WHY ARE YOU CAST DOWN, O MY SOUL? PSALM 42-43

Psalm 42 and 43
Why Are you Cast Down, O My Soul?

The second book of Psalms begins with Psalm 42 and runs through Psalm 72. There are five books of Psalms.

Psalms 42 and 43 should be one poem, or Psalm.  We will treat them as such for this study. They are a lament of one who is away from Jerusalem and the Temple and longing to return. He might be in exile in a foreign land. While away, the writer is surrounded by enemies. Yet, the writer continues to hope in God.

Since Jerusalem was where God chose to place his temple, and the temple was where the presence of God dwelt, to be away from Jerusalem was to be away from God in the mind of the writer, and he longed to return.

There are 3 divisions or stanzas to this psalm, all expressing the writer’s longing for God, but in different ways.. Verses 1-5 describe this longing in terms of thirst. Verses 6-11 express longing in terms of discouragement. And 43:1-5 expresses longing in prayer.

Thirsting For God
42:1-5

The writer compares himself with a thirsty deer. This is a “simile” in poetic terms. The deer pants for a flowing stream to quench its thirst. In a hot, dry land such as Israel, the deer would desperately desire a drink of clear and clean water from a flowing stream. The psalmist longs for the presence of God in the same way. (2) He is thirsty for God. You may have experienced this. You may have felt spiritually dry, desiring the close and intense relationship of being close to God.

The psalmist also cries continuously as he enemies taunt him by saying “where is your God”. Have you ever been in a place where you were suffering and hanging on, and someone taunted you by asking why God did not help you? This is the situation of this psalmist.

Yet, he remembers going with the crowds to the Temple. He must have been a worship leader of some sort, for he led them. They shouted and sang. He was at one of the Old Testament festivals. There were three of them, when all of Israel was to appear before the Lord in Jerusalem at the temple: Passover, First fruits, and Tabernacles.

There would be offerings, sacrifices, feasts, worship and rejoicing.

In times of spiritual distress, or in times of trial, we can look back to times of joy in the Lord, or the Lord’s deliverance from trouble, and have hope and faith in him.

In verse 5, the psalmist chides himself for being cast down and in turmoil. Sometimes you have to talk to yourself when you are down. You exercise faith over doubt and despair. The psalmist reminded himself to hope in God, knowing he will again praise God who is his salvation.

Part of hope is waiting on God to act, knowing that he will. When times are hard, we will find ourselves discouraged. Even Jesus experienced this. When he went to Gethsemane on the night of his arrest, he was sorrowful and troubled. (Matthew 26:37) He told his disciples his should was very sorrowful, even to death. (Matthew 26:38) But he submitted himself to the Father’s will in faith and in hope.

42:6-11
Discouragement

But the fact remained that his soul was “cast down. He was depressed and in turmoil. He remembered the land, with the river Jordan which begins in the north of Israel near Mount Herman. (We do not know where Mizer is.)

The psalmist is back to the image of water, but this time it is more in a sense of despair than relief. He sees noisy waterfalls, turbulent water flowing over him. He may sees this as judgment, because they are God’s waterfalls, breakers and waves. He has no control over his circumstances and is overwhelmed with problems.

You may not be sent into exile, but you may find yourself in situations where you have no control. One day you are well, the next you are diagnosed with a serious disease. One day you are working faithfully at your job, the next you have been fired and do not know what you will do next. One day you you are married and, the next day, your spouse leaves you. Circumstances will seem overwhelming and you may question why God does not act to restore you. Your soul will be “cast down”.

In verse 8, the writer again talks to himself. He remembers the steadfast love of God. This love is God’s love toward those in covenant with him. In fact, he referred to God here by his covenant name, Yahweh, represented in the English text by “LORD”.

He has made promises, a covenant, with those who are faithful to him. Israel was in covenant with God, expressed in the law and the promises set forth in Exodus and Leviticus.

The psalmist acknowledged God’s love and his promise keeping. He sang. He prayed. He had fellowship with God continually in the past.

But his reflection on this past communion with God causes him emotional turmoil in the present. He questioned God, asking if he has forgotten him, asking why he must be said because his enemies oppress him. (9) It is so bad, he feels he has a deadly would in his bones, as if he had been stabbed all the way into the bone.

You can see the writer’s conflict here. He remembers a past of joy. He acknowledges God as his rock, the one who can give him refuge. Yet, he keeps feeling that God has abandoned him because he continues to suffer separation from is homeland and the temple.

In verse 11, the psalmist returned to questioning his should and speaking to himself to hope in God, knowing he will again praise him who is his salvation.

Longing in Prayer
43:1-5

The psalmist now turns to prayer for help. He asked God for vindication and defense against the ungodly who persecute him. Vindication and defense are two words for the same thing the writer is asking: for God to act to save him from his enemies to show his faith in God was not in vain.

He is now in even more turmoil of spirit. He moves from asking why God has forgotten him, to why has God rejected him? He not only feels that God has been slow to come to his rescue, but that he may not come at all because he has rejected the psalmist from the covenant relationship. (2) His is in mourning over this as his enemies oppress him.

In the midst of this spiritual darkness, the writer asks God to keep his promises and bring him back to the temple. (3) The holy hill is Mount Zion on which the temple sits. His (God’s) dwelling is the temple.  He asked for God’s light and his truth to lead him.

God’s light and his truth are personifications of his covenant faithfulness. If God will show him the way back and lead him back, he will again experience the presence of God in the temple. He will go to the altar and make a sacrifice to God in exceeding joy. He will praise him with a lyre, a musical instrument.

The psalmist seeks to worship God that is personal to him, with whom he has a relationship. He calls him God, my God.

These thoughts, and this prayer, restore hope and joy to the Psalmist. Again he talks to himself, asking why his should is depressed and anxious. He tells himself to hope in God, trusting that he will again praise him who saved him and is his God, his Lord

Those who are in Christ, have the Lord with them always. There is no exile for us. Jesus brought us out of the separation from God into fellowship with him. Ephesians 2:13 says: "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

When we feel separated from him, it is usually from sin and neglect. Unconfessed sin makes us reluctant to come to God. His holiness illuminates our sin in the most uncomfortable way. If this is your situation today, do not wait another minute to confess your sin and receive restoration into full fellowship with the Lord.

Sometimes our sin is simply neglect. We have become consumed and diverted by the world and lost our focus on God. We quit praying. We quit reading the Bible. We do not worship with our fellow believers. Then we reach a point of spiritual dryness. Again, if this is you, confess and get back on track and you will again feel the joy of his presence.

At other times, though, we go through difficult trials. And sometimes they seem so overwhelming. They are painful and they go on so long we begin to despair as this psalmist did. Here is where our faith is put to the biggest test. Here is where we place all of our hope in God to sustain us and deliver us.

Do not be afraid to cry out to God at these times, even as this Psalmist did, expressing his feeling that God was not coming to his rescue. God can take it. And by crying out to him, you will also receive assurance that he hears your cry, feels your pain, and is there to help you.

We do not always know why God lets us suffer or go through trials, but he tells us in his word that he is there with us at all times to strengthen us, and we can trust his word because he is the promise keeping God.