Psalm 42. We'll read verse, sorry, chapters, sorry, 42 and 43. Psalm 42 and 43. To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah. As a deer pants for the 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. 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. 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. Father, we ask now that You would speak to us through the living word of God. You have given us this word and your Spirit, all things that pertain unto life and godliness are ours through the knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ. So may our hearts be enriched with your truth. May our souls be revived. May our troubled hearts and downcast souls be restored as we contemplate your word and your wisdom. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, we come now to the end of our series on spiritual depression, and in the last nine or so sermons, we've been considering various texts of scripture, selected passages throughout the Bible that help us work through our soul's trouble, the conflict of our mind, the trouble that we face within, depression, anxiety, fear, hopelessness. But any sort of series on spiritual depression that doesn't look at Psalm 42 and 43 is in many ways incomplete because this is the most popular and perhaps most referred to passage with regards to this subject. And what makes the Psalms more generally so encouraging to us is and have been, by the way, to the people of God throughout the centuries, is that they comfort us by taking the truth of God and letting us into the experience, the personal experience of God's truth in our own lives. So what you have in the Psalms is the truth of God in light of human experience. You have an aching soul made bare, and the veil of religiosity which we so often hide behind is lifted, and there you have it. David is David. The sons of Korah as the sons of Korah. You have the truth of God and and and meeting their emotional turmoil and struggle, and it's not veiled and it's not covered. It's there for us to see that we might step into that experience and lay hold of that truth and also be comforted by it. And so it has been such a comforting book to the people of God throughout the centuries. Now, Psalm 42 in particular and Psalm 43 are really one Psalm. We can go through whether they're technically one Psalm or not. I don't think that's necessary, but some manuscripts actually have them as one unit. Another reason why they are considered by many as one Psalm is because Psalm 42 has a heading, the Psalm of the sons of Korah, but Psalm 43 has no heading. And the whole book two of the Psalter, all the psalms in there have headings, which would make you think that this one belongs to the other. But one reason perhaps that is most clear is that verses 5, 9 and 11 of Psalm 42 are basically repeated in Psalm 43 verse 2 and verse 5. And as we read them together as one unit, you could probably see how they are really just a continuation of the same thing said. I am not suggesting they shouldn't be 42 and 43, we should have 149 Psalms in our Psalter. I'm not saying that. But what I am saying, we need to handle these together because the truth that is here in both of these Psalms are related to one another. What is the scene or the setting in which the Psalm comes to us? Well, the sons of Korah, who wrote the Psalm, were temple musicians in Jerusalem, in the temple of God. And as temple musicians, they loved the house of God. There they sang the praises of God. There they experienced the worship of God, and there they knew more intimately, perhaps more than any other people, the presence of God that was there in the temple of God. And here the sons of Korah that are writing this are writing this though not from Jerusalem, but they are writing this away from Jerusalem. Verse number six, if you have a look there of this chapter, "My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan and of Hermon and of Mount Mizar." That is far away north from Jerusalem. That is up in the Hebron mountains. That is, as it were, far from the manifestation of God's presence. That is far from the place where they regularly knew God in His nearness. Why are they there? We don't particularly know why they were there. The Psalm doesn't tell us. But it makes sense of these passages that are in this Psalm, doesn't it? It makes sense of verse number two, it makes sense of verse number four. Verse number two, "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?" When shall I come and appear before God? In his temple. And then he goes back to remember when I used to lead procession in the house of God in the festival. There I was in the Tabernacle. There I was in the temple, praising God. Some have suggested this is speaking of the time when David was fleeing from Absalom, and and all that, but whatever it may be, we're not too sure, but what we are sure about is that these, the sons of Korah here writing this are longing to be back in the house of God worshiping God as they once had known. Now, this Psalm's overarching practical significance is very important for us. This is not a negative response to despondency. This is not telling us how not to respond to trouble in your life. It is not telling us how not to respond to depression in your life. In fact, this Psalm teaches us healthy response to despondency. You see, the whole Psalm, although he's making bare his heart before God and telling us of his trouble, he is telling us of his trouble that is leading him to a longing after God. You see, as the deer pants after the water streams, so my soul longs for You, oh God. He's responding to his trouble, I would say, in a healthy way, in a way that is good and proper. There's no bitterness here or anger or resentment or betrayal or despair. There's an honest, intense, yes, traumatic, but healthy response to trouble in our lives. He's holding on. You see the man who's struggling, but he is holding on. Now, his conditions are so dire and grim. His is one of perpetual sorrow and unfulfilled longing and desire. Verse 1-3 tells us this so plainly. He is like a deer that's thirsting to drink from streams of water. Just imagine a deer running through the fields or upon the mountain, and and and huffing and puffing so as to regulate its, you know, its body temperature, but what it longs for is just to dip its head in its mouth in that water and to drink from those streams to be refreshed and to be satisfied. And so this is the position of the Psalmist. And as he's longing for God, he's described as one who is basically constantly in tears. You know, verse number four says, "My tears have been my food day and night." Basically, his tears are replacing his meals. He's so affected by his situation. He's so downcast and troubled by what is going on around him and what he's experiencing in his life that he hardly can eat. And so he gives himself to crying and loses his appetite. He is described in verse number five and verse number 11 as a man who is cast down, who has turmoil in his soul, that is his soul is tumultuous, like a kind of like a raging sea. There's a troubled mind, there's a disturbed mind and there's a depressed spirit. The idea of cast down is that this man is crushed. Think about olives being hard pressed by the millstone as they work their way around. To be squeezed, and he's under pressure. He's under a sort of tense situation that the weight of his circumstances is pressing down on his soul. Well, why? What's going on in his life that would make us think this? Well, we do have an indicator here that there are enemies that are oppressing him. And in verse number three and verse number nine and 10, we see this taunting of the enemies saying, "Where is your God? Where is your God?" Now, whether they were there presently saying that to him while he was up in the mountains or not, we don't know, but the point is in his mind, this is what he is hearing. He's been threatened, he's been oppressed, and there's this taunt that rings in his heart, "Where is your God?" And so he desires vindication. He wants retribution. In verse number one of 43, "Vindicate me," he cries, "Oh God, vindicate my cause," is what he wants. "Defend me against these ungodly people that taunt me crying out, 'Where is your God?'" He's a man who is sinking down deep into depression. He's struggling. His soul is so heavy. Verse seven says, "Deep calls to deep," and it's unclear as to exactly what it means, but some believe it means that the deep afflictions are calling out to further afflictions. And it's almost like this is just plunging him deeper into trouble after trouble. Others say it's talking about the depth of his sorrow and the depth of his heart is crying out to the depths of God, saying, "Come to me and help me in my trouble." But however we interpret verse number seven or the first part of verse number seven, what is important is that we see that this man is under the waterfalls. He is a man like under the sea, and the waves and the breakers of God are coming over his head. He's sinking down. This is how he describes himself. Now, how does he handle himself under such circumstances? You might look at a passage like this and say, "Yeah, that describes me. Described a day I had last week. It describes me presently. It describes my life last year. It describes something in my life that I experienced from a deep loss. And I do feel like I'm drowning and I feel like I have waves that are just all over me, and I'm just sinking down and it appears that God is not near me and how does he respond to this? How should we respond to this?" This is what I desire for us to look at today as we come to this passage of scripture. Firstly, what we notice is this man is emotionally honest. In verse 1 and 2, he tells God what's he really, what's his, what he's feeling. Verse number 9 he even says, "God, why have You forgotten me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?" And then when you look at verse number eight, he says, "By day the Lord commands His steadfast love, and at night His song is with me, a prayer to God, the God of my life." And in chapter 43 verse 2, he says, "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?" Now, you might be thinking, is this honesty or is this contradictory? Because in one sense he's saying, "God, where are You? When am I going to appear before You?" But then in verse number eight, he's saying that you give me this song in the night and that in verse number eight he says, "you command your steadfast love." What he's doing is being really honest about how he feels before God. He's not concealing. It's not contradictory. It is actually showing us exactly, he's being clear about how he feels toward God. He's being utterly honest. And so he feels this tension. Is God there or is He not there? He's living in the tension of a God who is both far and near. You say, "Well, that sounds like a contradiction." Well, I know it's not. A God who is near in covenant, a God who is near in promise, a God who fills the earth, but a God who does not always manifest His presence to us in a way that would make us feel like He is near and close. So he lives in the tension of that. And we read and say, "What do you mean the song is with you in the night and the steadfast love of the Lord is commanded?" But then you're saying, "Where are You, God? Where are You, God? Where are you?" No, he's a man who's honest. He's honest with about who God is in His character and this theological truth about God who is near in covenant, but he's also honest about his experience and saying, "God, I don't feel what this is not matching up in my experience." And so what we're seeing here is a man who remains open before God, who isn't shutting down or closing up emotionally. He's not concealing his heart from God. He is showing up in prayer, and as he shows up in prayer, he is acknowledging before God how he really feels. And he acknowledges how he feels and how things are, both good and both bad, but he is not extreme and exaggerating, saying, "God, you must not exist." Or, "God, you know, You've given me nothing good," when it's like, "Well, no, He's given you this song, and His steadfast love is commanded by day." This man is emotionally honest in his experience with his God. And he responds rightly to the atheistic taunts of the wicked. So the atheistic taunts of the wicked is, "Where is your God?" Chapter 42 verse 3 and 10. Basically saying, "Does your God exist? Where is He?" I mean, if He was there, come on. Shouldn't He be showing His power, manifesting His power? Shouldn't He be delivering you? Shouldn't He be saving you? Shouldn't He be coming to your rescue? And instead of him despairing and saying, "Yeah, maybe God doesn't exist. You know, maybe they're right." What does he do? He longs for God all the more. "So my soul longs for You, O God. When shall I come and appear before God?" You see what's happening here? The taunts of the wicked are stirring him to long for God even more. To saying, "God, arise, make bare Your arm, show Your glory, show Your power, because I know that You are," rather than saying, "Yeah, maybe He doesn't exist." I think that's a healthy way to respond to the taunts of the wicked. I think it's a vital way that we should respond to the taunts of the wicked. Where is your God? Yeah, you know what? I know my God is in the heavens and I know He does whatever He pleases. But Lord, I long for You all the more in light of those taunts. I want You to make Your hand bare. I want You to give those atheistic people a vision of Yourself so that they cannot deny You any longer. That's how he feels, basically. And God, for His own wisdom and purposes, doesn't always see fit to respond that way, but it is good that those things stir us up to long for God rather than joining the where is your God question, asking whether or not He does exist. And this entire Psalm is littered with prayer. You see it in verse one, you see it in verse seven, verse nine. You see it in chapter 43 verse 1-4. The psalmist, what happens here is that he continues in prayer before God. He does not lose heart in this, although he is sinking down. He still prays. It was C.H. Spurgeon who said this, he said, "The next best thing to living in light of the Lord's love is to be unhappy till we have it and to pant hourly after it. Hourly, did I say? Thirst is a perpetual appetite and not to be forgotten. And even thus continual is the heart's longing after God. When it is as natural for us to long for God as an animal to thirst, it is well with our souls. However painful our feelings, we may learn from this verse that the eagerness of our desires may be pleaded with God, and the more so because there are special promises for the importunate and the fervent." And therefore we should see the longing heart as a sign of spiritual life and health, not as one, like one who has given up entirely upon God and given way to despair. The honesty, his emotional honesty should stir us to question ourselves whether or not we have become just too professional in our relationship to God. You know, we approach God sometimes like we do a job interview. You know, we putting our best foot forward. We approach God in such a way as if we're trying to not show any weaknesses like you might do in a job interview because you want to prove to the boss that I'm one you can trust who can look after your business. And I think this for us causes us to be little helped under times of turmoil and trouble, because the psalmist here has no veil of religiosity. He is not seeking to present himself in a way that God's going to now think of him highly. What he's concerned about is that his heart is poured out to God in honesty, so that he doesn't become emotionally hardened as he is going through his struggle. And it's important for us to comprehend this as we look at the psalmist's response to these things that we learn that that longing for God and pouring out our soul to God is good for the soul to do. And it doesn't matter if we use all the right words and the right terms and the right phrases. What is more vital that you show up in prayer before God with your troubled heart and that you pour it out before Him. Rather than saying, "I'm not going to pray at all." Well, then you've basically joined the taunt of the wicked saying, "Where is your God?" and you are starting to believe that lie in such a way that you are no longer praying to God as if He doesn't exist. And Satan has you right where he wants you. Where Satan doesn't want you is at the throne of grace where you find mercy and grace for help in time of need. That's where he doesn't want you. And so you're better be at the throne of grace, even though you may come broken, good. That's how God wants you. Even though you may come with stumbling words and words that are like, "God, why are You against me?" and "Why do you let the oppression of the enemy overtake me?" Good. Better you come to God with that than don't come to God at all. Have a longing heart. Let your trouble drive you to God. Let it take you to the place where you long for God as the deer longs for the waters. But our cold, indifferent, careless Christianity keeps us like these stoics. We don't pour out our heart to God and cry to Him. Our relationship to God is distant. We only come to Him when we've got something good to tell Him. Why don't you just tell Him what's on your heart today? Why don't you tell Him about the bad day that you had this week and all the things evil that you thought? And why don't you speak to Him saying, "Lord, I'm wrestling with this and I don't know why this is happening in my life, and I... why are You doing this?" Not in a way as to undermine His holiness, not in a way irreverent, but in a way that's honest. Are you feeling that? You should be able to speak to God like that. And talk to Him in a sense of honesty and transparency. He already knows you're thinking it, by the way. All things are open and naked unto the God with whom we have to give an account. Right? Instead of wrestling it within yourself, why don't you just let it out and talk to God about it? He already sees it, you've thought it, it's as good as done. Let Him be that friend to you that He has promised to be, and come to Him and unburden your soul to Him. And so we see here this praying man who is emotionally honest, who is longing after God, and this is good instruction for us in our troubled and turmoil lives. But what I want us to focus on here just now next is that this man mortifies the deeds of his body by confronting himself also. So not only is he pouring his heart out to God, but he's asking himself a reoccurring question that appears in this passage multiple times. And you know the question. Verse five, "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." Now the question is not diagnostic. He's not saying, "Why are you cast down, O my soul," as in like, "I really wonder why I'm cast down today." Although it's a good question to ask yourself sometimes because we're very not good at self-reflecting and self-examination. That is not primarily what it is addressing. Although it is that, it's dig deeper and find out, it's part of that, but this question is more about confronting himself, more about provoking himself. Why are you cast down, O my soul? is not "I wonder why I'm cast down" as much as it is the rhetorical why, as in like, "What's wrong with you, my soul?" Parents, you know this. Your kid does something you told him not to do. "Why did you do it?" "Why did you let that happen?" You're not expecting an elaborate answer from the child to say, "You know, well, this is the reasons why." In fact, when they mostly start doing that, you say, "Stop, stop, stop. You know better than that," is what you're trying to tell them. I'm not seeking, as it were, a particular answer. What I'm simply trying to say by asking, "Why did you do that?" is basically challenging you, saying, "What good reason could you possibly raise right now to tell me why you shouldn't, you had a reason to do that, a good enough reason to do that?" Take that as a, a instruction, kids, just be careful how you answer a question like that. And so what the psalmist is doing here is rather is that he's battling himself and confronting himself and saying, "What's wrong with you? Do you really have cause to allow yourself to sink deeper, deeper, deeper down? Do you just let yourself go? Do you give just way to despair?" No. What he does is he battles himself. He confronts himself. He attacks himself. "Why are you cast down, O my soul?" is, "This is unacceptable. You cannot stay here. You cannot live here." Yes, sorrow may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. We must move on. You can't live like this forever. He is not indifferent. He is not passive in this condition, which he acknowledges, he is honest, and he is praying, and he is speaking to God, but he is also speaking to himself and he's saying, "You cannot live here forever. You must arise." Psalm 103, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name." Talking to yourself. Speaking to yourself. Arousing and stirring up your passions towards God. You can do this inwardly with an internal voice. You can do this outwardly. I just caution you when you do it outwardly, make sure you're in private because if you talk too loudly to yourself on the streets, you might find some men in white coats at your door the next morning taking you out to a psych ward. But it is good practice to speak to yourself. To confront yourself. And it is even scientifically proven as the wisdom of the scripture had already, you know, demonstrated way before they discovered this, that it helps with emotional regulation and improves motivation. And so it is good for you to look at yourself, see how you are, and then speak to yourself about what you should be doing and how you ought to be. What is he saying to himself? Well, he's challenging himself, isn't he? Why are you cast down, O my soul? He is challenging himself. And not only is he challenging himself, he's taking responsibility for duty. You see, because this always happens when you get depressed, right? You know it. Right? It always happens. You become a victim of your situation. The last thing you want to do is be challenged. And the last thing that you want to do is to take responsibility and resolve to do that which you should be doing. And the psalmist does everything and says to himself all the things that he doesn't want to do. So that's good. If you're wondering what should I say to yourself, just think about how you're feeling and how it's making you depressed, and then flip everything around and say the opposite to yourself and you'll probably be a good place to start. He challenges himself, "Why are you like this?" He takes responsibility for duty. He's saying, "Hope in God." Meaning, that's what you should be doing. You should be trusting in God. You should be waiting upon God. You should be resting in God. What is it that you're letting yourself be in turmoil for as if there is no God? You should be trusting in Him. And then he reestablishes his resolve. He says, "For I shall again praise Him." Meaning, "I am going to praise Him." He has made me for His praise, He's designed me for His glory, He's given me a lot of things in life that I can praise Him for, even in the depths of my darkness and depression. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to praise Him. I will praise Him. I'm not going to let my life be a life that is not led and not a life that is praise unto God. I will make my life a hallelujah. I will make my life a praise to God, and this is how I will choose to be. When it's all said and done and there is an inscription on my tombstone, I don't want to be known as the moping, groaning, winging, whining guy. I want to be the guy or the girl that is praising God to glory. And so even though I'll have seasons of darkness and even though I have seasons of depression and even though I'll go walk through the valley of the shadow of death, there is plenty to praise God for in that space, and so, don't you dare tell me to not praise Him. You see these lips? They're His. You see this mind? It is His. You see these hands? They are His. I will raise them even though I don't feel like it. I will sing even though I don't feel like it. And don't you dare tell me, O my soul, that He isn't worth it. And he does all this built upon his covenant relationship with God because he constantly calls his God, "my salvation and my God." Yeah, I don't feel You, God, and I don't see Your manifest presence, but you know what? You're still my God. And You still are my salvation, even though I'm in trouble. It's an amazing thing, isn't it? Because the salvation is God of God is not dependent on your circumstantial experiences. It goes deeper than that. This is about salvation from your sin. This is about salvation from you being outside of covenant with God, into covenant with God. This is about being out of Egypt into the family of God, and it's not dependent on you. It's dependent on Him who carried you on eagle's wings and took you out of your slavery. And so even though he's troubled, and I would even tell you, even though you struggle with sin, you may still call Him "my God and my salvation." Because He's not done with you yet. He that has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. If God be for us, who can be against us? His salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The story is not over. He is my God and He is my salvation, and upon this I rest my soul and I make my case against my soul that is speaking words of lies to me. And so it might have sounded like this in the internal dialogue of this man: "You know, they're saying, 'Where is your God?'" "Yeah, where is He?" "No, no, no. Don't listen to that." Don't you know that my God is in the heavens and He does whatever He pleases? "Yeah, yeah, but where is he?" "Where is he?" His soul says to himself, "Don't you remember Jerusalem? You knew him then. Where is he now? Oh, maybe you'll never know him again until you get back to Jerusalem." "No, no, no, no, no. That can't be. God is greater than the temple," he says to his soul. "Don't you understand that God's presence is not confined? Even Solomon said that the heavens of the heavens cannot contain Him. Why would you think that God is not here in the wilderness? He is here in the wilderness, even though I'm not in his house." "Oh, if he loved you, things would be different," says his soul to himself. "Does he really see? Does he know? Does he purpose all? Don't waste your time. If he wants to save you, he'll do it without you. Just stay in the pit. You don't need to believe." "No, no, no, my soul, you must hope in God. You cannot stay here. His love is in covenant mercy. His love is not dependent upon my experience. His love is everlasting. Is He not worthy of praise? Even though my life be destroyed, should I not give Him what He deserves with even with my dying breath? Should I not trust Him? Will He not vindicate me? Yes. Trust him. Yes. He will restore you. Trust him. Your thirsty soul will be satisfied. Trust him. He reigns over all, and though the waves and the seas and the billows are crashing over you, they are His waves and His seas and His waterfalls and His billows. He has a plan. Don't fret, don't fear. God is my salvation, my deliverer. Has He not provided for me in the past? Has He not demonstrated His love for me in giving His Son for my salvation? Oh, my soul, wait upon the Lord. Wait, I say, my soul, upon the Lord. Be of good courage for He will strengthen your heart." You know, there's great value in speaking to yourself. And that is because someone is always speaking to you. Yourself is always speaking to you. Self-life. The flesh. The world is always speaking to you. Your fear is speaking to you. Your anxiety is speaking to you. Your insecurities are speaking to you. Your envy is speaking to you. The culture around you is speaking to you. The world around you is speaking to you. The devil is speaking to you. Your friends, yes, are speaking to you and not always words that you should be listening to. Your circumstances are speaking to you. The TV is speaking to you. The news is speaking to you. The radio is speaking to you. The songs you listen to are speaking to you. And you should speak to yourself. You should be deliberate about examining what it is that your heart is feeling and what it is that it's sensing and what it is that it's saying to itself, and you should take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, and start speaking truth into your own life. It is bad not to speak to yourself. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says this on this text of scripture, he says, "I suggest that the main trouble in this whole matter of spiritual depression in a sense is this, that we allow ourself to talk to us instead of talking to ourself. Am I just trying to be deliberately paradoxical? Far from it. 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? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but they start talking to you. They bring back the problems of yesterday. Someone is talking. Who is talking? Yourself is talking to you. Now, this man's treatment was this: instead of allowing the self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. 'Why art thou cast down, O my soul?' he asks. His soul has been depressing him, crushing him, so he stands up and says, 'Self, listen for a moment. I will speak to you.' The main art in this matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul, 'Why are you cast down? What business have you to be disquieted?' You must turn on yourself, abrade yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself, 'Hope thou in God.' Instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way, and then you must go on to remind yourself of God, the God who is, and not only what He is, but what He has done, and what He has pledged Himself to do. Then having done that, the end of this great note, you must defy yourself and defy other people, and defy the devil, and the whole world, and say with this man, 'I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance, who is also the health of my countenance and my God.' That is the essence of the treatment in a nutshell. The essence of this matter is to understand this self of ours, this other man within us, has got to be handled." You must, you must, you must take hold of yourself. Prepare your mind for action. Do not sit there in passivity and let your mind wander to places that it should not be going. Take a hold of it. Challenge yourself, "Why am I thinking this way? What am I doing? This is not right. I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to let myself stay in the dumps and in the pits. I'm going to take responsibility. Get up, my soul. You're meant to be spending time with God now. Get up, my soul. You're meant to be trusting me now. Get up, my soul. You're meant to be following Jesus now and obeying Him now. Get up, my soul. You can't stay in this place." And we have ample reason to challenge ourselves with an authority like no other. You know why? Because we don't only have the word of God, we got the Son of God who gave Himself for us. Look at Psalm 43 in light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. Psalm 43. Verse one, "Vindicate me," he says, "O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people and a deceitful and just man, deliver me." Has not God vindicated us from our enemies through the cross of Jesus Christ our Lord? Has He not sent His Son to deal with sin, to deal with Satan, to deal with hell, to deal with self? Has He not redeemed us from sin's guilt and sin's condemnation? He has vindicated us. He stands at the right hand of God ever living to make intercession for us, saying, "See these wounds in my hands and on my side and in my feet? They paid the price for their sin, for your sin, you who believe on Jesus Christ." He's defended us from all our enemies in Christ. And if God be for us, who can be against us? Verse two, he talks about his refuge in God. Have we not taken refuge in Jesus, who is by his blood the one that has cleansed us and sheltered us from the storm of God's wrath and from the justice that we deserved? There is no enemy as it were that can destroy us and overtake us. We have overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony. What, will they take your life? And what? Send you into the presence of God for all eternity? Whom your soul longs to see, whom your heart longs to be with? Do you want to appear before God? Well, when the enemies take your life, all they're going to do is usher you into the presence of the God you long to be with. Verse three, "Send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling." You can see Jesus all over that, can't you? Has not God sent His light and His truth? Jesus, the light of the world, Jesus, the truth. Has he not send his light and his truth, that is the Lord Jesus, the one who has brought us into God's holy hill? He has ushered us into the presence of God. He has made us a temple of God, and He will take us to heaven to be with Him forever. Is this not the glory of the cross of Jesus Christ revealed here? We dwell with him on high even though we live on earth because of Jesus. And shall Jesus fail us? Answer the question. And shall Jesus fail us? No. I can't hear you. And will Jesus fail us? No. Will Jesus fail us? No. Never will He fail us. Then why are you cast down, O my soul? Why? Why are you in turmoil within yourself? Shouldn't you be hoping in God? Shouldn't you be resolving to praise Him? The one who is your salvation and your God? What is our hope in life or death? Christ alone. Christ alone. What is our only confidence? That our souls to Him belong. Who holds our days within His hand? What comes apart from His command? And what will keep us to the end? The love of Christ in which we stand. What truth can calm the troubled soul? God is good. God is good. Where is His grace and goodness known? In our great Redeemer's blood. Who holds our faith when fears arise? Who stands above the stormy trial? Who sends the waves that bring us nigh unto the shore, the rock of Christ? Oh, sing hallelujah. Our hope springs eternal. Oh, sing hallelujah, now and ever we confess Christ our hope in life and death. Let us pray. Oh Lord, our God, what a hope we have in Jesus. Keep our souls from despair. Anchor us fast to the rock that will never fail. Oh Lord, I pray that You would heal the hearts of your people this morning. And may they have a fresh resolve to take hold of themselves before You, O God. And to no longer live in despondency, but to fight and to wrestle and to go on until they see Your face and appear before God. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.