would soften
it. And then one day we came back
from the Lord's house and my Dutch friend, he was so low and
he said, I can't understand. Why I can't go over to New Zealand? Why is my way stopped up? And
I suddenly remembered a letter from a godly friend over here
before I had that Dutch friend saying, maybe the Lord will raise
up a friend for you over in Australia. And I laughed. It was impossible. You don't know the situation.
And within two weeks, I had my Dutch friend. But I forgot her
letter, and I forgot the laughing, I didn't see it as a blessing.
I just enjoyed having him as company. But when he said that,
I suddenly remembered the letter and why he couldn't get to New
Zealand, why his exams didn't work, why his applications, because
he had to be there to be a friend for me. And you know, I went
and got that letter, and I read it to him. And the Lord just
softened my heart. He just broke all of those snares
of those weeks before, and a sense of His goodness and kindness
to me, and my hardness, and that I hadn't given Him the praise,
I hadn't thanked Him for what He'd given. And you know, within
a week, the Lord opened the door for him to go to New Zealand.
Do you think I'd be really cast down But I wasn't, and I was
able to say with Job, the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken
away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And I've often noticed this in
life's journey, that before the Lord takes something away, he
makes you very thankful for it. There's many times I've had good
health for several months, and I've sometimes been driving in
the car, and I thought, I've had good health for a few months.
And I felt so thankful. And then the next day, I'd fallen
ill. And the world would say, well,
that is just bad luck. You shouldn't have said that.
You shouldn't have recognized the good health you'd had. But
I don't believe in that at all. I just believe that the Lord
kindly shows me the blessing before he'll take it away. He
made me thankful for it. He made me a blessing for it.
And then when it is taken away, I've no quarrel with him. because
he has been good to give it in the first place and so he may
remove it. And it's been a help to me many,
many times in that way. And so he's awaiting upon the
Lord many such times where I felt so helpless to change my feelings. You know, sometimes I read the
Book of Jonah, do us our will to be angry. I sympathize with
dear Jonah. Because I can get those times,
and I can't get out of the state of mind or how I'm feeling. But
when the Lord comes, then He does. And He changes the heart,
renews the will, turns the feet to Zion's hill, softens the heart
in ways that we'd never, never think, sometimes in not related
so to the means at all. The hymn writer says, judgments
nor mercies ne'er can sway. the roving heart to wisdom's
way. But when the Lord means it so,
then, dear Job, he said, he maketh my heart soft. And he knew, he
knew who it was that was coming and softening his heart. And
if we've groaned under a hard heart, we'll value that softened
heart. And so the psalmist's hope in
God was that this God knew him. was able to move his heart, bring
him out of his cast down state, renew him in spirit, in thought,
renew his whole life, put a fresh complexion upon everything. Maybe the outward things still
say the same, but our Lord said, in me you shall have peace, in
the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I've overcome. the world. And the psalmist here,
he knew, do we know that? Hope thou in God. Do we say that
with our soul as we commune with our own heart? Is this our charge? Hope thou in God. It's not making
dictates. We want our God to do this or
that or the other, but knowing he is able. He can manage our
hearts. He knows our case. And He'll
bring us up out of these dark valleys. I trust I know it myself. I've seen it, dear sister in
faith, over in Australia. Just when the Lord withdrew His
blessings, His sweet presence, the calm way that she'd wait
for His appearing again, she knew that Her joys, her blessings,
they came and they went at His command. The blessing of the
Lord, it maketh rich and addeth no sorrow with it. Really the
whole message of when our Lord and Saviour came, the heralding
of the birth of Bethlehem, was that the Lord, He was on His
way. the promise, the child, the seed
of the woman was born. As yet it couldn't be preaching
Jesus Christ and him crucified. For 30 years or so, dear Mary,
she pondered those things in her heart, kept them in her heart
until it was clearly shown what God was to do. But the expectation
right from the start The Lord was on His way. He was in control. He was appearing. And this is
the hope, and this is the expectation of the psalmist here, and it
may be ours as well. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? Why art thou disquieted within
me? Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise Him who is the health of my countenance. and Michael.