Hope Amidst the Waves

Bible Passage: Psalm 42, Psalm 43

Summary: Psalm 42 and 43 express a deep yearning for God amidst sorrow and despair. The psalmist questions why his soul is downcast and emphasizes the need to hope in God despite troubling circumstances.

Application: This sermon can encourage Christians and others facing despair or feeling disconnected from God by teaching them the importance of placing their hope in God. It provides a framework for understanding how to navigate emotional turmoil with faith and trust in God's presence and deliverance.

How this passage could point to Christ: In the broader biblical context, this psalm invites us to reflect on Christ, who embodies our hope. Just as the psalmist longs for God, so too does Christ long to be the source of our hope and healing, showcasing His role as the ultimate fulfillment of our deepest spiritual desires.

Big Idea: Despite the turmoil and despair we may face, placing our hope in God is essential for spiritual and emotional resilience, as He is our refuge and source of strength.

Introduction

Have you ever felt like life was drowning you? Like one wave after another kept crashing over your head, and just when you tried to come up for air, another one came? That’s the picture Psalm 42 and 43 give us. The writer feels overwhelmed, far from God’s presence, mocked by enemies, and weighed down by sorrow. Three times he cries out the same refrain: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.”

What I love about these psalms is how real they are. The writer doesn’t hide his struggle. He admits his soul is downcast. He describes his tears as food day and night. But then, in the middle of all that despair, he does something remarkable: he starts talking to himself. He questions his own feelings, and he preaches to his soul.

Alexander Maclaren once noted that the psalmist “takes himself in hand and checks his emotions by higher considerations.” In other words, he refuses to let his despair have the last word. He takes his soul by the collar and says, “Hope in God!”

And isn’t that what we need too? When the waves of sorrow and discouragement come, when our emotions feel like they’re in control, we need to remind ourselves of something greater: that God is still faithful, that Christ is still our hope, and that our story is not over.

That’s the heartbeat of these psalms, and that’s where we’re going today. Together we’ll walk through three movements:

Panting for God’s Presence — longing for Him like a deer pants for water.

Pondering God’s Faithfulness — remembering His goodness in the storm.

Pleading for God’s Light — seeking His truth to guide us home.

And through it all, we’ll see how Christ Himself is the fulfillment of these cries: our Living Water, our Rock, and our Light.

Let us begin our path with the reading of God’s word, stand if your able for the reading of God’s Word.

Psalm 42-43

English Standard Version Psalm 42

To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.

1  As a deer pants for flowing streams,

so pants my soul for you, O God.

2  My soul thirsts for God,

for the living God.

When shall I come and appear before God?

3  My tears have been my food

day and night,

while they say to me all the day long,

“Where is your God?”

4  These things I remember,

as I pour out my soul:

how I would go with the throng

and lead them in procession to the house of God

with glad shouts and songs of praise,

a multitude keeping festival.

5  Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my salvation 6 and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;

therefore I remember you

from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,

from Mount Mizar.

7  Deep calls to deep

at the roar of your waterfalls;

all your breakers and your waves

have gone over me.

8  By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,

and at night his song is with me,

a prayer to the God of my life.

9  I say to God, my rock:

“Why have you forgotten me?

Why do I go mourning

because of the oppression of the enemy?”

10  As with a deadly wound in my bones,

my adversaries taunt me,

while they say to me all the day long,

“Where is your God?”

11  Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my salvation and my God.

43  1 Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause

against an ungodly people,

from the deceitful and unjust man

deliver me!

2  For you are the God in whom I take refuge;

why have you rejected me?

Why do I go about mourning

because of the oppression of the enemy?

3  Send out your light and your truth;

let them lead me;

let them bring me to your holy hill

and to your dwelling!

4  Then I will go to the altar of God,

to God my exceeding joy,

and I will praise you with the lyre,

O God, my God.

5  Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my salvation and my God.

As we turn to the text, the psalm begins with one of the most vivid pictures in all of Scripture — a deer panting for streams of water. It’s a picture of desperation, of longing, of thirst. And it shows us that the starting place in our fight for hope is this: a soul that knows its deepest need is God Himself.

Prayer:

Lord, we thank you for your wonderful word. These words remind us that suffering is a part of our experience here on earth. We know this because of the many Psalms that shows the cries of your covenant people as they call out to you. Lord, open our hearts and help us internalize these psalms. We ask this in Jesus mighty name, Amen.

1. Panting for God's Presence

Psalm 42:1–5 “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and My God.”

i. Explanation

The psalmist begins with one of the most striking pictures in all of Scripture — a deer panting for streams of water. This is not the image of a calm, content animal; this is desperation. Picture a deer pursued, exhausted, lungs burning, searching desperately for water. If it doesn’t find a stream, it will collapse.

That’s how the psalmist feels about his soul. He is parched and dry, far from the temple, cut off from the visible signs of God’s presence. Instead of the songs of God’s people, he hears taunts from his enemies: “Where is your God?” Instead of food, his tears have been his portion, day and night.

It’s important to see what he is longing for. He doesn’t say, “My soul thirsts for relief. My soul thirsts for victory over my enemies. My soul thirsts for better circumstances.” No — his cry is deeper: “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” What he longs for most is not a change in situation, but communion with the Lord. That is the truest thirst of the soul.

ii. Argumentation

And that’s what makes verse 5 so powerful. After pouring out his sorrow, the psalmist suddenly changes direction: “Why are you cast down, O my soul? … Hope in God.” He stops listening to his despair and starts talking back to it. He doesn’t deny his emotions — he feels them deeply — but he refuses to let them have the final word.

I love the way that D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones comments on this psalm. He says,

Psalms 42–72 Hope in God

This man was not content just to lie down and commiserate with himself. He does something about it, he takes himself in hand.” The psalmist challenges his poor state of mind, asking, “Why are you cast down, O my soul …?” Lloyd-Jones points out that whereas the man’s depressed heart had been talking to him and dictating his attitude, he now talks to his heart and begins dictating to it.

This is what faith does in the storm. Faith doesn’t silence our feelings; it challenges them with truth.

This is also the pattern we see throughout Scripture. In Lamentations, Jeremiah says, “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: the steadfast love of the LORD never ceases.” In the New Testament, Paul says to “take every thought captive to obey Christ.” The point is the same: don’t just listen to your soul — preach to your soul.

And here is the good news for us: the thirst of Psalm 42 finds its fulfillment in Christ. Jesus stood up in the temple and declared, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37). The psalmist longed for God’s presence in the temple; we have the presence of God in the person of Christ. He is the Living Water who satisfies our deepest thirsts.

iii. Illustration

And we can all think of a time when we were completely lost and we had to quiet our soul and reach out to God. I remember when I was a child and I used to go camping quite a lot. I was part of a boys scout type group called the Royal Rangers.

So, we were camping and our commanders would allow us to go leave the campsite and go into the woods to gather firewood. And we would do that frequently. But, sometimes, we would go exploring.

So, it was early and we decided to go exploring. We were with a group of about five boys, all around 12-13 years old. We found a vine that we would use as a swing and we were on that thing for hours. Now, what I forgot to mention is that we went through thick marsh on our way there, I mean it was so thick that we would lose our shoes walking through it.

We decided to head back and we wanted to go around the marsh. and we did. But, as we were trying to figure out a path we kept walking and walking and nothing looked familiar.

To make a long story short we wandered for hours.

We got to a point that, even as children, we had to quiet our souls. As the psalmist said, “Why are you cast down, O my soul…Hope in God.” We had to minister to our flesh.

iv. Application

So let me ask: what do you do when your soul feels dry? When prayer feels empty, when Scripture feels flat, when God seems far away? The psalmist shows us two things:

Acknowledge the thirst. Don’t bury it, don’t ignore it, don’t pretend everything is fine. Say with the psalmist, “My soul pants for you, O God.” That longing itself is a sign of life. Dead souls don’t thirst; living souls do.

Preach to your soul. When despair whispers, “God has forgotten you,” answer back: “No — hope in God! He is still my salvation and my God.” When the enemy mocks, “Where is your God?” answer back with faith: “My God is with me. My God will not forsake me.”

Friends, this is one of the most practical lessons of the Christian life: we must stop merely listening to our hearts and start talking to our hearts. Preach to your soul. Remind yourself of the gospel. Say to yourself: “Jesus is the Living Water. He has promised never to leave me or forsake me. He is still my salvation and my God.”

But the psalmist doesn’t stop with thirst or with self-preaching. He goes further. In the next verses, he begins to remember — to call to mind God’s past faithfulness as a way of steadying his soul in the storm. And that’s where we’ll turn next.

2. Pondering Past Faithfulness

Psalm 42:6–11 “My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”

i. Explanation

The psalmist admits again, “My soul is cast down within me.” He isn’t pretending things are better than they are. But notice what he does next: “Therefore I remember you.” In the middle of despair, he chooses to remember God’s past faithfulness. He recalls worship, the songs of God’s people, the steadfast love of the Lord.

At the same time, he doesn’t deny the storm. He says, “All your breakers and your waves have gone over me.” His suffering feels overwhelming, like being pulled under by wave after wave. And yet — even in the flood — he holds to this anchor: “By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me.” He clings to what he knows of God’s covenant love, even when he cannot feel it.

ii. Argumentation

This is where faith becomes a fight. The psalmist looks back on God’s past goodness and uses it to strengthen his hope in the present storm. That’s what remembrance does — it anchors us.

This is a theme throughout Scripture. Israel was constantly called to remember — to remember the exodus, the covenant, the mighty acts of God. In Lamentations 3, Jeremiah, surrounded by ruins, says: “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases.”

And for us as Christians, remembrance always drives us to Christ. We remember His cross, where His steadfast love was displayed most clearly. We remember His resurrection, the anchor of our hope. We remember His promises, which never fail.

Even as Christians, we are reminded that salvation without God’s righteousness is inconceivable. That’s why remembrance is not just nostalgia — it is grounding our present despair in the unchanging righteousness and steadfast love of God revealed in Christ.

iii. Illustration

Think of an anchor dropped from a ship in the middle of a storm. The waves still crash, the wind still howls, but the ship holds fast because the anchor grips the rock below. Without the anchor, the storm would sweep it away.

That’s what remembrance is for the believer. It doesn’t make the storm stop — but it keeps us from being swept away by it. When we call to mind God’s faithfulness, we are fastening our souls to a reality that the storm cannot move.

iv. Application

What anchors you when life feels like wave after wave crashing down? The psalmist shows us: remember. Remember the times God has carried you before. Remember the songs of His people. Remember His Word. Most of all, remember Christ — crucified, risen, reigning.

This is why we sing hymns and psalms, why we gather each week, why we come to the Lord’s Table — to remember. Because in the remembering, hope rises again.

So when your soul is cast down, don’t only look at the waves. Look back at what God has done, and remind yourself: His steadfast love has not changed.

3. Pleading for Divine Light

Psalm 43:1–5 “Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people, from the deceitful and unjust man deliver me! For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”

i. Explanation

Here the psalmist moves from remembering to pleading. He asks God to vindicate him — to defend him against enemies who mock and oppress him. But his deepest request isn’t just deliverance from people. His greatest plea is this: “Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me.”

What he longs for most is God Himself — to be brought back to God’s dwelling, to worship at His altar, to rejoice in His presence. Notice how personal it becomes: “to God my exceeding joy.” Even in lament, his heart beats for God above all.

And again, he closes with that refrain: “Why are you cast down, O my soul? … Hope in God.” The storm is not over, but he has learned where to place his hope.

ii. Argumentation

This plea for light and truth is fulfilled in Christ. John 1 says Jesus is the true light that shines in the darkness. In John 14, He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” What the psalmist prayed for, we now see revealed: God has sent His light and truth in the person of His Son.

The psalmist longed to be brought back to the altar of God, but we come through a greater altar — the cross of Christ. There, truth and mercy meet. There, our sins are judged and forgiven. Through Christ, we can draw near to God with joy.

This is why, even in the middle of life’s storms, we can plead with confidence: God has already sent His light and truth, and He will surely bring us home to Himself.

iii. Illustration

None

iv. Application

When you feel surrounded by injustice, when you feel abandoned, when the way forward seems dark, pray this prayer: “Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me.” Don’t try to stumble through the darkness on your own. Ask God to guide you by His Word, by His Spirit, by His Son.

And remind yourself, as the psalmist does: “Hope in God … I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.” That refrain isn’t just poetry — it’s medicine for the soul. Say it again and again until your heart believes it.

And so the psalmist ends where he began — thirsty, longing, preaching to his own soul. But he ends with hope. That’s our lesson too: the storms may rage, the waves may crash, but God has sent His light and truth in Christ. Our hope is secure in Him.

4. Conclusion

i. Visualization

ii. Reiteration

We’ve walked with the psalmist through three movements:

First, he thirsted for God’s presence and learned to preach to his own soul.

Second, he remembered God’s past faithfulness as an anchor in the storm.

Third, he pleaded for God’s light and truth to guide him home.

Each step shows us what it looks like to fight for hope in the middle of despair. He never pretends the storm isn’t real. The tears are real. The waves are real. The mockery is real. But so is God. So is His steadfast love. So is His salvation. And so the psalmist can say again and again: “Why are you cast down, O my soul? … Hope in God.”

iii. Action

And friends, if the psalmist could say that looking forward to a salvation he could not yet see, how much more can we say it today? Because God has sent His light and His truth — His Son, Jesus Christ.

He is the Living Water who quenches our thirst.

He is the Rock of remembrance, the anchor of our hope.

He is the Light of the World, the Truth who leads us safely home.

At the cross, the breakers and waves of God’s judgment went over Him, so that we could stand secure in His love. At the empty tomb, the song of joy broke the silence of despair. And even now, by His Spirit, His steadfast love surrounds us day and night.

So when the waves rise, when despair whispers, when your soul feels cast down — do what the psalmist did. Preach to yourself. Remember God’s faithfulness. Plead for His light. And above all, fix your eyes on Christ, our salvation and our God.

Because the refrain of this psalm is not just for ancient Israel — it is for us today: “Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.”

Prayer

Lord, we thank you for this lament psalm. It’s a psalm that begins with a cry. Like many of us here today, we cry out to you. We thirst for you. I mean, that’s why many of us are here. Lord, we ask that you remind us that, as the psalmist did, we speak to our despair. That we use the words of the psalmist. “Why are you cast down, O my soul…trust in God.” And that you give us the assurance that everything written in you word is sufficient for our pain and suffering. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Benediction

Now may the God of hope fill you with His steadfast love,

may Christ, the Living Water, satisfy your thirsty soul,

and may the Holy Spirit guide you with His light and truth.

Go in peace, with these words written upon your heart:

“Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him,

my salvation and my God.”