Dwelling in Psalm 42

Prayer/Welcome/ Intro

Opening Prayer:

Would you join me in preparing our hearts to receive what God has for us this morning in prayer?

Yahweh King of the Universe, We come before you this morning hungry. Hungry for more of you. We might even be aware of our hunger, but its there. We may have tried to satisfy it with things that will perish and rot, but we are hungry still. We ask that you provide for us now, the Spiritual food that we need to grow up in maturity in Christ. May we be transformed by this encounter with the written Word, each other and the Living Word, Jesus. May we walk out of here with the courage and power to Go be the church sent to live and love like you Lord! AND ALL GOD’S PEOPLE SAID?

Good Morning Church! How is everyone doing this morning?

Series Recap

We are continuing our series called Dwelling Deeply in the Word, where we are sitting with a Psalm each week in Lent and Allowing these Psalms to prepare us for the Celebration of Lent as we reflect on themes of Forgiveness, Our Need for God, Sin and So much more!

Introduction

Reaction to Opening Lines

Thats a powerful statement: Imagine having that much of a desire for God, a thirst like we thirst for water.

When we become thirsty usually our question is where can I find something to drink, but the speaker says He is thirsty for the Living God and He is asking where can I go and meet with God.

In many ways this creates a distance between us and the Speaker. The distance between where I am and where the Speaker is in terms of their relationship with Yahweh. You can almost be tempted to stop there out of shame, thinking my relationship with God isnt that good, you may even throw in a woe is me.

This Psalm actually is quite relavant to us and our lives today.

How many of you ever had a season of sorrow in your life where you asked where God was in all the mess?

How many of you have had people that you felt mock you, insult you, or were just plain mean and wondered God where is your justice?

How many of us have simply had questions when we have struggled in our lives.

How many of you have ever thought, when I was younger my faith was different, more passionate and fruitful, God cant you take me back there?

Dont we all want to be able to have strong faith no matter what the circumstance s in our lives.

The speaker of this Psalm address all of these areas of life!

In all this Psalm is a blueprint for how to maintain a thirst for God in the Difficult seasons.

Walking through the Text

Context:

The Psalm is Written Sometime during the unities Monarchy

The Psalm Jerusalem is the place where you meet God. It reveals a theology that says, God is only in the temple in Jerusalem.

The Speaker is located very far from home, the Psalm gives us a clue in the phrase, the “heights of Hermon” which stands at 9000 ft above sea level which is the most northern part of Israel’s kingdom at the time.

In verse 3, we are introduced to the Speaker’s sorrow and the People’s taunt

So not only is the speaker far from home, he is filled with sorrow and mocked by the people asking “Where is your God?”

Its hard to imagine, but the speakers only response would be something like over a hundred miles away!

But verse 4 gives us a insight into how to stay connected through God in difficult times. The Psalmist says, these things I remember as I pour out my soul.

The power of Remembering: People often say that hindsight is what? 20/20 and we dont want to live our lives looking back, but the God’s work in the Past can be a source of encouragement.

The Speaker remembers a time of going into the temple for a time of worship.

I often think back to the intimacy with God that I felt with God my sophmore year of college.

Jess and I had just broken up and I felt like I had lost my favorite person to talk to, thats when God taught me to pray and talk to him. In that season, I prayed in a way like no way before, but it wasnt just me and Jesus, I prayed for others too.

Yet as the speaker continues the Psalm with a question… Soul, why are you downcast within me? why so disturbed within me?

This shows the weight of How the speaker feels about the situation. AND YET,

The Psalmist speaks to himself and says put you hope in God. This is a mental shift to put our hope in God, but the speaker goes further and says, He will praise him, This is moving from the mental to the Physical.

This is an odd thing that the speaker is doing, he is essentially arguing with himself:

NT Wright comments on this saying: It’s an odd notion, in a way, the notion of arguing with oneself. It implies that human beings are designed to be people who are divided within themselves. They are not simply to give in to their (proper) sadness, fears, or temptations. They are to do battle with themselves.

Yet, I want to point out something really powerful! Notice how this is rooted in not how the Speaker feels, but who God is our savior and our God.

The Psalmist states that His Soul is downcast, but he says therefore I will… What Church? REMEMBER!

In verse 7 the Psalmist uses a mix of metaphors when He says, Deep calls out to Deep.

On one level , He is expressing the weight of how overwhelmedness

like a waterfall and waves sweeping over him, but I think there is a Deeper meaning here -Pause- pun intended.

Deep calling out to Deep can also refer to the depth of this man’s need for God. In all of this, the depth of his overwhelmedness revealed a deep need for God.

This reminds me of when I had my first encounter with God by the waves in Maine almost 10 years ago now.

Then The author shares what he knows about God in verse 8

That the Lord Directs is love- Does anyone have any guess what the Hebrew word the author uses? HESED God’s loyal love.

He also says that God isnt just with him during the day but at night too, it is through prayer that He is reminded of this

The night I truly felt that God wasnt there, sophmore year. Prayer brought me out of it.

In Verses 9 and 10, it is no longer others that are asking where God is but the speaker himself asks,

Why have you forgotten my? Why must I go on Mourning? Why do I have to suffer with these taunts from my enemy?

These questions I remind me a conversation I once had with Dorothy Mohler who asked why several times in her life.

Why God did I loose my husband? Why God did I loose my boys? Then my daughter. God why did I have to outlive my own children? God, why am I still here?

Eventually, Dorothy made the decision she doesnt need to know why? She told me a story that she often remembers a time in her kitchen when she felt God’s love and presence. When she gets down she remembers that experience.

Dorothy also told me that after she stopped asking why, she descided to simply make the best of each day that God gave her.

In the End The Speaker Closes with a statement that is in many ways a resolve. To put his hope in the Lord and and I will yet praise him. My Savior and My God.

Summary: What we can Glean from Dwelling with Psalm 42.

There are seasons of life where we face hardships, where we wrestle with Difficult questions, where we argue with ourselves ask God why?

In those dark moments we must REMEMBER! The times when we met with God in those sacred places. Times where even when we were overwhelmed God was still with us.

We must also have resolve, we have to make a choice to put our hope and God and Yet, praise him despite our circumstances.

For me, verses 1-2 are the most challenging. See I want God, I want his presence, I want his KIngdom come, but does my soul pant for God? Do I thirst for God like the author of this Psalm?

I am reminded of this story about a student who asked about God.

The story is told of a young student who went to his spiritual teacher and asked the question, "Master, how can I truly find God?" The teacher asked the student to accompany him to the river, which ran by the village and invited him to go into the water. When they got to the middle of the stream, the teacher said, "Please immerse yourself in the water." The student did as he was instructed, whereupon the teacher put his hands on the young man’s head and held him under the water. Presently the student began to struggle.

The master held him under still. A moment passed and the student was thrashing and beating the water and air with his arms. Still, the master held him under the water. Finally, the student was released and shot up from the water, lungs aching and gasping for air. The teacher waited for a few moments and then said, "When you desire God as truly as you desired to breathe the air you just breathed -- then you shall find God."

Would you Join me in prayer?