Go back with me over to Psalm
42. And I want to read from verse
3. Let's begin reading in verse 3. Psalm 42 verse 3 says, 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, O my
soul? And why art thou disquieted in
me? Hope thou in God. For I shall
yet praise him for the help of his countenance. O 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 waterspouts. All thy waves and thy billows
are gone over me. Yet the Lord will command his
loving kindness in the daytime. And in the night his song shall
be with me in 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, 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. The man or the woman who can
enter into this, You notice how he's strong and weak, strong
and weak. The man or the woman who can
truly say these words is a believer. He or she is a believer. He said
in the middle of verse 5, Hope thou in God. I shall yet praise
him for the help of his countenance. But he said in verse 6, my God,
I can't help it. I just can't help it. My soul
is cast down within me. He said at the end of verse 7,
I feel like all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. He said in verse 8, yet the Lord
will command His loving kindness. But he said in verse 9, to His
rock, Why has thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning? Why? Why do I get out of the
bed feeling like I am mourning? And why do I walk through my
day feeling like I'm mourning? And why do I lay my head down
at night, feeling like I'm mourning? Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? Why art thou disquieted in me?"
I titled this message, A Psalm for Those Who Are Sad. That's
what this is. This is a psalm for those who
are sad. Now, I want to read you either
the most encouraging thing I have read in a long time or the most
encouraging thing I've ever read in my life. Charles Spurgeon has been a blessing
to me this week. My dear brother Spurgeon has
blessed my soul this week. I read the commentaries and the
different men, but Brother Spurgeon, he had a lot on this. And I read a lot of different
sources from him. He had a message on this. And
he wrote Treasury of David. And this is morning and evening.
Some of you have Spurgeon's morning and evening. This is July 21st
evening. And it comes from this verse
in this question, why go I mourning? Now he writes, canst thou answer
this believer? Canst thou find any reason why
thou art so often mourning instead of rejoicing? Why yield to gloomy
anticipations? Who told thee that the night
would never end in day? Who told thee that the sea of
circumstances would ebb out? And ebb is when the tide goes
out, that decline of the tide. Who told thee that the sea of
circumstances would ebb out till there should be nothing left
but long leagues of the mud of horrible poverty? Who told thee
that the winter of thy discontent would proceed from frost to frost,
from snow and ice and hail to deeper snow and yet more heavy
tempest of despair? Knowest thou not that day follows
night? that flood comes after ebb, that
spring and summer succeed to winter? Hope thou then, hope
thou ever, for God fails thee not. Dost thou not know that
thy God loves thee in the midst of all this? Mountains, when
in darkness hidden, are as real as in day. And God's love is
as true to thee now as it was in thy brightest moment. No father
chastens always. Thy Lord hates the rod as much
as thou dost. He only cares to use it for that
reason which should make thee willing to receive it, namely,
that it works thy lasting good. Thou shalt yet climb Jacob's
ladder with the angels, and behold him who sits at the top of it,
thy covenant God. Thou shalt yet, amidst the splendors
of eternity, forget the trials of time, or only remember them
to bless the God who led thee through them and wrought thy
lasting good by them. Come, sing in the midst of tribulation. Rejoice even while passing through
the furnace. Make the wilderness to blossom
like the rose. Cause the desert to ring with
thine exalting joys, for these light afflictions will soon be
over. And then, forever with the Lord,
thy bliss shall never wane." Amen. And then he had this poem,
faint not nor fear, his arms are near. He changeth not, and
thou art dear. Only believe, and thou shalt
see that Christ is all in all to thee. Why art thou cast down,
O my soul? Why art thou disquieted in me? Why is the quietness gone? Hope thou in God. Soul, hope
thou in God. Now there are so many reasons
why we become cast down. We are more cast down. Spurgeon
was right. We are more often cast down than
rejoicing. And there are so many reasons
why. There are personal reasons. There are life reasons. Life
happens. It just happens. And there are
things that happen to us and around us that if we did not
become cast down over it, there'd be something wrong with us. Really. There wouldn't be any heart in
here. There wouldn't be any life, any love in here if we were not
cast down over certain things that happen every day. We have
good reasons to be cast down sometimes. But I will tell you
this, every time we are cast down, it is for a good reason. It is for a good reason. So hope
thou in God. Spurgeon said, I'm going to quote
him, I found a lot by him and I'm going to give him the credit.
He said, for the true believer, the true child of God, it sometimes
happens that the very pressure which weighs down the scale of
His earthly hopes. We've got some earthly hopes
here. And it sometimes happens that the very pressure which
weighs down the scale of His earthly hopes tends to lift up
the opposite scale of His spiritual peace. Hope thou in God. It's all for good reason. Verse
3 says, My tears have been my meat day and night, while they
continually say to me, My tears continually say to me, Where
is thy God? That is a good place to be. What a precious place to be. That is a good place for a soul
to be. What he's saying right there
is, I can't eat. That's what he's saying, I just
cannot eat. I'm just too distressed and my
soul keeps crying, where is God? I wish my soul would cry that. I really do. Where is God? Man, what a place to be. Is it
a painful place? Yes. Yes, it is. Man, it's worth it. It's a good
place to be. By God's grace, I would rather
be cold than lukewarm. It's a sign of life. Where is
God? Where is God? It's a sign of
life. Spurgeon said, a man may actually
be growing in grace while he's cast down. And he may really
be standing higher when he's cast down than he did when he
stood upright. He said, when we are flat on
our faces, we are generally the nearest to heaven. He's right. He said, when we sink the lowest
in our own esteem, we rise the highest in fellowship with Christ
and in knowledge of Him. Now, ever since I read this,
well, this is what he said. There is such a thing. as being
crushed with a load of grace. Just crushed. Boom. Oh, it hurts. Man, you're a blessed
person. You are a blessed soul. Where
is God? Man, you're a blessed soul. There
is such a thing as being crushed with a load of grace. Being cast
down is usually the best thing that could ever happen to us.
It is the best thing. And the reason is because that's
where Christ will come commune with us. That's where He comes
and He communes with us. We start having closer dealings
with Christ Himself. not Calvinism, Christ. Christ Himself. We have closer
dealings than we ever have before. It's the absolute truth. Look
back with me at Psalm 34. Just a couple of pages back to
Psalm 34. Psalm 34 verse 6 says, This poor man cried and the Lord
heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The man cried,
that low man cried. Verse 17 says, ìThe righteous
cry, and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their
troubles. The Lord is nigh unto them that
are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.î Many afflictions,
but He delivers them out of them all. He delivered us out of our
greatest affliction, didn't he? Our sin. This song says, "'Tis
the grandest theme through the ages rung," and it is. "'Tis the grandest theme for
a mortal tongue," and it is. "'Tis the grandest theme that
the world e'er sung, our God is able to deliver thee." "'Tis
the grandest theme, let the tidings roll, to the guilty heart, to
the sinful soul. Look to God in faith, He has
made thee whole. Our God is able to deliver thee.
Though by sin oppressed, go to Him for rest. Our God is able
to deliver thee." In Christ, He delivered us from absolute
destruction. And He still delivers us daily
from absolute despair. If He can deliver us from absolute
destruction, He can deliver us from absolute despair. How does
He do that? Go back over to Psalm 42. Verse 3 says, 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, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted in me? Hope
thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His
countenance. When He makes His face shine, when He reveals to us that He
is right here. He's right here. I have to believe
our Lord. He said, where two or three are
gathered in my name, I am in the midst of you. And whenever He allows us by
His Spirit to enter into the fact that He's here, I mean,
He's here. He's with us. He's watching out
for us. Actually, He's carrying, carrying
us. Verse 6 says, Oh my God, my soul
is cast down within me, therefore will I remember thee. Wait a minute. You know, we get
cast down, we get in life, and I would venture to say, even
on our best days, there is a moment in that day when we're cast down.
It's just always. But whenever His face shows,
when His countenance shows, when He looks on us and reveals Himself
to us, we say, wait a minute, He is carrying me. So the burden that I'm carrying,
he's carrying too. And there's no need in both of
us carrying it. And he said, I could roll it
over to him. Whatever burden it is, he said, roll it over
to him. He's already carrying it. I don't need to carry it.
No need in it at all. And we don't believe that and
we can't enter into that, but it's true. I don't care what
it is. No, this is too big. I'm just too distraught. It's
just too big. He's already carrying it. The
only reason I have another breath to worry about it is because
He allowed me to. I can roll that over to the shoulders
of the one who carries all of the government of heaven and
earth. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. Verse 6 says, 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. Those are
references and I went back and I read them. Long references
and we're not going to take the time to read them. But they are
great times of deliverance. These things happened and great
deliverance took place. And David is remembering old
times of great deliverance. He's never failed me before. And He hadn't failed me. And
He hadn't failed you. If He was victorious in pleading
my case, in pleading my sins before the judgment throne of
God, what is anything compared to that? Anything. Genesis 18 says, is anything
too hard for the Lord? There's an old saying that goes
like this, he who is his own lawyer, well now I'm going to
represent myself, he who is his own lawyer has a fool for his
client. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Take your burden
to the Lord, the one who can actually plead the case. Take
your burden to the Lord and leave it there. If the world from you
withhold of its silver and its gold and you have to get along
with meager fare, just remember in his word how he feeds the
little bird. Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
I think that's wonderful. What a friend we have in the
Lord Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear. And I just understood that for
the first time today. He bore all our sins. But He's
so kind. I mean, that's a big deal. But
He's so kind, He's with us on the little deals too. Just our
grief. The things we become cast down
over. All our sins and our griefs to bear. What a friend. What
a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Now listen
to this. Oh what peace we often forfeit. Oh what needless pain we bear. I'm in such pain. You don't need
to be. I don't need to be. It's all
because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Sweet hour
of prayer, sweet hour of prayer that calls me from a world of
care. Now see, I was over here in my
own little world, all torn up in this world of care, but that
sweet hour of prayer called me out of that. And bids me at my Father's throne
make all my wants and wishes known. That is good. In seasons
of distress and grief, my soul has often found relief and oft
escaped the tempter's snare by thy return, sweet hour of prayer.
Therefore will I remember thee. Verse seven says, deep calleth
unto deep. At the noise of thy water spouts,
all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Who can truly
say that but Christ? Really? Oh, it's been tough. I've been
going through some things. Oh, man. The billows of God's
wrath rolled over him. Not me. Not me. I'm the one who committed all
the sin. He's the one who endured the deep. The deep. I only endured it in him. Verse
8 says, "'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.'" You see how much strength David has after
remembering the Lord. Isn't it amazing? After the help
of his countenance, Verse 3, he said, My tears have been my
meat day and night, while they continually say to 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, I, I, I, I. I is the root of all our sorrow. I mean, that was Spurgeon. I'll
go ahead and give him the credit for it. I is the root of all
our sorrow. And we come and say, well, I
just, I mean, I just, there's your problem. I didn't write
it in my notes, but here's what he said. He said, the best response
is to say, yes, dear brother, it is so true. You are not what you want to
be. You are this, you are that. But he said, what do you have
to say about Christ? He said, for at least the next
24 hours, mention nothing of I and only of Christ, and then
tell me how are you. That's good advice. That is good advice. I is the
root of all my sorrow. But if God will give me the help
of His countenance, and if He'll remind me and remind us to remember
Christ, Christ, Christ, we will forget about what's casting us
down. I promise. This is medicine for
being cast down. If I will immediately take I
out of my vocabulary and put Christ in there, it is the medicine. We'll forget about it. Our Lord
said, can the children of the bridegroom mourn as long... children of the bride chamber
mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? If I'm in communion
with Him, it's impossible. When God allows you to truly
pray, there's some hope going on inside there. You know it? But here's the thing. We said
He's up and down. How long does that last? How
long does it take after we walk out of those doors right there?
before we forget about our precious Lord and everything He's done.
And we say right here in verse 9, 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? Where is God? Oh yeah. the help of his countenance. Where is he? He is seated at
the right hand of the majesty on high. That's where he is. Daily making intercession for
me. That's what he's doing. Reminding
all of heaven and earth that my sins have been forgiven for
his sake. Spurgeon said, if I had never
received more than that one mercy from Him, I must bless Him for
it in time and bless it for Him throughout eternity, if that's
the only mercy He gave me. I should spend the rest of my
days on this earth, blessed God, if I had no other mercy in this
life. But how many promises has he given us in here, really?
How many promises of mercy and grace? He keeps saying it over
and over and over and over. Spurgeon said, God forbid that
we should ever think that He was so cruel as to enlighten
and comfort and cheer and help us so long and then leave us
at last to sink and to perish. But that's exactly what we think. He said, yet you who have been
at the foot of the cross are afraid that you will be cast
away at the last. You have known the sweetness
of Jesus' love, yet you are cast down. Now listen to this. I just
had to quote him word for word. He has kissed you with the kisses
of his lips. His left hand has been under
your head. And His right hand has embraced
you. That means He's down by you with
His left hand under your head and His right hand has embraced
you. He's right here. Yet you think He will leave you
at last in trouble to sink. You have been in His banqueting
house and you have had such food as angels never tasted. Yet you dream that you shall
be cast into hell. Shame on you, Gabe Stoniker."
Well, I added the Gabe Stoniker in there, but he said, shame
on you. Pluck off those robes of mourning. Lay aside that sackcloth
and those ashes. Down from the willows snatch
your harps and let us together sing praises unto him whose love
and power and faithfulness and goodness shall ever be the same. He said believers in Jesus are
not a miserable crew. They have songs to sing and they
have good reason to sing them. Here's one, this was written
by a man named William Cowper in 1615. It says, God moves in
a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps
in the sea and rides upon the storm. Judge not the Lord by
feeble sense, but trust him for his grace. Behind a frowning
providence, faith sees a smiling face. Blind unbelief is sure
to err and scan his work in vain. God is his own interpreter and
he will make it plain. You fearful saints, fresh courage
take. The clouds you so much dread
are big with mercy and will break in blessings on your head. Does that make you want to cry
with David in verse 1? 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? What relief is in Him. Man, what
relief is in Him. Now I'm going to close with this.
This was a great blessing to me. The end of verse 5 says,
For I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. Now look at verse 11. It says,
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. His countenance is the health
of my countenance. And it really is. I mean it really
is. It is health. It is health. He alone is the health of my
countenance and He alone is my God. So, so Rejoice. I mean rejoice. You have nothing
to be sad over. Really. Rejoice and hope in Him. Alright, let's stand together.