Facing A Depressed Soul

Introduction

Where is your God? this is a question that many of us are struggling. it is not just a voice that comes from outside, but most of the time inside.

When we dont feel God, we ask.

Some people say, we should not believe with feeling, but our feelings are real and can carry with massive emotion.

It is the lament of a temple singer exiled in the north near the rising of the Jordan, who longs to be back at God’s house, and turns his longing into resolute faith and hope in God himself. The psalm is chiefly an outpouring of sorrow and complaint; but still is an “instruction,” inasmuch as it teaches the lesson that in the deepest gulf of sorrow (ver. 7) the soul may still turn to God, and rest itself in hope on him.

The title does not tell us who was the penman of this psalm, but most probably it was David, and we may conjecture that it was penned by him at a time when, either by Saul’s persecution or Absalom’s rebellion, he was driven from the sanctuary and cut off from the privilege of waiting upon God in public ordinances

the psalmist was experiencing spiritual depression in the exile. The internal emotional condition of the psalmist is depressed and full of turmoil. it is the remonstrance of the spiritual man within him against the despondency of the natural man. In verses 5 and 11, he describes himself as “cast down” and “in turmoil.” In verse 3 he says, “My tears have been my food day and night.” So he is discouraged to the point of crying day and night. In verse 7 he says that it feels like drowning: “All your breakers and your waves have gone over me.”

we are in some sort of exile as well, as we could not come back to the church. In singing it, if we be either in outward affliction or in inward distress, we may accommodate to ourselves the melancholy expressions we find here

in our season of darkness, how should we respond? Why are you downcast, o my soul? we could be like the Psalmist, feeding ourselves with tears. THE ENEMY OFTEN TAKES ADVANTAGE OF OUR TIMES OF SPECIAL WEAKNESS. (Vers. 3, 10.) “They say daily unto me, Where is thy God?” We know not who these were that could be so intensely cruel to the psalmist when they witnessed his woe. But he was not alone in his experience, though in detail the form of it with us may vary. 1. Very often the taunt of the unbeliever is equivalent to this, when we are pointed to the weaknesses and distresses of the Church, and asked—How can your Christianity be Divine, if this is allowed? And in more private ways: 2. The evil one will take advantage of our moments of distress to insinuate racking doubts. No kindly considerations will ever lead the devil to refrain from tempting us because we are weak. He seized on the Master “when he was an hungred.” “The disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord.”

Thirst for the Lord (v1-2)

he is not thirsting mainly for relief from his threatening circumstances. He is not thirsting mainly for escape from his enemies or for their destruction. It’s not wrong to want relief and to pray for it. It is sometimes right to pray for the defeat of enemies. But more important than any of that is God himself.

the psalmist was having an unsatisfied longing for God. he compares the thirsting of his soul after God to the thirsting of a stag/deer. is construed with a feminine predicate in order to indicate the stag (hind) as an image of the soul. עָרַג is not merely a quiet languishing, but a strong, audible thirsting or panting for water, caused by prevailing drought

our surrounding should raise our sense of longing and desire for the Lord. The word, pant, does not mean a simply quiet longing and inward desire, but an audible panting produced by the agony of thirst. The hart is naturally hot and thirsty. And this thirst is increased, partly by its dwelling in desert and dry places, to which it retireth for fear of men and wild beasts; and partly by its long and violent running, when it is pursued by the hunters; and some add, by eating of serpents. The deer looks until it finds water and quenches its thirst with great joy

the Lord should be our only thirst. The germ and capacity of this affection are inborn in our nature. Heathenism bears world-wide witness to men’s longing for some kind of worship. But not worship of the holy, wise, righteous, loving, infinite Creator. This is practically dead (Rom. 1:28). The majority, even in a Christian land like this, live in careless forgetfulness of God; utterly indifferent; others (as in France) hating the very name of God. The presence, therefore, of this overmastering desire after God implies an adequate cause to awaken and maintain. No cause can be suggested but the Spirit of God quickening the dead soul and changing enmity or indifference into love

what would you do if we were trap in the desert and you can only ask for one thing? Water.

only the living God can satisfy the cravings of human spirits. Men thirst after riches, honour, rank, etc., and yet the raging thirst of the spirit remains unquenched. Some, indeed, may have suppressed the craving till it ceases to be felt. But such numbness of feeling is not to be confounded with satisfaction. At the moment we are writing, an Italian, named Succi, is making the experiment of going without food for forty days, having made similar attempts before, though for a shorter period. He declares that after the first week no desire for food is left. But, for all that, he is a shrivelling, starving man. Will any be so foolish as to mistake the absence of desire for food for the satisfaction and sustenance of his nature? So in spiritual things, a man may trifle with the yearnings of the Spirit, till the yearning ceases. But he wants God, for all that!

We all know what it is to “thirst;” but what do we thirst after? Is it gain, or pleasure, or worldly honours, or such-like? If so, our thirst will not be satisfied. But if we have been quickened by the Spirit, we cannot but thirst after God. He and he alone can supply our need and satisfy our hearts. And if we “thirst for God,” let us remember that this implies far more than longing for outward ordinances and joys which for a season we have lost. We are persons, and want a personal God. We are living souls, and crave a living God. We love truth and justice and goodness, and therefore we cry after the eternal God, in whom all truth and justice and goodness dwell. There will come to us, as to others, times of trial, days of darkness, when God seems afar off and silent. But let us not be cast down with overmuch sorrow. “The feeling of forsakenness is no proof of being forsaken. Mourning an absent God is an evidence of love as strong as rejoicing in a present one.” With God, for us to desire is to have; and to hunger and thirst is to be filled.

Hope in the Lord (v5, 8, 11)

It is not a passive hope, but an active hope - fight for the hope. Fight with two posture - wait for the Lord and praise Him.

it is a process of repeatedly asking God why. The psalmist responds to his circumstances at one point by asking God Why? Verse 9: “I say to God, my rock: ‘Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?’” The word forgotten is an overstatement. And he knows it is. He just said in verse 8, “By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me.”

“Why?” This question is first of all addressed to the soul. There is self-interrogation. This is good. When we ask, “Why?” this sets us to inquire as to the reason of things. Light will arise. We may see that the cause of depression is not in God, but in ourselves. For us to abide in this state is unreasonable, contrary to our past experiences, and inconsistent with God’s mercy and truth. We can therefore call upon ourselves to cast out fear, and still to hope in God as our God and our Redeemer. But though something has been gained in this way, it is not enough. Old foes rise up, and beat down the soul into the deep waters, where the tumult drowns the voice of mercy, and the billows rising higher and higher threaten us with total engulfment. The cry now takes a nobler form. It is not to the soul, but to God (ver. 6). Mark that there is hope. This points to coming good. Further, it is hope in God. This gives rest. Our own feelings vary. We cannot get comfort from them. Neither can we rely upon past experiences. We may deceive ourselves. Nor can we of ourselves change the circumstances which cause us pain. But the living God is a sure Refuge. He cannot change. He is more stable than the everlasting hills. This hope in God also opens up to us a way from the darkness into the bright future. “I shall yet praise him.” At last it rises to full assurance, and the joy of inviolable and everlasting possession, “My God.”

in the asking, he affirms God’s sovereign love. all his crashing and tumultuous and oppressing and discouraging circumstances are the waves of God. even if the strength is so feeble that the tongue cannot cry, “Father!” yet the heart will. We were once visiting a dear friend in sickness. She said, “I am so weak, I cannot think, I cannot pray, I cannot enjoy God at all.” We said to her, “Your little Ada was very ill some time back, was she not?” “Very.” “Was she not too ill to speak to you?” “Yes.” “Did you love her less because she couldn’t speak to you?” “No; I think I loved her more, if anything.” Even so, when all that is possible is for the heart to yearn out, “O my God!” the loving relations between God and the saint are not for a moment disturbed.

A believing confidence in God is a sovereign antidote against prevailing despondency and disquietude of spirit. And therefore, when we chide ourselves to hope in God; when the soul embraces itself it sinks; if it catch hold on the power and promise of God, it keeps the head above water. Hope in God, (1.) That he shall have glory from us: “I shall yet praise him; I shall experience such a change in my state that I shall not want matter for praise, and such a change in my spirit that I shall not want a heart for praise.” It is the greatest honour and happiness of a man, and the greatest desire and hope of every good man, to be unto God for a name and a praise. What is the crown of heaven’s bliss but this, that there we shall be for ever praising God? And what is our support under our present woes but this, that we shall yet praise God, that they shall not prevent nor abate our endless hallelujahs? (2.) That we shall have comfort in him. We shall praise him for the help of his countenance, for his favour, the support we have by it and the satisfaction we have in it. Those that know how to value and improve the light of God’s countenance will find in that a suitable, seasonable, and sufficient help, in the worst of times, and that which will furnish them with constant matter for praise. David’s believing expectation of this kept him from sinking, nay, it kept him from drooping; his harp was a palliative cure of Saul’s melancholy, but his hope was an effectual cure of his own.

wait and sing to the Lord.

Remember the Lord (V4, 6)

In this gloomy present, in which he is made a mock of, as one who is forsaken of God, on account of his trust in the faithfulness of the promises, he calls to remembrance the bright and cheerful past, and he pours out his soul within him

Remember the corporate worship. AT TIMES OF SORE DEPRESSION, THE BELIEVER LONGS FOR THE JOYS OF BYGONE DAYS. (Vers. 2, 4.) At the time when this psalm was penned, its writer was unable to attend the house of God. He looked back to the time when he used to accompany the throng and to lead them in procession to the sanctuary. In those days, “the Lord loved the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob;” and on many grounds the worship in the courts of Zion played a very large part in the spiritual delights of the saints. And though changes of circumstance and the advance of the Divine dispensations have altered to some extent the relations between temple worship and home life, yet even now it is a sore privation to be debarred from the fellowship of saints, especially when other causes of depression are active at the same time; for in such a case the saints are shut out from the public service when they are most dependent on its helpful aid. Note: Even so, it is far better to have the heart to go and not be able, than to be able to go and not have the heart for it

He remembered how eh went to the house of God, how he went with miltitude, how he went with the voice of joy and praise, how he went to keep holy days. In his self-doubt the psalmist remembers the covenantal love of the Lord. By day and night he experienced the evidences of God’s care, protection, and blessing. He sang praises to him and prayed to him morning and evening (cf. 92:2). That was a time of fellowship with a God who was always present. The very experience of communion with God made Yahweh real to him as “the God of my life” (cf. 66:9). In contrast to the past experience, this “love” (ḥesed) seems to be lost; and the psalmist’s praise of God’s love has changed to continual mourning for God’s absence (cf. v. 3). God’s continual love is a comfort for the soul continually beset by questions and mourning (cf. v. 3).

Remember Jordan, Hermon, Mount Mizat. Association is a potent factor in life. Here it may have worked by contrast. “Mizar,” as a little hill, may have called to the mind of David, in exile, the mountains of Judah, and the far-off land of his fathers and his God. We may take “Mizar” to illustrate—

I. THE CHANGES OF LIFE. As with David, so with us, changes come. We may have rest or be compelled to wander. We may have the joys of home or we may be doomed to solitude and to exile. Wherever we are, let us “remember” God (Ps. 56:8; Dan. 9:3, 4).

II. THE RESTING-PLACES OF LIFE. We may be weary and sad, but God is able to give us comfort. Seated on some “Mizar,” we may rest and be thankful. Looking back, there is much to awaken, not only our penitence, but our praise. Looking on, there is much to inspire us with hope. There are heights before us to be won. Let us press on with renewed courage.

III. THE SACRED MEMORIES OF LIFE. The noblest and most inspiring associations are those connected with God. Jacob had Bethel, Moses had the burning bush, Daniel the lions’ den. So we too may have our holy places, to remember with gratitude and love and hope. The thought of what God has been to us leads us to remember what we should be to God. Past kindnesses and deliverances assure us of continued favour. Let us walk worthy of our high calling.

IV. THE UNDYING HOPES OF LIFE. Whatever happens, God is with us. He does not change. His purposes and his love are the same now as in the past. From our “Mizar” let us say, “I will remember thee.” Thus “Mizar” may be to us as “the Delectable Mountains” to the pilgrims, and though it be little in itself, by faith it may enable us to gaze upon the way before us with hope, and to gain glimpses of the glorious land which, though far off, is yet near, where we shall see the King in his beauty, and serve him in love for ever and ever. “Not backward are our glances bent, But onward to our Father’s house.”

Conclusion

this psalm is in the Bible by God’s design and that if we listen carefully, if we watch this psalmist struggle, if we meditate on this instruction day and night, our thoughts about God and life, on the one hand, and our emotions, on the other hand, will be shaped by God. And we will become like a tree that bears fruit and whose leaves don’t wither when the drought of oppression and discouragement and turmoil comes.

it is a process of preaching gospel to himself, when he searched his soul.

Judging of the God of Israel by the gods of the heathen, they concluded he had lost his God. Note, Those are mistaken who think that when they have robbed us of our Bibles, and our ministers, and our solemn assemblies, they have robbed us of our God; for, though God has tied us to them when they are to be had, he has not tied himself to them. We know where our God is, and where to find him, when we know not where his ark is, nor where to find that. Wherever we are there is a way open heaven-ward