And before we read, let's have
a word of prayer. Our Father, quicken our hearts
and our understanding, we pray. These things that we are about
to read, may they be a reality unto us. We pray that You'll
open our understanding, that we may know and see this experience
of this man in the Scripture, And Lord, that we might know
that this can be the lot of all of our children at one time or
another. And Lord, we know that the only
remedy is for You to come with great and amazing grace and lift
up our feeble spirits and the hands that hang down, rescuing
us, Lord, out of the slew of despair, should it come. We ask these things in Christ's
name. Amen. All right, in Psalm 77,
let's listen as the psalmist tells us something. I cried unto
God with my voice, even unto God with my voice, and He gave
ear unto me. In the day of my trouble I sought
the Lord, my sore ran in the night, and cease not, my soul
refused to be comforted. I remembered God and was troubled. I complained and my spirit was
overwhelmed. Selah, thou holdest mine eyes
waking. I am so troubled that I cannot
speak. I have considered the days of
old, the years of ancient times. I call to remembrance my song
in the night. I commune with mine own heart,
and my spirit made diligent search. Will the Lord cast off forever? Will He be favorable no more? Is His mercy clean gone forever? Does His promise fail forevermore? Hath He forgotten to be gracious? Hath He, in anger, shut up his
tender mercies, seal up." And I said, this is my infirmity,
but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most
High. I will remember the works of
the Lord surely. I will remember Thy wonders of
old. I will meditate also of all Thy
work and talk of Thy doings. Thy way, O God, is the sanctuary
who is so great as God as our God. Alright, in the 42nd Psalm,
verse 5 and verse 6, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? 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, and from the
hill of Miser." Then verse 11, "'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 hope or health of my countenance and
my God.'" Now, here we can evidently see a man whose soul is troubled. Expositors are not exactly in
agreement as to who wrote this particular psalm among the many. Do they agree as to whether or
not the psalm is national, that is, does it speak of the entire
nation? And is the psalmist speaking
in the person of the nation, or is it an individual that is
speaking in this particular passage of the Scripture? But one thing
is clear, and that is that here may be seen and may be heard
the groans and the sighs of a soul for a time, yes, for a time,
lacking the comfort of the Lord. A soul without a clear and present
sense of the presence of the Lord God of heaven. A soul that
has been cast down on account of present or of past circumstances
when some great flood of trials has come against the soul. When one is down, that all or
much comfort is lost and is not found, the heart is as heavy
as a rock. The spirit low, the soul is cast
down within this particular man. Then comes anguish and depression,
doubts and even a measure of unbelief may follow. Smirgin
wrote on this psalm that it had much sadness in it. And I think
that certainly is true, especially in the beginning as the author
lays bare for us to see the deep impressions made upon him by
this experience. But, as Jonah prayed unto the
Lord his God out of the belly of the whale, Jonah 2 and verse
1, and he said in Jonah 2 and verse 7, when my soul fainted
within me, I remembered the Lord, I prayed unto God. Even so, the
psalmist cried out unto God in verse 1 and in verse 2, and in
the day of my trouble I sought the Lord to see if He would hear
or whether He would be found in my trouble. There is much
in this psalm that we do not have time to consider. It is
very full of good truth. So we must be selective in our
study of the evening. Let's see a phrase in verse 2
and settle in upon it for a while. Look at what he said. My soul
refused to be comforted as a sick body often refuses the food that
might nourish it back to health and even back to strength. So
it is. that a downcast soul may refuse
the comforts that are there at hand, the encouragements and
the prayers of friends and of fellow saints, the promise of
God's Word, and the fellowship of the saints of God. He may
refuse them at that particular time. Why, as Solomon said in
Proverbs 25 and 20, as he that takes away a garment in cold
weather, or like vinegar upon a mitre," this word is again
in Jeremiah 2 and 22, "...so is he that sings songs unto a
troubled heart." Some say that this mitre was a soda or mineral,
alkali, which acted very strongly when it was mixed with or came
in contact to any sort of acid. Others say that Maitre was a
dirt soap that was taken up from the earth and was used in washing
and in cleansing. But the point being, a song sung
to a heavy heart might have a worse effect than a good effect upon
an individual. Or another meaning might be,
it would be unseasonable to sing songs of merriment before a very
heavy heart. That would be as unreasonable
as taking away a man's coat or his garment when the weather
was cold and he needed it for warmth. The analogy between a
sick person and a plate of food and a sad soul and comfort, I
think, is a good one. Let's look at it again. Many
an ill person has been heard to say, and we've all heard it,
if I eat that, It will make me sick. If I eat that, I think
that I will throw up. I can't eat another bite. And the very smell of food sometimes,
especially hospital food, has made some nauseate. And because
the body has some kind of an ill humor that makes it lose
its natural delight and appetite for food, even so, An ill, distempered
soul is adverse to the comfort that one might extend unto them. Such is the case in our text
today. My soul refused to be comforted,
whereby, let us learn, it is impossible to comfort those who
refuse to be comforted. It is just as it is impossible
to feed those who refuse to take food. It is impossible to comfort
one who refuses to be comforted. Try as we might. We might visit
them. We might pray with them. We might
read with them from the sacred Holy Scripture. We might exhort
them and encourage them, even rebuke them. We might help them
recollect past mercies and past blessings that God has broken
upon their head reminiscent of the old times when times were
good and the heart was merry. We might remind them that our
God is faithful and His word cannot fail. And yet apart from
the inward work and the inward grace of God, the soul in declension,
yet will it repel all of those things offered as a comforting
balm unto that particular soul. My soul refused to be comforted."
That's a terrible position for a child of God to be in. Let's look at it. My soul refused
to be comforted. There are two other good examples
of this in the Scripture. One of them clearly sets this
thing into light. And that is the case of Jacob
in Genesis chapter 37, verse 33 through verse 35. when he is led to believe that
his beloved son Joseph has been killed and devoured by some wild
beast of the field because Joseph's brother had brought his clothing
in stained with the blood of a goat. And in Genesis chapter
37, verse 34 and 35, notice that Jacob rent his clothes. He put
sackcloth upon his loins. He mourned for the son of his
love many days. All of his sons and all of his
daughters rose up to comfort him, but it says he refused to
be comforted. So great to him was the loss
of Joseph that he refused to be comforted upon hearing of
his death. He said this, I will go down
into my grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him. Matthew Henry said of Jacob,
he was an obstinate mourner. And I think maybe that's a good
description. He resolved to go all the way
to the grave, never be cured of his mourning as long as he
lived. Jacob, as it were, wed himself. to the misery and the sorrow
at the news of His Son, as if to say, to misery and sorrow
till death do us part. Long as He lived, He intended
to keep up mourning for His favorite Son. But consider it from this
perspective, which is the hypocrisy of Joseph's brothers in pretending
to comfort their Father when in fact they were the direct
cause of his sorrow and of his mourning. They came to comfort
him. My, what hypocrites they are! Father Joseph is in a better
place, perhaps they said. Joseph is better off. You'll
see him again. Remember the good times that
you had with your son. The same could be said of them,
as Job said, of his three friends when they came to see him in
his misery. In Job 16 and verse 2, he refers
to them as, quote, miserable comforters, unquote. Instead
of comforting, they had rubbed salt in the womb and sand in
the womb. In the case of Jacob, how vainly
did he bind his soul to a perpetual mourning, for he could not foresee
the providence of God in the future. Here, if you will, as
in Genesis 45 and 26, the word came one day, Joseph is yet alive
and is prime minister over all the land of Egypt. From this
we also learn the greater love for those lost, the greater grief
for the greater love of those that are lost, the greater grief
at their loss. The other place where an example
is found in Scripture of refusing to be comforted is found in Jeremiah
31 and verse 15 of Rachel, a recalling rather, of Rachel weeping for
her children, refused to be comforted because they were not. They were gone. So we have three
clear statements from Scripture of refusing to be comforted. And the psalmist said, my soul
refused any comfort. Try as others might, They could
not open up the soul to the sweet fragrance of comfort, nor could
they fetch it up from the great depths of the flowing wells of
God and impart it unto Him. In the third verse, as some would
no doubt make counsel with a condition, think upon God and His Word. Meditate upon His great attributes. Pray. Get in the Word of God
is the thing that we might admonish a lot of people to do. And yet
the psalmist said in the third verse, I remembered God and I
was troubled. I complained and my spirit was
overwhelmed. See the words there? Troubled
and overwhelmed. Under normal circumstances, this
remembering of God would have blessed the soul rather than
trouble it so greatly. But when the soul is cast down
within, such thoughts of God are likely to disturb it even
further. To illustrate, an old-timer,
I don't know who he is, but his name is Edward Payson, made some
points how a person in such a state could find themselves in remembrance
of God to be very painful. For example, If we remember that
God is both our creator and our benefactor, it means that we
owe our all unto Him. If we remember His holiness,
it only accentuates our lack of holiness. If we think upon
His justice, it serves as a reminder that this is what our sins deserve. If we contemplate His perfect
omniscience, then it reminds us that He knows our every thought
and our every word and deed. If we have thoughts of His sovereignty,
then we are reminded that He can order our way any way that
seemeth good in His sight. Now, some thoughts from Edward
Payson on this verse of the Scripture. And by the way, notice the word
sela, if you will. at the end of verse 3, it is
again at the end of verse 9. It is a word that we meet with
frequently in the writings of the psalm. You could count in
as many as 70 times this word appears in the psalm. And as
John Hooper observed, the word is used mostly after some very
notable sentence or statement. Some say that it has to do with
music, such as a pause in music. To remember, the Psalms were,
many of them, songs that were sang in the worship of their
God. And that the word Selah called
for a solemn pause when one had thought of something very weighty,
and that the word actually means to mark out It means to pause
and reflect deeply upon something that has been said. So something
major has been said when you see this word. Suffice it to
say, when we see it, we should consider it as something to be
emphasized, looked at again, and paid close attention to.
But coming to verse 5 and 6, the psalmist then begins to reflect
upon his past. And he says in the 6th verse,
I commune with mine own heart, and my spirit made diligent search."
What's the purpose of that? Well, first of all, to determine
the cause of his present melancholy, if he can. Why was he low in
spirits as he was? Why was he downcast? Why was
he dejected and down in his soul and mind? Second, to determine
the why of his being in such a state. Why him? This is the plague of others.
Now it has come upon him. Perhaps he had consoled, perhaps
he had guided and strengthened many others. Now it is his hands
that are feeble and that are drooping down. Expositors say
that the words used by the writer in this hymn express a very close
self-examination of his own soul, of his own spirit, as if to strip
his very own soul and heart, naked before the Lord, to take
the cover off and then to search apart until the cause has been
found out. When we read of the psalmist
communing with his very own heart, I think of David in the psalm
that we read, Psalm 42, verse 5 and 11. Why art thou cast down
within me, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within
me? As if to say, My soul, doest
thou well indeed to be cast down and disquieted? Why is there
such a turbulence in you? You notice that the word in the
margin is bowed down. Why art thou bowed down within
me? What is the cause that you are
disquieted and disturbed within me? We can see in the 42nd Psalm
that there the author is a man in exile in the 6th verse and
the last part. I will remember thee from the
land of Jordan. And some think that it was when
he fled before the face of his very own son Absalom who tried
to usurp the kingdom away from him. but some account that he
finds himself forced to be at a great distance now from Jerusalem. That's where the temple was,
the city of God, where they celebrated the feast, and people went with
great joy to the house of the Lord. Spurgeon put it this way,
that it's the cry of a man far removed from outward ordinances
and worship of God and searching for the house of God." In the
fourth verse, it's specifically touching as he remembers. When
I had gone with a multitude, I went with them to the house
of God with a voice of joy and praise and with a multitude of
them that kept holy day. But he found it grievous when
the enemies of God mocked him, saying, Where is your God? We find that in verse 3 and in
verse 10. They taunted him. They mocked
his confession of God. Here you are weeping and down. Where is your God now? What has become of your religion
and your profession of God? The one you trusted, where is
He now when you need His help? That one and only God that you
profess, where is now thy God? With that same tone, My brothers
and sisters, did the enemies mock the Lord upon the cross
when He was dying? Psalm 22, 7 and 8. Matthew 27,
39 through 43. When our Lord was upon the cross,
they taunted Him by saying, He trusted God, let Him deliver
Him if He will have Him, for He said, I am the Son of God. Again, in Psalm 42 and 9, the
psalmist would pray, call out unto God to know the why and
the how that God was dealing with him. And why you have forgotten
me? Why am I mourning because of
the oppression of my enemy? See it in Psalm 43 and the 2nd
verse also. Even this is not a loss of faith,
for in Psalm 42 and verse 9, He calls God, my rock. And in verse 2, he prefaces it
with this, for you are the God of my strength. We repeat, these
are not the words of an unbeliever. And Spurgeon made the comment
on the query of this person saying, faith is allowed to ask of our
God the causes of His displeasure. Why have you forgotten me? Do I mourn? Why do you cast me
off? Psalm 43 and 2. To know the reason
for spiritual dullness can be advantaged in at least two ways
to the person. Number one, how to see the remedy
and bring an end to it. Number two, how to find grace
and the patience to endure it while we are under it. Remember the words of Job. in
his great misery Job in chapter 10 and verse 2 said, I will say
unto God, do not condemn me, show me, let me know, reveal
why you are contending with me. Show me why you are contending
with me. To request or hear from the suffering
Job, A, do not condemn me. Those proficient in the Hebrew
say, that the literal meaning of the words are, do not make
me wicked. That it might be literally rendered
that. Do not wicked me. Do not hold me or reckon me to
be a wicked and an ungodly man, but make me to know why it is
that you are contending with me. What is your quarrel with
me? Why is it that God had brought
upon him one blow after another, and severe blows they were. Now
Job's three friends were sure that they knew the cause of Job's
misery. They reckoned him to be a hypocrite
and a man that had committed some great sin. They reasoned
like this, whoever perished being righteous, Job 9 and verse 7,
Who ever perished being innocent? Where were ever the righteous
cut off is their talk unto Job. This shows how wrong the conclusion
and the counsel of friends and acquaintances can be. Neither
Job nor his friends were privy to the secret providence of the
Almighty God and what went on before the heavens. Therefore,
The downcast soul must first and foremost cry out unto God. And while the tried soul may
find some comfort and some relief, some help, some guidance, some
joy from a friend, it is to God that it must cry. To Him it must
look. Lift up thy eyes, O my soul,
and look upon Him. Any remedy must come from the
hand of God. There is a great and a dangerous
movement in the country, I believe, at this present time. Especially
is it evident in what we call the megachurches, who claim to
be helping hurting people. That's their motto. We help hurting
people. And if Job's friends misdiagnose
the cause So do these charlatans prescribe a false cure. Preach them the feel-good gospel. Be a cheerleader. Claim the victory. Name it and claim it. I heard
somebody say, if God's got it, you can get it, you can have
it. Pray through. Then they're totally ignorant
of the fact that the almighty, wise, and sovereign God might
for a season deliberately hide His praise from some. Let us
sum up the cloud like the sun is above the clouds and it's
shining, but the clouds, as it were, block off its radiant rays
from hitting us and coming where we are. But let's go back to
Psalm 77, verse 7 through verse 9, where there are some questions,
or should we say, six ways of expressing The same thing. Now remember in the 6th verse
there, as he mused and communed with himself and searched out
the matter at hand, could it be, he says, that the Lord will
cast off forever at the present? So it seems. But forever? Yes, for the present, but forever. And will He be favorable no more? Will He never again be favorable? Is His favor clean, gone forever? Once it radiantly shined its
beams upon us, and then like the clouds that hide the sun,
the great rays of favor that once shined upon Him are the
days of His favor at an end. How favorable God has been unto
us. Verse 8, Is His mercy clean,
gone forever? How can it be? Psalms 100 and
verse 5, His mercy is everlasting. Psalms 106 and verse 1, His mercy
endures forever. And the psalmist emphasizes this
fact. The mercy of the Lord endures
forever. Here are five or six places just
in the psalm. 107 and 1. 117 and 2. 118 and
1. 136 and 10. and 138 and 8 chapter and verse
forever. God's mercy endured. Look at
the 8th verse. Does His promise fail forevermore? The margin has it from generation
to generation. The same question is raised in
connection with the Jewish condition in Paul's day. Has God's Word
failed? In Romans 9 and verse 6, Romans
11 and 1, Has God cast off His people which He foreknew? God
forbid. Has the fountain of God's promise
dried up so as to flow no more? Verse 9, has He forgotten to
be gracious? What? Does the heart sink so
low as to question whether or not God is gracious? This rises high on the scale
of declension. God has forgotten our sins But
he has not forgotten to be gracious in our circumstances. Look at
verse 9, the last part. Has he in anger shut up his tender
mercies? Adam Clark said, in this there
is the metaphor taken from a spring which gushed out fresh water
all the time and then was stopped up in some way or diverted another
way. a spring ever flowing, but then
stopped up. And the question is, has God
stopped up His mercy forever? These questions betray a soul
in declension caused by some trouble, some persecution, some
tribulation, some fainting, some loss, some reverse. Mary and
Martha in the loss of their brother. Jonah at the loss of his gourd
vine, as he said. Elijah, yonder in the cave, hiding
from the wicked Jezebel. The psalmist covered, or rather
conversed with his soul, why are you in the slough of despondency? Think of former blessing. Think
of the work of God. Meditate on the works of God.
Talk of His doing, and especially Don't neglect assembling together
with the saints of God. Now, brethren, sisters, the best
saint in the world is not exempt from spiritual exemption if the
wrong thing come our way, if our steps be ordered in a certain
way. None of us are completely exempt
from this declension of the soul. It will come. It will come sooner
or later. It will stay short or it will
stay long, but the remedy is always the shining face of God
and His grace within us. I will look upon the Lord. I will call upon my God. The heavens may be as brass when
I pray, but I will call upon the name of my God. Yes, He's
the cure. Sometimes He's the cause, but
He's always the cure. of our declension, of our soul
being cast down, some bad news, some setback, some sorrow, some
loss, and here we go. And God's grace is the only one
sufficient to remedy that situation. And may it be that we have the
grace to ask for grace. We have the grace to look in
grace to our Lord God, who is the Sovereign over all. of our conditions and affairs. Yes, it's a sad state to be in. It's like a sick person, really.
They don't feel good. They don't want to eat. They
don't have good company. They don't like to visit, and
especially they don't like to eat what would strengthen them.
But so it is that God's grace comes in great recovery and blesses
us again that our souls may rejoice. and find comfort in the things
of God. Let's bow our head together,
please, for a word of prayer.