Psalm 42, one. As the heart panteth
after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My
soul thirsteth for God, for the living God. When shall I come
and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day
and night, while they continually say unto me, where is thy God? When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul in me, for I had gone with the multitude.
I went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy
and praise with a multitude that kept holy day. Why art thou cast
down on my soul? Why art thou disquieted within
me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of
his countenance. "'Oh my God, my soul is cast
down within me. "'Therefore will I remember thee
"'from the land of Jordan "'and of the Hermonites from the hill
Mizar. "'Deep calleth unto deep at the
noise of thy water spouts, "'and all thy waves and thy billows
are gone over me. "'Yet the Lord will command His
lovingkindness "'in the daytime, "'and in the night His song shall
be with me. "'And my prayer, unto the God
of my life. I will say unto God my rock,
why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of
the oppression of the enemy? As with a sword in my bones,
mine enemies reproach me, while they say daily unto me, where
is thy God? Why art thou cast down on 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. Brother Moose, would
you ask the Lord to meet with us tonight, sir? Our Father, we are grateful to
you for all your tender mercies unto us and for the grace and
the safeness and the providence that has protected us and provided
our needs. We would thank you the opportunity
that is ours tonight to gather here with your people and their
fellowship with one another to sing praise to your name and
worship your son. We pray for him who now stands
before us, our father, and we pray that In this Psalm 42 David asks this
question and I'd like to consider This question tonight Why are
you cast down? Why are you cast down Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ
are not always joyful and happy. And I don't know about you, but
I'm not very good at faking it. Can usually tell when somebody
is, people like to fake that, don't they? Just to pretend that
everything is great when it's not. I'm not very good at that, and
I'm sorry about that. I don't wanna be the cause of
other people being discouraged. We have so much to rejoice about
as believers. That's why this question is asked.
And there are legitimate reasons to be sad. Our Lord was sad.
He wept on this earth. But we often are sad when we
shouldn't be. And I believe David recognized
that in himself. It seems that he knew better,
doesn't it? He didn't just mourn the fact Of his miseries, he
did do that. He said, oh my God, in verse
six, my God. He wasn't using the Lord's name.
Maybe you were just crying out, oh my God, from your soul. My soul is cast down within me. But he asks the question, why? Why are you cast down? And why are you disquieted? And
he answers that. Not the way you might think,
not by reciting all the many troubles and heartaches he was
facing at the time, but he answers the question this way. Hope in
God. Hope thou in God. Remember Psalm 4.4, we just looked
at Psalm 4 not long ago, where in verse four, it says, stand
in awe and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon
your bed and be still. And this is a good thing to do. And David is doing this. He's
asking himself. He's communing with his own heart
on his bed and saying, why? Are you so low? Why are you so
troubled? Sometimes, though we know better,
we know the truth that dispels sadness. We know that our God
is on the throne. We know that the one who has
loved us with an everlasting love is calling the shots, whatever
they are. And yet we just can't help it,
can we, cast down, bowed down, depressed even, sad. When the
disciples walked on the road to Emmaus, they were talking
about how the Lord had died. And they were sad. And the Lord
asked them this question that David asked himself, why? Why
are you so sad? I want us to look at that passage
of scripture again together in Luke 24, if you'd turn over there.
Connection with our song Luke chapter 24 verse 13 Why are you cast down? Verse 13 of Luke 24 and behold
two of them two of the disciples and went that same day to a village
called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem, about three score
furlongs. And they talked together of all
these things which had happened. And it came to pass that while
they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went
with them. But their eyes were holding that
they should not know him. And he said unto them, what manner
of communications are these that you have one to another as you
walk? And they're sad. And the one of them whose name
was Cleopas answering said unto him, art thou only a stranger
in Jerusalem and hast not known the things which are come to
pass there in these days? And he said unto them, what things?
And they said unto him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, there's the
son of God, the one to whom these things happened, he accomplished
them. But he says, what things? He
caused them to talk about it, to think about it, to answer
the question concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet
mighty in deed and word before God and all the people and how
the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned
to death and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been
he which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this,
today is the third day since these things were done. Yea,
and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which
were early at the sepulcher, and when they found not his body,
they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels,
which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were
with us went to the sepulcher and found it even so as the women
had said, but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into
his glory? And beginning at Moses, when all the prophets he expounded
unto them and all the scriptures, the things concerning himself.
Now think with me about some, a few considerations from this
passage and from our text with regard to this question, why
are you sad? We know why, we know we can answer
that. It's a rhetorical question. were sad because this happened
or that happened, or because this is going on, or because
so-and-so did this or that. But think about these things
with regard to this question. These disciples on the road to
Emmaus were sad because the Lord had died. Think about that. They were sad
that the Lord had died. the most wonderful thing that's
ever happened was the cause of their sadness.
How often is that true of us? How often are we sad about the
very things that we should be rejoicing about? We know that's
right. Can you think of some examples
of that? I wrote down a few times that
I've been sad. When my father died, I was sad.
It broke my heart. I remember when my brother Tommy
Robbins died of cancer and he knew he wasn't going to be on
this earth much longer. He kept saying to me, don't be
sad. Don't be sad. And I couldn't
help it. The more he said that, the sadder
I was. But think about where he is now. What would he say now if he could
say something to me? Well, I don't need him to say
anything to me because the Lord has spoken to me. And David saw
his heart was broken. There's no question about that.
He wasn't faking it. But by God's grace, he asked
the question, why? Often we're sad about the very
most wonderful things that can possibly take place. They were sad the Lord had died.
Remember that next time you're sad. They were sad about the
most wonderful thing that ever happened in this world. They were sad that the Lord was
gone, but he was walking right by their side. We're often sad
for reasons that don't exist. They're sad the Lord was gone.
He's right there. And they didn't even know it. People say, oh, so-and-so died.
Not if he knew the Lord Jesus Christ, he didn't. He's not gone.
He's walking with the Lord like they were. How can we be sad
about that? Often we're, actually the cause
of our sadness is that which is not even true. Their sadness was a result of
unbelief, wasn't it? Verse 25. Look at verse 25, then he said,
oh, fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets
have spoken. If you, I'll take, let's learn
this from that. This gospel is the cure for every
ill. Sadness is dispelled by the truth
of Christ and Him crucified. If they had just thought and
realized what He had said to them, He had spoken clearly to
them, I must go to Jerusalem and I'm gonna be arrested, I'm
gonna be falsely accused, I'm gonna be beaten, I'm gonna be
scourged, I'm gonna die. But in three days, I'm gonna
rise again. And so he called them fools,
in a kind way, I'm sure, don't you think? Oh, fools and slow, slow. Look that word up sometime,
whenever you get to thinking a little too much of yourself. Slow of heart. Their sadness was a result of
unbelief and ours often is. And I'm not, don't misunderstand
me tonight. I'm not rebuking sadness in general. There are times when our hearts
are going to break. There's just no way around that.
We will suffer tribulation. Our Lord promised us that. We
will have trouble in this world. But why, it's still a good question. And look at these considerations. They were sad because of the
most wonderful thing that ever happened. They were sad because
the Lord was gone and it wasn't true. And their sadness was a
result of their unbelief. Their sadness was a result of
ignorance of the scripture. Verse 27, he opened the scripture. Verse 27, in beginning with Moses
and all the prophets he expounded unto them in all the scriptures
the things concerning himself. You know what our comfort is?
I don't care what you're sad about. Here's how to not be sad. Hear
the gospel. Hear what God said. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ
has promised. He said, I will not leave you
comfortless. Do you remember the next four
words? I guess five words. I will come to you. I will come to you. And that happens when his gospels
preach. He said, I'll meet with you there.
I'll meet with you. In verse 41, how was their sorrow
turned into joy? While they yet believed not for
joy and wondered, he said unto them, have you here any meat?
And they gave him a piece of fish, of a broiled fish and of
a honeycomb and he took it and did eat before them. It was by a revelation of himself. And he said unto them, these
are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law
of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning
me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the
scriptures. And look at verse 31. Verse 30, and it came to
pass as he sat at meat with them, he took bread and blessed it
and break and gave to them and their eyes were open and they
knew him. He vanished out of their sight. You believe the
Lord can do that to not open our eyes that we might know him?
I believe he does that. So David was sad, and he told
himself, stop it. Hope thou in God. But I like the way he begins
this psalm. Look at verse one. As the heart panteth after the
water broke, so panteth my soul. After thee, O God, my soul thirsteth
for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? When his heart was heavy, when he was troubled, when he
was cast down, when he was disquieted in his soul, what did he desire? Not just for the problems to
go away. May the Lord teach us that. He's
put us through some things here in this church in the last few
years. May he teach us this, the answer, the remedy, The relief
is not that troubles go away, but it's that He draws near to
us and we to Him by His grace. He is the solution, not just
the absence of trouble. David thirsted for God, not trouble-free
life. May God teach us that. He didn't say, I want you, Lord,
like a poor man wants a million dollars. This is not a want,
this is a need. I've got to have God. Like that
thirsty little deer, panting, needs a drink. I've got to have
it. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
that water that flows from the throne of God, clear as crystal,
still waters. from which his sheep drink. You know, something that we take
for granted, I was thinking about this. A drink of water. Is there anything
we take more for granted than that? We just drink, just grab
a bottle of water along the way and drink it. Do you know that
I can remember drinks of water that I had 40 years ago? Can you, one or two, one or two,
I can remember from a long, long time ago when I needed it so
bad and it tasted so good. I can still remember it four
years later. I can remember one at my grandmother's
house. It was in one of those aluminum
cups. You remember those? They were
made out of aluminum. And they quit doing that because I guess
it's impractical and it sweats and all that. I don't care. Give
me one of those old cups. It's ice cold when you pick it
up. And it's dripping. And the water,
you can hear the ice clinking around in it. That's the best
drink of water on earth. I keep saying I'm going to find
some of those and get some one of these days. We just have one
need spiritually. and physically for that matter.
We just have one need. One need. You know, religion
says try Jesus. Isn't it time to try Jesus? No,
it is not. You don't say that. If you said try drinking water,
try drinking some water every once in a while, that would be
really stupid, wouldn't it? You don't try that. You do it
and live. And it's that simple. We just
have one need. And when we're drinking that
water, when I was drinking that drink of water, I can still remember
coming in the house after playing out in the heat, the Texas heat,
and getting that drink of cold water. I wasn't sitting there
thinking, well, my body is 60% water, and so if I drink this
much water, you know, I won't need any for this amount of,
I wasn't sitting there thinking science. I was just saying this
water is good. Boy, that's good. Boy, that's
good. I didn't understand why water was
so important as a kid. I just knew that I needed some
of it. And it was so good to have it.
And there's a lot of questions that I can't answer, but I can
tell you this, whereas I was blind, now I can see. And it's good to see. It's so
good to see. David wrote in verse three, my
tears have been my meat day and night while they continually
say unto me, where's your God? Verse three reminds us of our
Lord. When he, in Matthew 27, 41, it
says the chief priests were mocking him with the scribes and elders.
And they said this, he saved others himself he cannot save.
If he be the king of Israel, let him now come down from the
cross and we will believe him. He trusted in God, let him deliver
him now if he will have him, for he said, I'm the son of God.
They're in effect asking him, where's your God? Where's your
God now? The thieves also which were crucified
with him cast the same in his teeth. And this teaches us not
only that we should always apply the words of these Psalms to
our Lord, as well as understand them in the human situation that
was taking place because they're an illustration of spiritual
truth in that too. But also that he's a high priest
that can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. What
we've been through, do we really think that our Lord never felt
that? Is there anything we've been through? Our Lord was tested
in all points like as we are, yet without sin, yet without
sin. And you think, well, being without
sin, that makes it easier for him. Oh, think about it. Think about it. I don't think
so. The fact that he was sinless,
for him to suffer the things that we do, he felt everything
more intensely and more intimately and more fully than we ever will. He was
the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and will never suffer
like he did. Children usually think that their
parents don't understand what they're going through. If you're
a parent, you know this. And young people are wrong about
that. We didn't grow old sitting around
in a room doing nothing. We grow old experiencing the
same things you do. We've been there. And somebody
that has been there, and loves you is a treasure from the Lord. A treasure from the Lord. We're
not just older than you. We haven't just been sitting
in an empty room somewhere aging. I'm probably 30 or 40 years older
than our young people here. But that's not just years. I'm
30 years more beat up and wrung out, wore out. I've done the
wrong things for 30 years longer than you. And can we be so foolish as to
think that about our Savior He doesn't understand that he
can't be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. His sinlessness
makes him more understanding of our infirmities. And what
a treasure, what a source of constant, reliable, trustee comfort
he is in all of our troubles. He's been where we are He loves
us infinitely and everlastingly and immutably. And he's able to do exceeding
above all that we could ever ask or think. And he works everything
for our good. Everything for our eternal good,
the eternal good of our soul. David said in verse four, when
I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me. For I had
gone with the multitude. I went with them to the house
of God with the voice of joy and praise with a multitude that
kept holy day. We have here maybe a clue as
to why David was so cast down. I had gone, I had gone. I went
past hence. I used to be able to worship
God with his people. I'm not sure what the occasion
of this particular Psalm was. But there were times when David's
own son rose up in rebellion against him and he was exiled
from the kingdom for a time and living in caves and unable to
worship God like he had in the place of worship at the time
of worship. And that's part of what broke
his heart. Would that be true of us? If we couldn't worship
the Lord like this, what we're doing tonight, Would that matter? Would that matter to us? Would
it be that important? Would we miss it? Would it cause
us to cry out to God like David did here? David was in situations, often
it seems, where he couldn't worship with the congregation of God's
people. God's people, of course, can worship the Lord anywhere,
but there's nothing like the public worship of God with his
saints. There's nothing like that. Nothing
replaces that. There has always been a holy
convocation since the Passover. And I expect before that, before
it's even recorded in the scripture, where God's people are gathering
of the saints to worship the Lord. And David cried out for
it. When I remember, I pour out my soul For I had gone with the
multitude. I had gone with the people of
God. I went with them to the house
of God with the voice of joy and praise. Does it encourage
you? Does it lift you up to rejoice
and worship with God's saints? Psalm 122, one, I was glad when
they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. May it never become something
that we just take for granted or take or leave. It seems like to me that things
happen in people's lives and they seem to prove that that
is more important than the worship of God. And that's heartbreaking. It's
heartbreaking to see that. Psalm 84, one, how amiable are
thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth
for the courts of the Lord. Isn't that, that would seem strange
to this world. Oh yeah, I go to church. Everybody,
doesn't everybody go to church? My heart and my flesh crieth
out for the living God. Yea, the sparrow hath found a
house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay
her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and
my God. Blessed are they that dwell in
thy house. Blessed are they. They will still be praising you. They'll still be praising you.
I believe on the authority of the scripture, that if a man
ever worships God, he'll always worship God. You ever worship
him one time. It's a necessity. Verse five, why are you cast
down on my soul? Why are you disquieted within
me? Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise him for the help of his countenance. He knows what's
gonna happen because of what has happened. The Lord has always blessed us. He's always saved us. He's always
kept us. He's always lifted us up. He's
always gotten us through. He's always comforted us. And
he's saying to himself, don't be cast down. I know I'm gonna
be praising him before long for his help. He's never failed to
help me yet. David had praised God for his
goodness, and he knew that he would do so yet again. God does not withdraw his love
and mercy, and so why are we so cast down? If God loves us,
if God has promised that he'd never leave us nor forsake us,
if he has instructed us to cast our cares upon him because he
cares for us, then why? Wow, and yet verse six, oh my
God, my soul is cast down within me. Therefore will I remember
thee from the land of Jordan and from the Hermonites and of
the Hermonites and from the hill Mazar. When you ask the question why,
and you consider these things that are true of our sadness
and our troubles and our soul being cast down, you'd think we would just choose
not to be cast down anymore. That's easier said than done,
isn't it? This is why we need him. This is why we need him. We have a million reasons not
to be cast out, and we're still gonna be cast out. And he remembers
that we're dust. He knows our frame. And he's
there for us every time, always. My soul is cast down within me.
And David called to his memory some specific times when the
Lord had been gracious to him. Can we do that? When we're hurting,
can we think of other times that we've hurt and the Lord has touched
us and healed us? And the Lord's always gracious
to us in everything, but there's nothing wrong with recalling
some favorite times and places when the Lord particularly manifest
his care for us, places and times. Can you remember some times when
the water was, you thought the water was over your head? Verse
seven of our text talks about, deep calleth unto deep at the
noise of thy water spouts, all thy waves and thy billows have
gone over me. Sometimes it seems like we're in over our head and we
are, if it was just us. But he's promised. it won't overflow
you. When our hearts were overwhelmed
before, what was our hope then? The Lord was with us. How did
we get through it? The Lord was with us. How will
we get through it now? The Lord will be with us. Waters going over a man is an
expression here, a picture of sorrows overwhelming us. The Lord reveals to us in times
like that how small we are. We're just in a little ship tossed
by the waves. Like the disciples, we cry out,
Lord, carest thou not that we perish? But again, when they were in
trouble, when they were afraid, when they were panicking, to question whether the Lord
cares about them, when there they are on a little ship out
in the middle of the sea, and the Son of God is on that boat
with them. And what's he doing in the world
at all, much less on a boat with them? Well, he came to live for them.
and to die for them. He came to teach them of himself.
He came to save them. Carest thou not? Can we ask that question? We perish. Our Lord said, I lay down my
life for them and they shall never perish. I like this about verse seven.
David said, all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
He's hurting. He's feeling the pain, but I'll
tell you this, he knows this, they're the Lord's waves. They're his billows, aren't they? The Lord is the one that brings
the storm before he calms it. He commands it. He commands the
storm to rage and he commands it to lay down all in his time. He makes all things beautiful
in his time. Verse eight, yet the Lord will
command his loving kindness in the daytime and in the night
his song shall be with me and my prayer unto the God of my
life. For some reason, the Lord, this may be a foolish illustration,
but I thought of it this way, for some reason, his loving kindness,
that's the ship we're in. We might say, well, we're goners,
the winds and the waves, look, that ship don't sink. And the
commander of that ship is the Lord himself. The Lord will command
his loving kindness. No matter how high and terrible
the waves and the billows, the ship I'm in is called his loving
kindness. And he's the captain, he commands
the vessel. And in the night when I can't
see the light of his countenance, I'm gonna sing his praises anyway
by his grace, because I know he's there. I'll cry unto him
in the night my prayer. His song is with me and my prayer
is unto him. There's a lot of lessons in this
about going through trouble. Cry out to God, ask Him, trust
Him, seeing what Paul and Silas did throughout the night when
things didn't look so good. Verse nine, I will say unto God,
my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because
of the oppression of the enemy? As with a sword in my bones,
mine enemies reproach me while they say daily unto me, where
is thy God? Now again, this mostly is a rhetorical
question. David here is expressing that
in whatever situation that he's in here, he can't bear it. And
what troubles him the most, and this was true with Job, if you
remember how much Job suffered, how many heartaches, like a flood,
like David describes, just kept flooding over his soul. Messenger
after messenger came with horrible, disastrous news. But when Job began to cry out,
you know what seemed to be the most horrible terror that plagued
his soul. Why have you left me alone? Why
have you left me? Why have you left me? We can
get through anything if the Lord is with us. Why have you forsaken
me, Lord? Why have you forgotten me? And that's what he's expressing
here. He's not asking, he's asking only rhetorically, And we know
that the Lord doesn't forsake his own, but our faith is not
strong. Our faith is just not strong.
If you asked me the question, has the Lord forsaken you? I'd
say, no, he never forsakes his people. But in the experience
of things, when our faith is tried, we realize it's not the
strength of our faith that saves us. I know there's a needs be whenever
we suffer, 1 Peter 1, 5 and 6. If need be, you suffer manifold
trials and heaviness. Paul said, we know that all things
work together for good. We know that, and yet what we
know and what we feel are two different things. We don't trust
our feelings. We can't, we shouldn't, cannot,
must not, We trust him and we trust his word. That's why we
pant after him, his courts, his worship, his gospel, his presence. You remember the psalmist of
Psalm 73 when he said, I was envious at the prosperity of
the wicked. His perspective was all wrong.
He looked at what was going on outwardly with the wicked and
he was envious. They have everything they need.
and your people are oppressed and suffering. It caused him
envy and misery and confusion. But then he said, I went to the
tabernacle of the Lord and I saw their end. I saw that it's their
feet that are in slippery places. And the Lord is always with me. Called himself a beast for thinking
like he had. And he said, the Lord has a hold
of my hand and won't let go. And that was his comfort in that. David knew in his heart that
the Lord, like he always had, would lift up the light of his
countenance upon him. He said that. He knew he would
yet praise the Lord. He knew that in his head. And
so that's why at the end of the Psalm again, he asked himself,
why? Considering who your God is,
considering what he's done for you already, wow. And don't we have to ask ourselves
that same question? The Lord has tried us, the Lord
has, wherever he gives faith, he tries
it. But let's ask ourself this question
as David did in the beginning of this song and at the end of
it. We know why. It's a rhetorical
question. We know the causes. We know the
things that are happening that have made us to be troubled. And we know why in this sense. Lord, I believe, help. Help thou mine unbelief. I know that we are of little
faith. That's why. But let's ask it this way too.
Why? If he that spared not his own
son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also
with him also freely give us all things? Why are you cast
down? Do you doubt his love? Who spared
not his own son for you? Have you asked like the disciples,
don't you care that we perish? If so, David has a question for
us. Why? May God cause us to consider who he is What he did for us The answer to every question
worth asking is Christ in him crucified Why? Why? Considering him Let's pray