Bible Passage: Psalm 42-43

I. Introduction

1. Psalms 42 & 43 are read together as a single psalm—Psalms 42 as lament and Psalms 43 as prayer
2. They both have the same refrain (cf. verses 42:5, 11, 43:5)
3. Per the superscription/title “A psalm of the Sons of Korah,” the psalm was composed by a Korahite, a Levite
4. As a Levite, the psalmist was supposed to be living around the Temple in Jerusalem
5. But, he was living (potentially exiled) in the northern part of Israel by Mount Hermon where River Jordon originates
6. Due to some strange reason, the psalmist was unable to travel to Jerusalem along with the fellow Jews to celebrate festivals at the Temple
7. Per Exodus 23:14 Jews were expected to appear before God in Jerusalem at the Temple: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of the Harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering
8. By looking at his exile and his inability to travel to Jerusalem, his non-Jewish neighbors mocking at him and mocking at his God which added more pain to him
9. In other words, the psalmist was helplessly stuck in a foreign land, away from the Temple and his people
10. The psalmist was a believer, godly person, and worshipper of the LORD
11. The psalm was composed in the context of his exile and inability to travel to Jerusalem

II. Psalmists health indicators

1. “My soul pants for you, my God” (verse 1)—to have a strong wish or desire
2. “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (verse 2a)—the object of thirsting is “God who resides in the Temple in Jerusalem”
3. “When can I go and meet with God?” (verse 2b)—(the psalmist was geographically distanced from the Temple)
4. “My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”” (verse 3)—being totally consumed with his thoughts on God; lack of physical appetite due to grief of not being able to be present in the presence of God
5. These feelings of the psalmist point to his spiritual health (his best feelings in his worst time!)
Remaining distanced from the Temple and a lack of spiritual fellowship adversely affected the psalmist
6. Emotionally affected (42:5, 6)

a. My soul, why are you downcast?
b. Why are you so disturbed within me?

7. Spiritual attack

a. Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me (verse 7)
b. Spiritual attack at the most vulnerable time!
c. The psalmist went through hellish experience—”Send me your light and your faithful care, let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell” (43:3)

8. Terrible feeling of absence of God and His care

a. Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?” (verse 9)
b. My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?” (verse 10)
c. Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy? (43:2)
d. He desired God to be active in his life, but God seems to have been absent

III. How did he survive his situation?

1. Instead of giving up on God, the psalmist nurtured his desire for God and thereby maintained his communion with God

a. By reminiscing his earlier experience of going to the Temple along with the fellow worshippers (verse 4)—how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng (42:4)
b. By reminding himself of the LORD’s covenant love, by singing, and through prayer—By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life (verse 8)
c. By desperate prayer

i. Vindicate me, my God, and plead my cause against an unfaithful nation. Rescue me from those who are deceitful and wicked (43:1)
ii. Send me your light and your faithful care, let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. 4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God (43:3-4)

d. By nurturing his hope of going to the Temple and be around the fellow worshippers (42:5, 11, 43:3-4)

2. Instead of developing self-pity, he firmed up his theological convictions

a. God of his life (verse 8)
b. His Rock (verse 9) and stronghold/refuge (43:2)
c. His Salvation/Savior (verse 11)
d. His joy and my delight (43:4)

IV. Jesus expressed His feeling to the Father “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me” (Matt 27:46)

1. The Father appeared to have abandoned Jesus
2. His own disciples abandoned Jesus
3. He was severely mocked and reviled
4. The Father knew the purpose of His abandonment of His Son
5. The Son knew why He was going through such situation
6. God the Father was fulfilling His purposes through God the Son Jesus

V. Principles

1. Life’s unforeseen predicaments are not necessarily due to God’s abandonment, but a platform to spiritually refine them—for His own reasons God allows them
2. One’s desire for God and fellowship of God’s people provide diagnostic indicators of his spiritual health
3. A good number of emotional illnesses are potentially connected to spiritual health—getting strongly connected to God is the best therapy
4. One must have a mechanism of nurturing his faith to hold on in times of trials and tests

Takeaway:

Focus less on the negatives by concentrating more on God