Fighting Through The Darkness

Introduction

Have you ever felt like you’re all alone even if you’re standing in a crowded room? Have you ever felt abandoned or forgotten by God? Have you ever felt like you just don’t have the strength to get out of bed in the morning? Have you ever cried yourself to sleep? Have you ever felt like you’d never be happy again? Are you feeling this way right now? If so, you’re not alone.

Some of the greatest theologians and preachers to ever walk this earth have struggled with depression.

Charles Spurgeon struggled with depression for a majority of his life.

Throughout Scripture we see many wrestle with it.

The prophet Elijah fled into the wilderness out of fear for his life because his enemies were after him. And it was there in the wilderness that he asked God to take his life.

1 Kings 19:4 (ESV)

“It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”

He didn’t want to live anymore.

David often wrested with deep anguish, loneliness, and despair. His sin would cause him great grief.

Psalm 38:4 (ESV)

For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.

Do we need to go much further than Job? A man who suffered great loss and though he had faith, struggled with despair.

Job 3:26 (ESV)

“I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.”

Job 10:1 (ESV)

“I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

Job 30:15–17 (ESV)

Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud. “And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me. The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.

And what do we see from Psalm 42 today?

Psalm 42:3 (ESV)

My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”

Psalm 42:5 (ESV)

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?

Psalm 42:9 (ESV)

I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

Now, whether or not you’ve struggled with depression for the vast majority of your life, or throughout different seasons of your life, all of us can relate to or at least understand the feelings of loneliness, melancholy, discouragement and despair.

Because we’ve all experienced it to some degree in our lives. Some of us in here have walked through seasons of severe depression. Despairing of life itself. For others, maybe you haven’t experienced the severity of spiritual depression but you for sure have faced discouragement, sadness, hurt and loneliness. That’s life in a broken world. That’s life as broken, fallen people.

So, is there a solution? Is there a cure? I believe so.

This psalm and next week’s psalm talks about how to deal with despair. It talks about how to fight through the darkness; to literally fight, by God’s grace for joy and hope. And for those who fight for it, fight for joy, fight for hope, fight through the darkness will find refuge in the presence of God. As the psalmist says, “I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” Meaning, for God’s child, despair and gloom do not have the final say in our lives.

We all need this Psalm because all of us will battle discouragement and despair throughout our lives. So, whether you’re needing this right now, or will be needing this in the future, this Psalm shows us how to fight for hope through the darkness.

Context

This 42nd psalm kicks off Book Two of the Psalms. And we’re introduced to a new author. In Book One of the Psalms, David authored 37 of the 41 psalms. Psalms 1 & 2 are introductory and two others psalms have no opening ascription. David is the only author identified in Book One. Book Two is going to introduce us to a variety of authors. A large section will still be authored by David, but we’ll also read psalms by Asaph, Solomon, and here in Psalm 42, a song written by the Sons of Korah. In fact, for the next several weeks the psalms we’ll walk through will be written by the Sons of Korah.

Quick background. The Korahites were Levites. Obviously they were descendents of Korah who interestingly enough in Numbers 16 led a rebellion against Moses while they were wandering in the wilderness. Korah sought to overthrow Moses which brought upon himself God’s swift judgment.

The sons and descendents of Korah were spared however and it was David then who years later gave these sons, these descendents the responsibility of leading the music in the temple. And so, for a lack of a better word, these men were worship leaders who were writing and producing songs of worship to be used in the temple for God’s people to sing.

Overview

We find here the psalmist far away from the temple in Jerusalem which is where his community was. It was where his job was. Where he was useful. It’s where he met with God in an intimate way through worship in the temple. He’s taunted and oppressed by his enemies, perhaps in captivity and being drug away from his home. He’s spiritually depressed. His soul is downcast, he feels forgotten by God.

Yet, he yearns for God’s presence. He fights through the darkness and speaks truth to his weary heart and soul.

This psalm is going to answer two questions for us.

What are the causes of spiritual depression? Spiritual dryness, weariness, discouragement. Loss of joy and intimacy with God. Feelings of forgottenness or abandonment. A downcast soul. That’s what I mean by spiritual depression.

What’s the cure for spiritual depression?

Body

Let’s look first at the causes. I see five causes that this psalm mentions. There are undoubtedly more, but this is where we’ll begin.

Cause number one: Absence from God’s presence and God’s people.

Now, I want to be careful here because we know God is omnipresent. He is everywhere. Even the psalmists understood this truth.

Psalm 139:7–8 (ESV)

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

Even this psalmist, this son of Korah understood this truth for he was speaking and praying to God in the night.

But he was cut off from the temple in Jerusalem which is where God’s glory resided in the holy of holies.

We get a picture of how far he was from the temple in verse 6.

Psalm 42:6 (ESV)

I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.

The land of Jordan is to the northeast, roughly 110 miles away from Jerusalem. He’s far from home, far from his family, far from his community, therefore he’s feeling far from God. Disconnected.

It’s why he’s longing for God presence.

Psalm 42:1–2 (ESV)

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?

He’s recognizing here that the only thing which will satisfy and refresh his soul is the living God.

When we’re thirsty and dehydrated, the only thing which will refresh us is water. Nothing else. Water is life for our parched mouths. Only the living God is life for our weary souls.

And so, when there’s a disconnect between ourselves and the living God, when we instead begin to chase after the things of this world rather than the life-giving God, when we begin to forsake community and fellowship with one another our souls begin to dry out because we’re meant to live in communion and fellowship with our God, in the presence of God.

Cause number two: Oppression & persecution from a hostile world.

Verse 3.

Psalm 42:3 (ESV)

My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”

Verse 10.

Psalm 42:10 (ESV)

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?”

The psalmist here is being taunted by his enemies. It must have wounded him deeply because he mentions what they taunt him with twice…they say to me, “Where is your God?” Meaning, he’s abandoned you. He’s left you. He’s not coming to your rescue. He doesn’t care about you and your problems.

Make no mistake, we too live in a hostile world. I don’t think I have to convince anyone of that. And so compound living in a hostile world with a feeling of disconnection from God and God’s people and you can see how that could lead to spiritual depression.

Cause number three: Memories of happier days.

Verse 4.

Psalm 42:4 (ESV)

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.

Keep in mind the context here because this can really work on two levels. On one level remembering the goodness of God in the past can be healing for our souls as we remind ourselves of his faithfulness. But on another level, like what this psalmist is struggling with, it’s reminding him of happier times that are no more.

He’s in a hostile environment and he’s on a mountain range a hundred miles away from Jerusalem looking back and remembering the joy that he once had in the presence of God and with God’s people celebrating and worshipping together.

And that’s gone now. No more singing with God’s people. Any song sung now is a solo. No more festivals and glad parties celebrating good food, good friends, and a good God. And so, here he’s longing for days gone by and feeling the ache in his heart for the joy that they once brought about.

In times of sorrow and distress, oftentimes remembering good and happy days of the past can amplify the pain and despair you’re feeling in the present because you’re not experiencing that joy any longer and long for it to return.

We’ve been so blessed here with good friends, deep relationships, and amazing memories of sharing life together. We’ve gone through the highs and lows of life together and for that we’re so grateful. But when you think of days gone by and the joy that has come with it, there’s also a mixture of sorrow to some degree because those days have come and gone.

Now, we continue to make new memories and we’re so grateful but sometimes when you reflect on the past, there’s a mixture of gratitude and sadness because they’re gone. When you look at pictures of your kids from when they were little there’s a bit of achiness in the heart when you see how they’ve grown knowing those days of holding them in your arms as babies isn’t here anymore.

The psalmist is sitting on a mountaintop miles away from home looking back and remembering what he once had but doesn’t have anymore.

When there’s a disconnect from God’s people, spiritual depression can set in because we’re meant to live life in community with one another as we treasure Jesus above all things.

Cause number four: Overwhelming sorrow.

The psalmist writes in verse 7 of the feeling of being swept over with trial after trial just like a crashing waves breaks over a person time and time again.

Psalm 42:7 (ESV)

Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me.

Perhaps this psalmist was sitting near a waterfall hearing its roaring sound. In pleasant days, this is a beautiful thing to behold as we gaze upon the beauty and power of God’s creation.

When we go on vacations we just love to sit near a beach hearing the sound of the ocean and the waves crashing into the shore. For me, oftentimes that’s very soothing and relaxing.

But for him, these sounds were taunting him. They were reminding him of the suffering he was facing. The sound of the waterfall was reminding him that the trials he was walking through were pouring down on him. The sound of crashing waves was reminding him that trial after trial after trial were crashing into him.

When we walk through suffering, through darkness, no matter how big or how small, it’s always with you. You carry it everywhere you go. When you wake up in the morning, it’s often the first thing your mind thinks of. When you go to sleep at night, it’s there with you. Pain and overwhelming sorrow are absolutely large contributors to spiritual depression, especially when you cry out to God and feel as if you’re not hearing an answer or finding relief.

Which can lead to, lastly,

Cause number five: The feeling of abandonment.

This is where this psalmist was.

Verse 9.

Psalm 42:9 (ESV)

I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

It’s not unusual for a depressed person, a hurting person, a suffering person to feel forgotten or abandoned. To feel all alone.

Jesus, as he was hanging on the cross, enduring unbearable suffering. Nails driven through his hands and his feet. His disciples running from him. Peter, one of his closest disciples denying he even knew him. Facing the taunts and jeers from those around him, mocking him cried out from that cross, Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

The overwhelming trials of life can absolutely make you feel as though you’ve been forgotten and abandoned which can lead then to spiritual depression.

There are other causes perhaps that this Psalm doesn’t address specifically.

Unconfessed and unrepentant sin can lead toward spiritual depression.

Temperament. Some people are just more inclined to depression than others.

Mental and physical exhaustion can lead there. Not resting, not taking a break to just be present with God.

Attacks from Satan. Him attempting to get us to take our eyes off of God.

Unbelief. We’re not holding fast to the Truth of God and reminding ourselves of the hope of the gospel.

Sometimes, maybe there isn’t a known reason. It’s just life in a broken world, with a broken body in need of full restoration. And it can be frustrating because you can’t pinpoint a known cause for your state of being downcast.

Spurgeon once addressed this very thing as a man who he himself struggled with depression. He once said in a sermon,

“You may be surrounded with all the comforts of life and yet be in wretchedness more gloomy than death if the spirits are depressed. You may have no outward cause whatever for sorrow and yet if the mind is dejected, the brightest sunshine will not relieve your gloom. … There are times when all our evidences get clouded and all our joys are fled. Though we may still cling to the Cross, yet it is with a desperate grasp.” - Spurgeon

But let’s now turn our attention to the cure. Is there a cure that this psalmist points us to? Praise God, yes there is. Though it’s not easy and is not just a quick fix.

It’s different than what the world offers. In fact, the world itself doesn’t offer many solutions to this problem. I would argue they offer more distractions than anything else.

In Western culture, the material world is all that we truly have and so suffering and depression is to be avoided at all costs. Instead of dealing with it head on, our culture seeks to distract us with excessive entertainment, self-help therapy sessions, frequent vacations, and more.

For those who remember the TV show, Family Ties from the 1980’s, one of the characters on that show, Mallory said, “When I get depressed I go shopping.”

To some degree that statement summarizes our cultures way of treating deep pain. Just distract yourself with something for a little while. And when that fades, distract yourself with this other thing.

But notice here in this psalm how we handle a downcast soul.

Number one:

Wrestle through the pain.

This is the fight. Rather than avoiding it or distracting yourself from it, approach it head on with authenticity, genuineness, and I would say, raw emotion.

Is this not what you see throughout this entire psalm? Raw emotion and attacking the darkness head on?

My soul pants and thirst for you.

My tears have been my food day and night.

Why are you cast down, O my soul.

Your breakers and your waves have gone over me.

Why have you forgotten me?

I am wounded by the constant taunts of my enemies.

I am in turmoil.

He doesn’t give in to depression or self-pity, but fights through it and tells himself that there is no reason for being cast down which is as strong as the reason to fight for hope in His God.

What I’m saying is that this psalmist has two cases before him. One case is making a strong argument to give in and succumb to depression and despair. And it’s a strong case. But the second case before him is a case for hope in God as his deliverer and his salvation and the psalmist comes away realizing that that argument is stronger.

But he’s got to fight, he’s got to wrestle through the darkness. He’s got to speak to himself and remind himself of truth.

Martin Lloyd Jones in his book, “Spiritual Depression” which is a study through Psalm 42 argues this point well.

He says,

“Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself.” - Martin Lloyd Jones

What he means is, don’t allow your emotions to control your mind but your mind, controlled and led by the Spirit, resting and holding firm to truth must speak to your emotions.

Why? Well because, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9).

Because, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” (Prov. 14:12).

Instead, we must speak to our hearts, speak to our emotions with what we know is true from God’s Word.

Lloyd-Jones says,

“You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul: Why art thou cast down’ - what business have you to be disquieted? You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: Hope in God.”

And that’s the fight we see in Psalm 42.

Why are you cast down, O my soul? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation. (vs. 5, 11)

By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. (vs. 8)

God, you are my rock. (vs. 9)

This is the wrestling match. This is the fight. It is not easy. It’s why we need one another. It’s why we need the church. It’s why we must be honest with one another in our struggles so that we, by God’s grace, and in his love can care for one another and speak these truths to one another.

It’s why it matters that we gather together for worship. We sing these truths in unity and with conviction reminding ourselves of the steadfast love of God when our emotions tempt us to think he has abandoned us. It’s why we pray together for God’s Spirit to impress these things upon our minds and hearts. It’s why we study God’s Word together so that we can be armed for when temptation comes.

We fight through the darkness and we fight together.

Lastly,

Challenge yourself to act upon what must be done.

This flows from what we just talked about. Not only must we preach truth to our souls and hearts but we must then challenge ourselves to act upon these truths.

This here is the battle between the flesh and the Spirit.

The flesh doesn’t want to act, at least upon what’s true. When led by our emotions and not truth our actions will continue to spiral deeper and deeper into the darkness. But the challenge here is to act upon what the spiritual self knows should be done. And that is, to “Put your hope in God.”

To say, I will not believe the lie that God has abandoned me, or forgotten me. I will not believe the lie that he is not good. I will not believe the lie that no one cares, and that I’m all alone. We may not have all the answers, we oftentimes don’t but when we cannot see far in front of us, we rest in what we do know. God is good. God’s love is steadfast. God is faithful. God is sovereign. God is for us, not against us. God understands our pain and cares for us.

Conclusion

How do we know this to be true? Look no further than the person of Jesus.

The prophet Isaiah, speaking of Jesus said that, “He was a man despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.”

Jesus entered into our world. He understood sorrow. He understood pain and suffering. He understood the feelings of abandonment, yet Jesus, the perfect, sinless man, fought through the darkness and hoped in His God.

Yes, he cried out from the cross, “My God, my God, why have your forsaken me” quoting Psalm 22. But Psalm 22 continues saying,

Psalm 22:24 (ESV)

For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.

Verse 27,

Psalm 22:27–28 (ESV)

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.

Though Jesus faced sorrow, though Jesus was tempted to believe that God was not good and faithful, that he had been abandoned, he fought through the darkness and put his hope in God. He was the perfect example of a life fully submitted to God.

And because of this, the hope which this psalmist points to is secure. We rest in the hope of Christ.

This side of the cross we know that the grounds for our hope is Christ crucified for our sins and triumphant over death.

Our hope is secure because Christ came to bring this ever-living God and fullness of joy to a people in need.

John 15:11 (ESV)

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

John 4:13–14 (ESV)

“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Our hope is secure because Christ is our salvation.

Acts 4:12 (ESV)

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

John 14:6 (ESV)

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Our hope is secure because Christ is our rock.

Matthew 7:24 (ESV)

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

Fighting through the darkness is not easy. But there is hope. This psalmist still wrestled with a downcast soul but he had faith that His God would deliver him. He knew his God had not forgotten him and that he would once again be in the presence of his one true delight.

We find relief and hope from depression in a glorious and risen Savior who has overcome and one that this Psalm anticipated. Is there a cure? Yes, but it is not in us. It’s in Christ. So, in the darkness call on your soul to rest in the living Rock, our ever-present delight, our steadfast love, our salvation and eternal hope.