Cast Down, Lifted Up (Psalms 42-43)

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Calvin: ‘All the sorrows, fears, troubles, hopes, doubts, perplexities, stormy outbreaks by which the hearts of men are tossed are here depicted by the Holy Spirit.’ See Prov.18:14. Calvin sees David as the author, but the sons of Korah could be from the Babylonian exile of the sixth century B.C. William Bridge preached 13 sermons on Psalm 42:11, on A Lifting Up for the Downcast.

  1. Being cast down.
    1. he felt cut off from God – read 42:1-2, 9; 43:1-2. He asks: ‘Why?’ (42:5, 9, 11; 43:2, 5). God is ‘my God’ (42:6, 11) and as ‘the God of my life’ (42:8), ‘my Rock’ (42:9), ‘the God in whom I take refuge’ (43:2) and the Psalmist’s joy and delight (43:4). So he believes, yet he is cast down.
    2. his misses gathering with the people of God – 42:4, 6-7. He loved the exuberance of temple music – Ps.150:3-6; and the blood and mess of the sacrifices as a reminder of God’s mercy extended to sinners.
    3. he faces a hostile society – 42:3, 10; 2 Tim.3:12.
  2. Being lifted up.
    1. this condition is not unique. Psalms 77 and 88; Isaiah 50:10; Elijah in 1 Kings 19; Job 3, and Jeremiah 20. Look too at Paul – read 2 Cor.7:6. And even Christ – read John 12:27. Bunyan’s pilgrim falls into the Slough of Despond. Read the life of Martin Luther, Dr Samuel Johnson, Charles Spurgeon, and William Cowper.
    2. gather your thoughts together. Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones once asked: ‘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?’ See Ps.103:1; Isa.40:31; Heb.6:19-20.
    3. keep reminding yourself of the truth – 42:5, 11; 43:5. Augustine: ‘I am thirsty on my pilgrimage, parched in my running, but I will be totally satisfied when I arrive.’ The idea is to say it, pray it, and sing it, until you feel it.