Rev. David Holwick ZM Series on Psalms
First Baptist Church [Very similar to sermon on Jan. 14, 1990]
Ledgewood, New Jersey
December 3, 2000
Psalm 42:1-11
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I. What is your personality?
A. Some are innately positive people. (point out a few)
B. Others, like myself, have a tendency to feel down.
1) If troubles pile up, the worse I get.
2) When I feel down, God seems very far away.
II. Meaning of Psalm 42.
A. I originally thought it was about seeking God.
1) Panting of deer...
B. But psalm is deeper.
1) Someone who seeks God, but can't find him. God is silent.
2) Spiritual depression.
C. Brief outline of psalm.
1) Three (3) stanzas.
a) [Last one is Psalm 43, which goes with it.]
b) [Same refrain: 42:5; 42:11; 43:5]
2) Repeated themes in each:
a) He pours out his feelings of discouragement.
b) He turns to thinking about God.
c) He pulls himself together in faith.
III. Letting go of feelings.
A. The writer has deep yearnings.
1) All of us have yearnings that only God can fill.
2) Bertrand Russell was a famous agnostic at turn of century.
Russell's description of inner longing:
"The center of me is always and eternally a terrible pain
- a curious, wild pain -
a searching for something beyond what the world contains,
something transfigured and infinite,
the beatific vision - God.
I do not find it, I do not think it is to be found,
but the love of it is my life;
it's like passionate love for a ghost.
At time it fills me with rage, at times with wild despair;
it is the source of gentleness and cruelty and work;
it fills every passion I have.
It is the actual spring of life in me."
#773
a) Russell sought God, but never found him.
3) The Psalmist really knew God, but felt cut off from him.
a) Probably written during Israel's disastrous Exile.
1> He had been a participant in temple worship,
but now the temple is destroyed.
2> Local enemies mock him - where is your God?
b) Image of drought.
1> Emphasis is not on water so much as panting.
A> Deer caught in harsh drought.
2> Long ordeal - When can I meet with God? 42:2
c) What would happen to your faith if you were cut off?
1> No church, no Christian friends.
A> (to some, this might sound pretty good)
2> It is always more encouraging to love God in the
midst of other lovers of God.
A> Cut off, we tend toward despair.
B. Real believers can feel "down" like this.
1) The psalm writer is honest with God about his feelings.
a) Tears for food. 42:3
b) God has forgotten him. 42:9
2) Christians can get depressed.
a) There will be times when it is hard to pray.
IV. Use mind as well as feelings.
A. He remembers worshipping God in the Temple. 42:4
1) He cannot go now, but he gets strength from remembering.
a) Is worship a joy or a waste for you?
2) Be close to God when it's easy, or he may drift away.
Every American knows about Mark Twain.
His real name was Samuel Clemens and he is our best-loved
writer.
You may not know that as a young man he fell in love with a
beautiful Christian girl named Livy.
He married her.
She was devoted to God, and she wanted her family to be, too.
So she insisted on prayer at meals.
She set up a family altar so they could have spiritual
devotions each day.
They did this for a time, and then one day Sam said,
"Livy, you can go on with this by yourself if you want to
but leave me out.
"I don't believe in your God and you're only making a
hypocrite out of me."
As the years went by, Twain became world-famous.
He appeared before the royal courts of Europe.
And with the fame came a lot of money.
Livy got farther and farther away from her original
dedication to God.
Then a bitter crisis hit their family as one of their
children lay near death.
Twain said to his wife, "Livy, if your Christian faith can
help you now, turn to it."
Livy replied, "I can't, Sam, I have none left.
It was destroyed a long time ago."
#85
B. He remembers personal experiences of God's grace. 42:6
1) Past, present (NIV), or future (KJV)?
a) Hebrew has no tenses.
b) Negative context suggests past or future sense.
2) He knows love and joy of God.
a) Even if he doesn't feel it now.
3) This memory follows feelings of drowning. 42:7
a) Deep calling to deep - rushing waterfalls of Jordan.
b) Jews hated water.
1> Jonah was so desperate he fled on a boat.
2> Jonah quotes these words inside great fish.
C. It is important to remember God's workings in your life.
1) Martin Luther King at beginning of his career.
a) Arrested for no reason.
b) Released, received bomb threat.
1> He tried to think of a way out.
I got to the point that I couldn't take it anymore.
I was weak....
And I discovered then that religion had to become real to
me, and I had to know God for myself.
I bowed down over a cup of coffee.
I will never forget it.
I prayed a prayer, and I prayed out loud that night.
I said, "Lord, I'm down here trying to do what's right.
I think I'm right.
I think the cause that we represent is right.
But Lord, I must confess that I'm weak now.
I'm faltering.
I'm losing my courage."
And it seemed at that moment that I could hear an
inner voice saying to me,
"Martin Luther, stand up for righteousness.
Stand up for justice.
Stand up for truth.
And lo I will be with you, even until the end of the world."
I heard the voice of Jesus saying still to fight on.
He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.
No never alone. No never alone.
(Three days later a bomb shattered his front porch.
King took it calmly:
"My religious experience a few nights before had given me
the strength to face it."
#1089
2) Get close to God while you can.
V. Pull yourself together in faith.
A. After thinking it through, do something.
1) The Psalmist "hopes in God." 42:5, 42:11
2) Torn between heaven and earth.
a) Active, not passive.
B. He is discouraged, but doesn't give up.
1) He still sees God's hand in his life.
a) Even hard things.
b) "Your waterfalls, your waves." 42:7
2) He still prays.
VI. Jesus and Psalm 42.
A. He hungered after God.
1) Beatitudes:
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled." Matthew 5:6
2) "Zeal for your house has been my undoing." John 2:17
B. He knew spiritual depression, separation from God.
1) "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
2) He knew physical suffering, on the cross.
C. He kept the faith to the end and did not give up hope.
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This sermon borrows heavily from the commentary in the Tyndale Old
Testament series, "Psalms 1-72," by Derek Kidner.
SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 85 Tan's 7700 Illustrations, #4655, page 1067, originally from the
Christian Digest.
# 773 "The Pitfalls Of Positive Thinking," by Donald McCullough, in
Christianity Today; September 6, 1985; page 25.
#1089 "Confessions Of A Racist," by Philip Yancey, in Christianity
Today; January 15, 1990; page 24.
These and 16,500 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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