A Threefold Reason for a Threefold Repetition

A while ago I was reading one of the Lutheran pastors and theologians from, I suppose, 150-200 years ago, a man called Karl Walter, and he spoke of what he called verses of scripture under the name of pericopes. and as I read what he had to say I thought well what he's talking about is those particular verses that are significant verses and there are of course in the scripture certain verses that we recognize as being most significant all is given by the inspiration of God but there are particular truths that stand forth so plainly in various parts and we have some repetitions and I want tonight to look at such verses as I believe that man was speaking of and we have the words three times in the Psalms that we've been reading in Psalm 42 at verses 5 and 11, and then Psalm 43 at verse 5. They're not altogether identical, but they are basically the same. I'll read the three verses.

Psalm 42.5, 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. And then at 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. And then In Psalm 43 and verse 5, Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God.

We read, don't we, in Ecclesiastes of that threefold chord that is not quickly broken. And here we have this threefold text. And what is the content of these verses? Well, it's really the believer's soliloquy, we might say, how he addresses himself, the believer, as it were, as a dialogue. with his own soul in the words that we've just read as our text. And so as we come for a little while to look at these verses, I know we've certainly considered the verses in the past, but I thought it might be profitable just to return, oftentimes one ministers from some of these texts and then as soon as you've finished or a little while after you think, well I missed out so much which now appears to be so obvious. So, we turn then to verses that we have looked at on previous occasions, but this portion which is, as I said, the believer's soliloquy as he dialogues with his own soul. And you'll observe that we have a two-fold inquiry in the opening part of each of these three verses.

The words are repeated three times, aren't they? Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? And as this double enquiry is repeated three times, I would say there are at least three reasons why the believer is at times cast down.

And the reason, of course, is the world, the flesh, and the devil. That is what causes the people of God to be in this sad, downcast condition. The world, all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world, and that world that lies in wickedness. And here is The psalmist is surrounded by this world, and surrounded by the taunts of the ungodly.

Look at what he says here in verses 3 and 10. My tears have been my meat day and night, while they, they of the world, continually sound to me, Where is thy God? And then again at verse 10, As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me, while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God? It's all very much in the present tense. It's what he's experiencing at that particular moment. They say continually, where is thy God? And then again in verse 10, they say daily unto me, where is thy God?

Very much in the present tense then. He is surrounded by these things. This is the portion that he has in this life. And yet, although in the world he has to endure these trials and these temptations and tribulations, yet we see his determination to remember his God. As he says at verse 6, Psalm 42 and verse 6.

Therefore I will remember thee from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites from the hill Mysah. He makes reference to some of his own experiences and also something of the history of God's covenant people, the children of Israel. He speaks of Jordan and back in 2 Samuel 17 when he was having to flee from the rebellion of which his beloved son Absalom was the leader and his great friend and counselor Ahithophel was party to. How he flees to Jordan and the Lord of course appears for him and hears him and that uprising was put down. I will remember thee from the land of Jordan the very place where he had to flee to for refuge and of the Hermonites he says And this reference to the Hermonites is a reference to the words that we find back in Joshua chapter 12. And the conflict and the victory that there the children of Israel enjoyed over the king of Zion. And then we have mention of the hill Mysore. or I will remember thee, he says, from the hill Mysar. And interesting, the word Mysar literally means the little hill.

I will remember thee from the little hill. He's falling back, as it were, on the remembrance of small mercies. those times when God appears to him, it may be in significant ways, and yet the Lord is in these things. And again in another Psalm, Psalm 65 and verse 12, we read of the little hills rejoicing on every side. David had his little hills. He had great deliverances. But the Lord would appear for him also in the minute circumstances of his life, time and time again.

And so we find David here, having addressed his own soul as I said it's a soliloquy, he's speaking to himself and yet he also addresses God, doesn't he? In the opening words of Psalm 43, Judge me O God and plead my cause against an ungodly nation O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. Not just talking to himself. He says pour not on thyself too long lest it sink the lower look to Jesus, kind and strong, mercy joined with power.

But in the world, how the Lord's people in this world find themselves so often to be in a wilderness. All that is in the world is so contrary to that God that they know, that God that they're looking to, that God that they're trusting in. And so here is a cause for him to be downcast, there's the world. But then there's also Satan. The whole world lieth in wickedness, we read in 1 John 5, 19. Or it could be rendered the whole world lies in the wicked one.

He is the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience. And now the devil is that one who will always seek to bring the people of God down. cause them to be so downcast. The old Puritan Richard Sibbes says, the devil ever since he was cast down himself libers to cast all down.

His voice is down, down, down to the ground. And of course when we refer to the history of the entrance of sin into this world, we speak of it in terms of the fall, the fall of our first parents. Now they are brought down as they disobey God, embracing the temptation and the lies of Satan. And we find the prophet Jeremiah addressing the earth, Jeremiah 29 and verse 29, he says, O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. Oh, there is a word from God even to this world that lies in the wicked one.

We are to be raised above these things of time and of sense. If ye then be risen with Christ, Paul says, seek those things that are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things of the earth. The devil will bring us down. Oh, there's not only the devil, there's ourselves. It's the world, it's the flesh and the devil, their sinful self that we have to contend with.

And now, we see this in the language that David is using in these twofold inquiries. He doesn't just say, why art thou cast down, O my soul? But you see, he speaks of the soul also being disquieted. And why art thou disquieted within me? And he repeats these things. The opening part of the three verses is always the same. Disquieted within me. It's himself really. It's himself.

Remember the words of the Lord Jesus in the Gospel. Where does sin come from? From within, out of the hearts of men, says the Lord. All manner of evil proceeds. We have fallen natures. We have a nature that is in a state of alienation. We are those who are enemies of God. And that nature never changes, does it? This is why the sinner must be born again, because he must receive a new nature. If any man is in Christ, he's a new creation, he's a new creature. And Paul acknowledges what he is. I know that in me, he says, that is in my flesh.

There dwelleth no good thing. There is no good thing in the flesh at all. Look at the language again of David in the 38th Psalm. And there at verses 6, 7 and 8 he says, I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly, I go mourning all the day long. for my loins are filled with a loathsome disease, and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and sore-broken, I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart." Again he speaks of the disquietness of his heart. Why art thou disquieted within me? No peace where there is wickedness. And so is trouble. And this is the believer's life, the flesh, lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary one to the other. And he cannot do the thing that he would.

Oh, there's the hymn in the book. It's not one I think is suitable really for public worship, but a hymn worth reading through and meditating upon. him 780, and of course he bears that title. A dialogue between a believer and his soul. The believer opens the dialogue in verse 1 and the soul answers. In verse 2, Come, my soul, let us try for a little season every burden to lay by.

Come, and let us reason what it is that cast thee down. Who are those that grieve thee? Speak, and let the worst be known. Speaking may relieve thee. and the response, Oh, I sing beneath the load of my nature's evil, full of enmity to God, captive by the devil, restless as the troubled seas, feeble, faint and fearful, plagued with every sore disease, how can I be cheerful?

And so it goes on this, I don't know, several stanzas to the hymn, they're not even numbered, I don't think it's one, as I said, that we would sing in public, but it is there in the book and it's worth reading over, meditating upon, and praying over.

So we have these three reasons why the soul may be in this sad, sad plight. There's the world, there's the flesh, and there's the devil. And yet, and yet, it is the paradox of the Christian's life, isn't this the mark of a living soul? Isn't this the mark of a living soul? A man addressing himself, a man speaking to his own soul. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted with him? Or are we mindful of our souls? What is a man to do with his soul?

How the Lord Jesus makes it so plain, the importance of the soul of man. When God created the first man, out of the dust of the earth he breathed into his nostril the breath of life, he became a living soul. What's a man's advantage? Should he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? What should a man give in exchange for his soul, asks the Lord Jesus.

This is a living man, he's aware, he's a soulish man. He's alive, spiritually. We have that word in that great third chapter of Lamentations. Lamentations 3, 39. Wherefore doth a living man complain? Oh, the living man. He complains to himself, he complains about himself. Oh, wretched man that I am, he cries out with Paul in Romans 7. Who shall deliver me? from the body of this death. There's life here. Paul says to those Ephesians, you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sins.

All sin is very much of ourselves, sin is of the creature, but where there is that real sense of sin, isn't that the evidence of the work of God, of the Spirit of God coming into the soul of a man, new life from him? we must receive before foreseen we rightly grieve here is the mark then of the living soul in the words of our threefold text but also what is this man to do? well he must he must look to God he must hope in God and so he addresses himself hope in God that's what he says there at the end of verse uh... in the middle of verse uh... five in uh... in the forty-third Psalm Why art thou cast down O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me?

Hope in God! Oh he has to not look to himself he has to look to God to appear for him to help him and we We see it again of course in other Psalms. The language of the soul throughout the book of Psalms really. Psalm 62 and verse 5, My soul, says David, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him. He can do nothing for himself, nothing to help himself. It must all come from God, it must all be by the grace of God. And yet, he feels in many ways that God has forgotten him. God has forgotten him.

He says in verse 2 of the 43rd Psalm, Why dost thou cast me off? He says, first of all, thou art the God of my strength, and then he asks the question, why dost thou cast me off? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Does God ever cast off his people?

Of course, he doesn't. He might, on occasions, chasten them, he might hide his face to correct them, but he never casts his people off. Look at the language of Psalm 94 and verse 14. For the Lord's will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritors. And we know there's no contradiction in the Word of God. The psalmist might feel that he's being cast off, but he mistakes the Lord's dealings with him. Because God never cast off his people.

They misjudge him. What are they to do? Well, as I said there in verse 5 at the end of the 43rd Psalm, he says, hoping God, but it's interesting to compare with the language in verses 5 and 11 in Psalm 42. because the personal pronoun comes in. He addresses himself more particularly and says, hope thou in God. Not just hoping God, but he's speaking to himself. He's trying to encourage his own soul. He's emphatic, hope thou, hope thou in God.

What is David doing then? he is looking to himself there, he is addressing himself but he goes on doesn't he to look to look upward and to look forward hope is an upward look surely it has to do with God, hope is also looking forward the language of Paul there in Romans 8 verse 24 we are saved by hope But hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that which we see not, then with patience do we wait for it. Or with endurance do we wait for it. And so the language is hope in God.

I shall yet praise Him. I shall yet praise Him. Why? Because the only is the health of my countenance now David is looking to God to appear for him and to look upon him again there are these subtle differences and yet there is so much in the differences In Psalm 42 at verse 5, it's, I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance. It's God's, it's God's countenance. And you can think of the way in which the children of Israel at the end of number 6 were to put the name of the Lord upon the people of His choice, the children of Israel, how were they to do that?

Well, we have that great Aaronic blessing. The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. It's God beholding his people and looking upon them, favoring them. There'll be many who say it will show us any good. Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me.

We read in Psalm 4 and verse 6. Oh, it's as the Lord looks upon his people and how ultimately, of course, he looks upon us in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, that lovely verse. I do love that verse, 2 Corinthians 4, 6, reminding us that God is the source of all light.

God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the Son of Righteousness, arising with shining in His beams. Oh, it's that looking to the Lord there.

It's that looking upward, but at the same time looking forward, expectation, While we look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. The things which are seen are temporal, the unseen things. These are the eternal things. So what do we see here as we come to a conclusion? We see that this is the evidence of a living soul. As I said just now, it's a living man who is complaining, as he dresses his own soul. And this living man, of course, has such a personal knowledge of his God. Now, repeatedly, he speaks of My God. My God, he says.

In each of these verses, at the end of verse 5 in Psalm 43, I shall yet praise Him who is the health of my countenance and my God's. And it's the same also at the end of the 42nd Psalm, who is the health of my countenance and my God's. It's different when we look at verse 5 in Psalm 42, hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

But as he proceeds he seems to grow in confidence. He grows in faith as he cries out to his God. He knows this God and this God is his God and they might taunt him and they might keep on repeating that question, where is thy God? Well, our God is in the heavens, we read in another psalm. He has done whatsoever He pleased.

And so as we come to Him in prayer, do we not have to bow before Him and accept His sovereignty? Not easy, really, to live that life of one who truly believes in the sovereignty of God, that nothing comes into our lives by mere chance. that our life's minutest circumstance is subject to His eye, His countenance is upon us, and His countenance, of course, is the very health of our souls. That's what we see throughout these psalms. May the Lord be pleased to own and bless these few thoughts concerning what we have here with regards to the believer and his soliloquy. his dialogue with his own soul.

We're going to sing the hymn 333 which is clearly based upon these verses. I'm going to read through the first two verses and then we'll sing from verse 3. So Psalm 333 and the tune is Dismissal 671. O my soul, what means this sadness? Wherefore art thou thus cast down? Let thy griefs be turned to gladness. Bid thy restless fears be gone. Look to Jesus, and rejoice in His dear name. What though Satan's strong temptations vex and tease thee day by day? and thy sinful inclinations often fill thee with dismay thou shalt conquer through the Lamb's redeeming blood. The Hymn 333 and we'll sing from verse 3.

A Threefold Reason for a Threefold Repetition

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A Threefold Reason for a Threefold Repetition

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