Depression – Why Are You Downcast? | Psalm 42 & Psalm 43
Depression – Why Are You Downcast? | Psalm 42 & Psalm 43
INTRODUCTION
One word that dominates these two Psalms is the word, “downcast.” In putting it in a modern vernacular. You might translate it, “Why are you so depressed? Why are you so filled with anxiety?” Depression is well known to us. Plenty of people are suffering from depression. The Bible recognizes the painful reality of the difficulties of man.
This morning we are going to look at Psalm 42 and 43.
There is a scholarly debate whether it is a single composition or duel composition. That does not matter for us because both these Psalms have the same theme and similar verses.
They are lament Psalms. There are 60 lament Psalms. 40% of the Psalter are laments. Laments do not play well in happy go lucky Christianity. We do not want to hear these sad tunes, agonizing cries from a believer just does not appeal to us. We want joyful Christianity. There is nothing wrong in laughter, but we also need a proper balance in our teaching and understanding of the truth. There is a place for sadness as well as for joy in the altar of God. instead, in the modern Christianity lament sound strange to us.
We are going to look at the cure for depression. This is not an exhaustive list of dealing with depression, for that you even have to go to other passages of scripture.
Psalm 42
For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah.
1As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
2My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
3My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
4These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
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.
5Why, my soul, are you downcast? (turned in on yourself)
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him
my Savior and my God.
6My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
7Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.
8By day the Lord directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.
9I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
Oppressed by the enemy?”
10My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
11Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
Psalm 43
1Vindicate me, my God,
and plead my cause
against an unfaithful nation.
Rescue me from those who are
deceitful and wicked.
2You are God my stronghold.
Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?
3Send 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.
4Then 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.
5Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
We live in a pressured society.
When God created the human body he created it with marvellous capacities of adaptation, but I wonder if God indented us to live a fast-paced and achievement-oriented life as we live today.
Our systems are overloaded and overworked. Living in this kind of a society places us under many pressures. Pressures that we find it difficult to deal with. When we find ourselves unable to cope with the pressures then the result is depression or anxiety.
What is a God-pleasing response to depression?
A response that will honor the Lord in which the Lord will bless us by moderating or eliminating depression. The issue is how to please God when confronted with depression?
Many people go to a counsellor or take medication for depression and my preaching is not to stop you from going to a counsellor or taking medication. But the issue is medications are not just enough. Behind every mental health issue including depression, there is a spiritual problem that is underlying and feeding depression in our lives.
What are some of the causes of depression?
Alcoholism
In the world, alcoholism is a major cause of depression.
Proverbs 23:29-35
29Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has strife? Who has complaints?
Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
30Those who linger over wine,
who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.
31Do not gaze at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup,
when it goes down smoothly!
32In the end it bites like a snake
and poisons like a viper.
33Your eyes will see strange sights,
and your mind will imagine confusing things.
34You will be like one sleeping on the high seas,
lying on top of the rigging.
35“They hit me,” you will say, “but I’m not hurt!
They beat me, but I don’t feel it!
When will I wake up
so I can find another drink?”
It is said that alcoholism is the biggest reason for depression than depression for alcoholism.
I think the pressures of the interpersonal relationships
At work we are often tines we are under pressure from those who are demanding more production, that we produce more than we are capable of producing. We are always feeling that pressure of having to the be the best, finish the target, doing our best, getting the award of the best employee. Perhaps there is pressures from other colleagues at work that we do not get along with. They do not respect our values. They make fun of our faith in Jesus Christ. We just find it difficult to be around them 8 hours a day.
Sometimes it is just the neighbours
where we live, sometimes the problems in the neighbourhood can stress us out.
Sometimes it is pressure right within the home; marital problems.
Sometimes one spouse can say to the other, “I don’t want to live with you anymore. I don’t love you anymore.” Then there are pressures with the children. The husband may not be faithful or coming home and spending time, and not giving an explanation for his absence. There is that tension and pressure and wonder how long you can go on like this? The spouse feels exhausted with the pressure to cope and starts getting depressed and filled with anxiety.
It is very easy in this world in which we live to get stressed and anxious.
People faced with financial problems
We were just barely making it and now there is a leak in the water sump or the car just broke down, now we do not know where we can get the funds for this problem. I was catching up on my loans and getting out of it and I am just being laid off from work. Now the pressure of seeing the bills mounting.
Then there is pressure of just, “I don’t know what to do with my life.
I am just not happy. Somehow life has become a sort of an endless grind and I am not satisfied, I don’t feel fulfilled and I don’t see any hope. I don’t see any possibility for change. It looks like things are just going to go on like this. I don’t know what to do and I am just under the pressure of not able to deal with the issues that have come up.”
The depression and the anxiety seem to increase when I cannot see my way out of the present circumstances. I don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel, all I see is the dark tunnel and it seems that it is just getting darker.
As Christians we are not immune to emotional distress and physiological problems.
The question is what do you do in the midst of those trials? What do you do when you are experiencing suffering as a sharing in the sufferings of Christ?
Job, Jeremiah, David, Paul all went through deep sorrow.
Psalm 42:11
Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Our text clearly is a passage from a believer. Many times he says God as his own. He knows that God is near him. Look at the names he gives for God. God knows exactly how we feel.
- God my rock, 42:9
- God my stronghold, 43:2
- God my saviour, 43:5
- My God, 42:1, 5, 11; 41:1, 4, 5
- The God of my life, 42:8
- God my joy and my delight, 43:4
- God, my God, 43:4
The psalmist is identifying the Lord as his own. He is in relationship with God. Of course he is a believer but juxtaposed to those confessions of God as his own are unanswered questions. For every question that God answered, there are still questions that God does not answer. The questions where? The question that is the taunting question of his enemies, the tortured conscience of the sufferer reflected in this question, “When?”
The question: When?
Psalm 42:2
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
The question: Where is your God?
Psalm 42:4
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
The question: Why
Psalm 42:3
Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Psalm 42:9
I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?”
Psalm 43:2
You are God my stronghold.
Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?
Every time the psalmist asks “why,” not once is the question answered.
This psalmist is going through a very difficult time. If you are going through suffering, the psalmist has gone through this. Pay attention to his inspired words. Let God write then upon your heart.
He is battling depression.
God is his source of stability. Imagine if you celebrate your birthday and there is not even a note from your loved one to remind you that they are thinking of you. Your loved one has said, “Get out of my sight, I cannot see you.” Now contrast that pain by being forgotten by God, God the foundation of your life.
This is a worse kind of depression.
According to American Physiatry Association’s diagnostic and statistical value of mental disorders, the symptoms of depression are: Emotional, physical, cognitive, and motivational. This psalm has all these symptoms.
Emotional Symptoms
He Is Battling Emotional Depression.
Psalm 42:11
Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
This Psalm is filled with emotional language of sadness, grief, worthlessness, hopelessness.
Psalm 42:7
Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.
He is feeling like he is drowning, overwhelmed by his problem. He was in deep trouble. So he is battling emotional depression.
Physical Symptoms
He Has Loss Of Interest In Physical Appearance, dishevelled appearance.
People who have depression sometimes neglect their personal hygiene and grooming. Some do not want to brush their teeth, they do not want to wear decent clothes. There is something happening in the subconscious mind as to how you feel in your inner man which reflects also in how you present yourself physically. But there is also a cry for help.
Psalm 42:9
I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?”
The Psalmist is mourning. He is having a dishevelled appearance. He is unkempt, with his clothes stinking, torn, and with dirt on his head, a pattern of mourning in the OT. And is having a consuming sense of need, that displaces any of the pleasures of life.
Sleep disturbances.
Psalm 42:3
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
He has no sleep due to his grief.
Loss of appetite
Cognitive Symptoms: He has no motivation in life, dilutional thinking
Psalm 42:3
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
People around are telling him, “Where is your God. I thought you are a Christian. How can this be happening to you?”
He is Self-obsessed, loss of interest in others.
Here is not praying for others. It is all me, I and mine. A lot of times in the text he mentions about himself. He is so self-absorbed which is a typical manifestation of depression. Acute hyperawareness of physical symptoms.
He Is Crying For Help.
Psalm 41:1-2
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
Psalm 42:3
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
In drought, if you are a camel you can cope with it, not if you are a deer. You need water. The prophets used deer as a recognition of the animal kingdom as a vivid image for how desperate things can get. Jeremiah talks about a mother doe denying her own maternal instincts when she is in the midst of a drought, abandons her young to get her own grass.
Jeremiah 14:5
Even the doe in the field
deserts her newborn fawn
because there is no grass.
You are lost in all kind of human touch, relationship and even material or human instincts in this desperate times of need. He is all consuming as he cries out as a deer cries out for the source of water.
What Is The Solution To This Depression?
I want to give you 5 Biblical Solutions to depression based on this text:
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Do not Feed Your Depression
Be Truthful About Your Situation
If you are going to follow the psalmist pattern, be truthful and frank about your situation.
Psalm 42:5
Why, my soul, are you downcast? (turned in on yourself)
Why so disturbed within me?
Do you remember Elijah in his depression in 1 Kings 19, he ran off, exhausted, he is begging God to kill him. There in 1 Kings 19, the word of the Lord came to him.
1 Kings 19:10
He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
The same is repeated in 1 Kings 19:14.
1 Kings 19:11-13
11The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
1 Kings 19:15
The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram.” Anoint Jehu
How did you get here in this pity party, running away from your enemies? Why are you succumbing to the pressure? This word of God comes as a fresh breath of air for a person who is suffocating to death.
Do not bail out on your responsibility. God gave Elijah a homework assignment. God gave him responsibility.
Biblical response
Do not bail out on your responsibly. The Lord said to cain: Genesis 4:6-7 6Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
ILLUSTRATION
If the son comes home after a loss in his school match and he comes very discouraged. Some mothers say, “So, it is okay, you need not wash dishes today, you can see the tv for some time. What is your favourite show, let me put it for you.”
This is feeding the depression. Reinforcing that you have a problem and trying to soothe you.
When you think that you are not feeling that good in your mind today and so you will go shopping and end up buying. I am not feeling good, let me buy something. You are feeding your depression and creating an unhealthy patten to get rid of depression.
Do you know what the key to cheering up is, you got to do the right thing. You do the right thing, right feelings will follow. You do the wrong thing, you bail out, I do not want to study for my exam, I do not want to do my dishes. What you are doing is to set up your tomorrow for more causes for depression than today. In addition, you will be in a position with increased chance of depression.
Psalm 126:5-6
5Those who sow with tears
will reap with songs of joy.
6Those who go out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with them.
Deal with your depression by taking on the responsibilities God has given you.
Proverbs 25:20
Like one who takes away a garment on a cold day,
or like vinegar poured on a wound,
is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.
Let us not minimize and say peace, peace when there is no peace. God knows what is going on anyway, tell it to him like it is.
Be truthful about your situation, don’t feed your depression.
-
Pray And Hope In God
Pray honestly, seek after God, and hope in God.
Psalm 118:8
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in humans.
Get your hope in God, God is able to take care of your life and your problems.
Psalm 42:9
I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?”
Psalm 43:2
You are God my stronghold.
Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy
Say it to God.
Pray honestly, seek after God. The solution for the problem is not for the problem to go away but for the presence of God in the midst of the problem.
Tell your problems to God and then hope in God.
God loves you and is in control over the circumstances that surround your life. God watches over his creation but he gives special attention to his children.
I am convinced that there is help for me in God. but I have often discovered that God does not really step in and take over until I get to the end of myself. When I recognize that things are beyond me and I have exhausted my abilities and then tell God I leave everything into your hands, it is often at that place that God begins to work.
-
Deal With Your Sin.
When you start praying in your pain, God will sometimes remind you of your hidden sins.
Psalm 43:3
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.
The Psalmist is thinking about the Egypt deliverance how God led them out of Egypt and sent his light ahead of them to take them to the holy mountain, in Sinai.
The psalmist is saying that he is like he is in Egypt in chains. God you will have to rescue me out of this enslavement and send me your light. It is a rescue mission that we need.
This will give us a right view of our past, present and future.
What is the right view of our past? Our shameful past of the life of sin and also the deliverance of God. God has forgiven us, this encourages us rather than depressing us.
Bring me to your holy mountain
What happens in the holy mountain. That is where sacrifices take place. That is the place where your sins are forgiven and an animal is sacrificed for your sins. Jesus took your place on the cross. Jesus is here to deal with your sins.
Psalm 32:1-5
1Blessed is the one
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
2Blessed is the one
whose sin the Lord does not count against them
and in whose spirit is no deceit.
3When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4For day and night
your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer.
5Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
my transgressions to the Lord.”
And you forgave
the guilt of my sin.
As Psalm 51 tells that is when you get the restoration of your joy. Until then it is joyless, day after day. When you experience the real forgiveness of your sin by confession, you receive joy.
-
Look At Our Circumstances As Christ Views Them
Psalm 42:6
My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
The Psalmist is 100’s of miles away from home. His whole support system is maybe ripped out from under him as one of the early exiles in this region of Hermon. He is in a completely difficult landscape. Mount Hermon is a mountain 9000 feet tall with even snow cap features, it is totally unlike the promise land. He could not be further away spiritually, longing for the presence of God.
The Palmist is wanting to have his eye on God.
Psalm 42:6
My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
When he thinks about God and remembers God, suddenly Mount Hermon becomes Mount Mizar. Mount Mizar is a small mountain or hill near Mount Hermon. Mizar means miniscule in Hebrew. Mount Miniscule. You see, he is making mountains into molehills. He is recognizing mounts on mount Hermon in the eyes of others, this vast and long and high peek is in the eyes of God just a small mountain, hardly noticeable on the screen. My Hermon has become a Mizar, miniscule. It is a joke. He is reminding himself, there is no panic from God’s perspective. From God’s perspective God puts everything in its proper proportion.
Psalm 113:5-6
5Who is like the Lord our God,
the One who sits enthroned on high,
6who stoops down to look
on the heavens and the earth?
When God looks at my big mountain, this is a miniscule for him.
Psalm 61:1-2
2From the ends of the earth I call to you,
I call as my heart grows faint;
lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
3For you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the foe.
We need to have our eyes open to look at our circumstances the way we ought to.
May God give us eyes to see our Mount Hermon as mount Mizar.
-
The Final Outcome Will Be Good – You Will Praise
Psalm 43:5
Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
When you do likewise, the final outcome will be good.
- Do not feed your depression.
- Pray and hope in God.
- Deal with your sin.
- Look at your circumstances as God looks at them.
- And the final outcome will be good.
Yet, it is a reality that for all of us some praise will be this side of Parousia but for all, the other side of the coming of the Lord will be praise for ever. A day is coming when we will no longer have to deal with depression, at that time we will no longer have to deal with death. At that time revelation describes in:
Revelation 7:17
For the Lamb at the center of the throne
will be their shepherd;
‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’
‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’
Lord as we ponder over these Psalms, enable us to experience the glorious presence of your comfort and encouragement that is here for those who are despairing. We pray that we will experience a renewal of this confidence that we sense from the Psalmist to put our hope in God. We will praise in you in our trouble.