Psalm 42: Why Are You Cast Down?
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Alright, so, if you've been around long enough, you know this. We don't line up sermon series and individual sermons with holidays that aren't Christmas and Easter. It's just not a thing that we do. We did last year do Psalm 31 on Mother's Day, but that was very much the exception, not the rule. So, it's not intentional to put a Psalm of lament right before July 4th, but it is where it landed on the calendar. And that's what we're looking at today is Psalm 42.
It'll be on page 268 in the blue Bibles that are right around you. You can grab one of those. You can also follow along on the screen as we walk through this. So, culturally, in America, we don't handle suffering and sadness very well. That's just a cultural thing we don't handle very well. And in the American church, we're not much different.
We don't handle that subject well either. I could give you lots of examples of how that proves to be true. I really just want to give you one this morning, and that is K-Love. That is Christian Radio. So, this might step on some toes. I'm mildly apologetic about it.
But, Christian Radio in this department is very painful. It's painful in general for many reasons. First off, there's a lot of stuff that ends up on the radio that just is bad. It's bad theologically, songs you should not sing, bad quality, songs that should be done differently. You know, there's lots of reasons. You know, the songs that come from churches that I would never recommend you ever visit personally, ever, ever, ever.
There's a variety of reasons why Christian Radio can be a landmine. But one of the ones that is more pertinent that K-Love really misses the Mark on is that they're literally branded as positive and encouraging. That's it. Positive and encouraging. And what that really means and how they define encouragement is very narrowly what they mostly mean. It's positive.
It's positivity. And, you know, that's kind of been a thing for years in Christian Radio. It's just like it's all, it's a lot, it's very, very happy, positive, positive, positive. And, listen, I'm not against encouragement. I think encouragement is a very biblical thing. But you've got to have a broader category for that.
And, you know, that's been a thing. But I didn't want to. I was like, you know, I haven't listened to Christian Radio in some time. So let me get on K-Love and listen. And as soon as I turned it on, this song got off. And this guy got on and was like, it's National Selfie Day.
He's like, and just got really excited about National Selfie Day. And then he had this little jingle that went with it that was, you know, turn that frown upside down. I was like, you've got to be kidding me. It took two minutes for me to hear this. And I was like, all right, no, I think they're on brand. I think they're sticking to what they do.
Okay. Here's why that's problematic. When life curb stomps your happiness, okay, when it destroys the good things that are happening in your life, you need more than just positivity. That's not going to cut it. But, I mean, listen, you need more than even solid, cheerful theological songs. All right.
Psalm 100 is glorious. I mean, that's a beautiful Psalm. Some of the songs we sing are very joyful. Great things he has done. But there's got to be more than that.
The Psalm book gives us more than just joyful songs. When life is hard, you need more than celebration. You need a dirge. You need lament. And the Psalm book gives us that as a holistic part of worship. That there are Psalms throughout the whole 150th Psalm book that give us this, and we're in one of them today.
And my hope is that this would expand a category of worship for us. But what we're going to see as we follow through this today is that godly lament does not seek to fix our pain and suffering and loss, but it will help us endure. And that is what Psalms do for us. They help us endure through it all. So we're going to see that this morning as we walk through this.
Let me pray for us, then we will jump in. God, I pray that you'd help us be present this morning as we walk through a Psalm that is heavier. There are folks that are in a joyous season right now. And I pray that this would speak to them, preparing their hearts for the day of suffering when it comes. There are folks in our church family that are suffering. That right now this is very apparent in their life.
And I pray, God, that you would use this Psalm to provide unbelievable comfort that is found in you. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. Okay, so the Psalm book, the Psalms have subscripts underneath them that I'd argue probably go back to the original when it was recorded. And this Psalm 42 has that. It has a subscript that gives us some context.
And it says, To the choir master, a mascal of the sons of Korah. Now, we don't know what mascal means. It happens in the Psalms. There are certain words we don't know. It could be an artistic teaching type Psalm. But we do know who the sons of Korah are.
If you know the story of the sons of Korah, their descendant, their ancestor, is Korah. So Korah was a part of a rebellion that happened against Moses in the wilderness. And that rebellion did not go well for the people who rebelled. The earth literally gave way in judgment and swallowed them whole. So some of the sons of Korah survived this, and they bear the history of their ancestor's rebellion, of his unfaithfulness.
But they go on to do... This is a really cool redemption story. They go on to do great things. They become worship leaders. They become Psalm writers. Some of them are in the party of David, when David is on the run for his life.
And it's just a really cool backdrop to see the suffering that they come from, and the redemption that they have, that sets up Psalms like Psalm 42. So that's the subscript. Then you get into verse 1. It says, As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. So, as a deer pants for flowing streams, I like to deer hunt. That is a hobby of mine.
I actually got to join a hunting club this year. I'm very excited about it. Been working on the land, getting it ready for the fall. One of the things that you, when you're choosing land to hunt on, you want to choose land that has a water source of some type. Because if it doesn't have a stream, or a creek, or something nearby, you will not have a lot of luck. Deer need water.
That's the point. As a deer pants for flowing streams, as an animal who is in need, who's dehydrated, who needs water to survive. So my soul pants for you, O God. We're going to see this next week in Psalm 1, when Psalm 1 says, He is like a tree planted by streams of water. That God is this vibrant life source, this well of worship, and joy, and goodness. He says, As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you.
He's desperate, in need of the Lord. And what it's setting up is that, that this man, is a man who loves the Lord. That this lament, is not disconnected from the fact, that he is a godly man. He loves the Lord. He longs for the Lord. And that, that's a part of building this category of lament.
That it needs to come from a desperate, love, and desire, and pursuit of God. Because often times, culturally, mourning, and sadness, and lamenting of our culture, isn't that. When we're sad, we'll escape. Or we'll distract ourselves. Or we'll comfort ourselves. Which in the south means, a lot of unhealthy food.
And I'm not saying, like, bringing food isn't, I'm not, I'm not down on that. But you've got to have a broader category, that says no. Godly lament, is coming before the Lord, desperately needing Him, longing for Him. That type of godly, lament, does not seek to fix, our suffering and sadness. But it, it helps us endure.
It helps us withstand. And that's what He's doing here, when He gets into verse 2. My soul thirsts, for God, for the living God. When shall I come, and appear before, God. So, we're going to see this, throughout the rest of this Psalm. But that statement there, when shall I, when shall I, come and appear before God, we're going to see it fleshed out, that He can't be, in the presence of God, right now.
That He's far away, from the presence of God. So, in this period, the presence of God, ruled and reigned from, this is either written, during the period, when the tabernacle, was in existence, or the temple. But both of those, have the same thing. This is where God, ruled and reigned, amongst the people of God. This is where, He ruled and reigned from, and this is where, worship happened, before the Lord. So, when He's separated, from the Lord here, He can't be, worshiping, before the Lord.
And that's a very, joyous event, as the sacrifices, were being offered, there was all types, of joyful singing, before the Lord. There were instruments, like trumpets, and harps, and lyres, and tambourines, and strings, and pipes, and cymbals, and dancing. Yes, dancing. Baptists. There's this joyful, worship before the Lord, and He can't be there. We don't know, if it's because, He's on the run with David, if He's one of those, Corites, or if He's been banished, from the temple.
We don't really know, why He can't be there. But He longs, to be there, like in a barren, desert, needing, thirst, He needs, God. Which, just pause for a moment. That just gives us, that elevates the importance, of corporate worship, of what we do here, every Sunday. It is good for our souls, to be here. And we just, a lot of times, we take that for granted.
Like the inside joke, for us as pastors, is if we want to make, an announcement, it's got to be not just done, on one week. You have to do it, like multiple weeks in a row. Because we're, this is something, we're not alone in this. A lot of southern churches, struggle with this. That if you're, had a long week, or retired, or you know, coming off vacation, or whatever, it's just easy, to miss out on this. And even in our church, it's a lot easier, actually to be in a community group, and show up on, in the week, than it is on a Sunday morning.
And I want to push on that, a little bit, to say no value this time. It's good. It's good for your soul, to be amongst the people of God, worshiping Him together. So he goes on in verse 3, he says, my tears have been my food, day and night. What a vivid picture of suffering. That he's, in such mourning, he can't drink from the streams, of worship, that is before the Lord, that he's, day and night, crying.
So much so, that tears are flowing down his face, they're flowing, blubbering into his mouth. And that should expand, the category for us, and especially, men more struggle with this, generally speaking, that emotions are okay. You don't have to put your emotions, in a box, and put it up on a shelf, and never talk about it again. No, like, tears are fine, it's a healthy part of worship. Jesus, the God man, wept, when he saw Mary and Martha, mourning, when Lazarus died. We should have that, as a category of response.
I'm trying to build this, in my own son, who's four. I'm trying to help him see, listen, there are things, that we don't cry about. Alright? Not getting the right ice cream, not getting the right toilet, like, that's not, you know, yesterday was his sister's birthday, and his time's frustrated, he's not, no, no, no, it's alright. We're not gonna cry about that. There are things, you do cry about.
There are things, that you should grieve, there are things, that you should have tears for. I'm trying to build that, in himself, or build that in him. We need that, we need to grow in that. He's weeping, before the Lord. My tears have been my food, day and night, while they say to me, all the day long, where is your God? So, in the midst of, weeping, he's being taunted, with where is your God?
And I would argue, that that's more than just, the skeptical taunting, of where is your God? Because we hear that, culturally, you hear that a lot. Where is your God, when the shooting in Uvalde happened? Where is your God, when children were dying? I don't think that's what's, happening here. I think it's more personal to him.
He can't be, in the presence of God. So they're, they're poking on something, that's deeply hurtful for him. Where is your God? Oh, you can't be there, amongst your people, in the presence of God. Verse four, these things, I remember, as I pour out my soul, and then he starts to, recollect, how I would go, with a throng, throng is just, a crowd, the crowd worshiping together. 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. Oh, I remember, how I used to lead, and worship, amongst the people, with, glad shouts, and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. That's such a human, response, in the midst of suffering, to long for the good old days. Maybe that's, maybe that's for you, that's long for the days, when you were a kid, in high school, the days of college, longing for the days, when you're in this community group, with this group of people, and this time of life, this friend group. That's very natural. That's what he's doing, he's longing, for the days, when he could joyfully, worship in the presence of God.
And in verse 5, we get this refrain. So the way that this Psalm, is structured, is you've got, verses, refrain, verses, refrain. So think like, verses, chorus, verses, chorus, that's kind of how this works. Here it is, verse 5, Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you in turmoil, within me? Why am I so sad?
Why is there so much turmoil, in my soul? That is a question, that many of us will ask, in life. Why am I so sad? Why am I depressed? What's wrong with me? Why can't I feel, better?
And a lot of times, those answers, are not readily available. Last week, we looked at Psalm 55, which was, cast your cares, your burdens, your anxieties, upon the Lord, he will sustain you. And as I walked through that, can I help us, see a little bit, that anxiety is complicated. And we've taught that in the past, it's complicated. There's, there's physical things, that contribute to that. There's spiritual things, that contribute to that.
There's behavioral patterns, there's all kinds of things, that makes anxiety, a very complex subject matter. But the scriptures, say in the midst of that, it has a word for it. It has a word for us, when it says, to cast your cares, upon the Lord. The prescription is, coming to the Lord, with our anxieties. And depression, well depression is a close cousin, of anxiety. In fact, a lot of times, they come together, for some folks.
Depression and anxiety, come together. And depression is complex. It just is. There are physical things, that add to it. All the way down, to where you live, geography matters. Right?
You live in more northern parts, of the hemisphere. It's a little bit harder, when you have less sunlight. Sunlight matters. The vitamin D is, it matters. Seasonal affect, depression matters. That sometimes winter, is very hard.
There are physical things, there's chemical things, that are happening, that contribute to depression. There's behavioral patterns, that contribute to depression, and deep sadness. It's a strong correlation, between social media usage, and depression. Especially, the younger you are. There's contributing factors, that make it a very complicated, thing. It is definitely, multifactorial.
The part of the treatment, is very similar. It's coming before the Lord, with our depression. Coming before the Lord, with our sadness. That's what the psalmist, is doing here. He's deeply depressed. He's lamenting, before the Lord.
And he's asking, before the Lord, his own soul, why are you cast down? Why is the innermost part, of my being, so deeply sad, and distressed? Why is there so much, turmoil within me? Or as one songwriter, paraphrases this. He says, why so disturbed, within me? He's asking this.
These are difficult questions, to ask before the Lord. You have to, that's the question, why is he asking this, of himself, before the Lord? And it's very simply, he is acknowledging reality. He is acknowledging, his reality, before the Lord. That he, is in a desperate, depressed, sad, state. You can try to act, like you're not depressed.
Try to act, like you're not sad. You can try to grit your teeth, and get through it. Or, you can acknowledge, reality, before the Lord. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, one of the most famous, preachers, in western, history, the last 500 years. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, was, I mean, had an early ministry, from 20 all the way, until he passed away, in his mid-50s. And what some people, don't realize is, that Spurgeon, if you read about his life, was depressed, on and off, most of his life.
Most of his adult life. He struggled with depression. I mean, there are times, where he literally, he could not, muster the strength, to stand up, and proclaim the word of God. He's nicknamed, the prince of preachers. That's his nickname. That's a dope nickname, that you want, if you're a preacher.
But he, could not muster, the strength sometimes, to actually come, before the Lord, and proclaim the word of God. That there were times, that he was deeply, deeply sad. And part of it, there's multiple things, there's multiple things, that contributed to that. One of the things, that he had, was he had chronic pain. That he had, chronic gout, and kidney disease. And he had to leave London.
The doctor said, you need to leave London. So he had a place, in the south of France, where he would go, to get better weather, less harsh climate, more sunlight. That's actually where he died. Because he got away, out of London. And he just never came back, because he died there. Spurgeon, once said this, I could say with Job, and Job is an Old Testament story, where a man suffered immensely.
I could say with Job, my soul chooseth strangling, rather than life. And then he says, I could readily enough, have laid, violent hands upon myself, to escape, from my misery, of spirit. That is Spurgeon saying, that, I could have readily, harmed myself, than endure this, miserable, spiritual state. And Spurgeon, was a great man of faith. He understood, this song well. He's a great man of faith, and some people will try to reduce, depression down to, well, if you just have enough faith, you'd be joyful.
Don't you, don't you know the gospel? Don't you know how good, the news is? Just believe the gospel. And it's just not, that simple, sometimes. To muster up enough faith, to lift you out of this. Faith does not guarantee, hear this, faith does not guarantee, a permanent state of joy.
It just doesn't, not this side of the fall. It does not guarantee, a permanent state of joy. But in faith, we get to endure, through suffering, through lament. And through, hear this, a right understanding, of who God is. So when he says, why are you cast down, oh my soul, and why are you in turmoil, within me, in his next breath, he says, hope in God.
For I shall again, praise him, my salvation, and my God. In the midst of depression, he knows where his ultimate hope, is found. His hope is in the Lord. He's not able to praise God, joyfully now. That day is coming for him. He will joyfully praise God again, but it is not yet.
So that's the refrain, that's going to be repeated at the end. And then, from that position of faith, knowing who God is, he continues, my soul is cast down, within me. Therefore, I remember you, from the land of Jordan, and of Hermon, from Mount Mazar. So this is where we see, how separated he is. Okay? But he is in the land of Jordan.
He's, that's far away from Jerusalem. That's how far he is, as he's, suffering, longing to be back in Jerusalem. Longing to be, before the Lord, in his presence. And then verse 7, he says, deep calls, to deep, at the roar, of your waterfalls. All your breakers, and your waves, have gone, over me. Water is very metaphorical, throughout the scriptures, and how it's being used.
You just saw, in verse 1, like God is a stream of water, that he longs for. But the picture here changes. It's replaced with, a violent picture of water. The roar of a waterfall. Waves crashing, over him. Like the judgment waters, that crashed over, Jonah.
This is the picture, that's happening here. And I want you to hear, what he says. I want you to, he feels the pain, but I want you to acknowledge, I want you to see, what he acknowledges here. He says, your breakers, your waves, have gone over me. He's talking to God. Your breakers, your waves, have gone over me.
And that highlights, and taps into, a difficult truth, that is mysterious, and hard, to wrap our minds around, that God is sovereign, over suffering. He's sovereign, over our suffering, and our pain. People try to get around that, try to explain that away, and they'll say, no, it's actually, this is the work of the devil, that increases suffering, in our lives, or this is our own flesh, you know, our own sin, you know, results in suffering, or the world, is a fallen place, and in a fallen place, there is suffering, and all of that is true. Okay? The enemy absolutely does, increase suffering. Our sinful mistakes, absolutely do, increase suffering.
We do live in a world, that is fallen, and broken, and because of that, suffering exists, but, God is sovereign, over all of that. Which is why he says, your breakers, your waves, God has ordained for him, to suffer in that purpose. God ordained suffering, in our lives. We don't always understand why, we don't understand the purposes, the mysteries, all behind it. But don't miss that, when he says, your breakers, and your waves, are crashing over me.
And as he says, that, right, in the next breath, he says in verse 8, by day, the Lord commands, his steadfast love. And at night, his song is with me, a prayer to, the God, of my life. As he's acknowledging, the suffering, the God is sovereign, over the waves, and your breakers, are crashing, over me. You are the God, of steadfast love. And look at this, at night, his song is with me, that at night, he's worshipping God. This man loves the Lord.
He is worshipping, in the midst of his suffering. And he's pouring out, songs, and prayers. And we get a glimpse, of his prayers, in verse 9, when he says, I say, to my 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, my adversaries, taught me, while they say to me, all the day long, where is your God? He says, I say to my God, why have you forgotten me?
What a bold prayer. Why have you forgotten me? Why do you, why do you allow my enemies, to taunt me like this, in the midst of my, suffering? That almost feels dangerous, to question God like that. And it would be dangerous, if it was done from a place of arrogance, or a place of pride, if he was questioning, the character of God. But he's not doing that.
He says, you're the God of steadfast love, you are my rock. The breakers, your breakers, he understands, who God is, and the character of God. So he's not doing this, from a place of arrogance, or pride, or self-righteousness. He's doing it, from a place of deep humility. It's a legitimate plea. Spurgeon, once said that, faith is allowed, to inquire of her God, the causes, of his displeasure.
They're done from a place, of faith. faith. You can ask, God, why have you forgotten me? Why have you forgotten me? Why am I so sad? Why do I suffer, O Lord? And then he ends it in verse 5, or the repeated refrain of verse 5, shows it in verse 11.
This is the final verse. He says, 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. And that's it. There's a promise, a future joy, but it's not now.
And it is an end joyfully. It acknowledges the reality of it. There's no verse 12 that says, and everything gets awesome. This is not, it's not what happens here. It just ends. And I could expand on this Psalm, in a lot of different ways.
There's a lot of different directions, you can run with this, to deal with sadness, and loss, and depression, and suffering. I just want to, I just want to end, on one idea. You need, good theology, to help you endure, a downcast soul, in turmoil. You need, a right understanding, of who God is, and a right worship of who, of God, to endure, depression, suffering, and loss. Jerry Bridges, a pastor once said, trust is not a passive state, of mind. Faith, is not a passive state, of mind.
It is a vigorous act, of the soul, by which we choose, to lay hold, on the promises of God, and cling to them, despite the adversity, that at times, seeks to overwhelm us. He says, faith, is not a passive state, where you're passively, just believing, the promises of God, is a active, vigorous, clinging to, claiming, holding, the promises, of God, laying hold, of who he, is, and that happens, throughout this entire Psalm. Verse 2, God is the living God, verse 5, God is my salvation, verse 8, God is the God, of steadfast love, verse 9, God is my rock, verse 11, God is the God, of my salvation. This psalmist, has a healthy, understanding, of who God is.
And there is a great danger, as a Christian, being unprepared, for, suffering. There's a danger, and an over emphasis, on positivity, on faking it, until you make it. On saying, I'm fine, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good, I'm fine. And never, actually, preparing your soul, for what awaits you. If your understanding, of God, and believing in Him, is that He is going to, faith, equals, blessing, in this life. If that's the equation, of your heart, that you are setting yourself up, for failure.
You're setting yourself up, for, when that happens, the questions of God, that are not done, from a position of faith, but are done, from a position of arrogance. It says, I would not believe, in a God, who lets, this happen. I can't believe, in a God, who would let, this person die. My brother, my sister, my father, my child. I can't believe, in a God, who would allow, this type of suffering, in my life.
Psalm 22 - Lament
Transcript
Good morning. So we timed it well because some of you stayed up late and watched the fight. And we cut the air conditioning off. So, yeah, you guys will be awake the whole time. We're going to be in Psalm 22, which is page 260 in the White Bible. If you do not have a Bible, please take that home.
That is our gift to you. And, yeah, so my name is Spencer Carey. I am a not a church planning resident. I am a pastor in training here with Mill City, which is fun to say. You can celebrate that. We are excited.
I did not see this coming, but God has made it clear like we are better together. So to celebrate that, we're going to preach. We're going to go through a Psalm on sadness. We're going to be in Psalm of Lament. And so as a culture and even really as a church, like we're really bad at lamenting. Lamenting is mourning.
It's grieving. It's being sad over something. And we're bad at it. In college, my freshman year, I had a family member unexpectedly die. And I was in my dorm room, and it caught me off guard, and I was crying. And my suite mate, who's in the room next to us, heard me.
And he came over, and he said, what's wrong? And I explained what happened. And he went, ah. And I'm a hugger. Like I'm not on a scale of like Chet to Matt, like where Chet doesn't like physical touch, and Matt hugs everyone. Like I'm somewhere in the healthy middle.
But we weren't like that. We weren't that close to suite mates yet. And he kind of came in. He goes, oh, with the most awkward hug. Slowly kind of came around, and then just kind of did this thing. And then said, I'm so sorry.
And then he backed away, and he walked out. And I just was like, what in the world just happened? I was completely caught off guard. It's just because sometimes we don't know how to respond to someone who's grieving. I've also been someone who's been bad at helping someone grieve. A couple years ago in Louisville, we worked for an apartment complex ministry.
We spent time with the residents. We got to know this one family. It's this mother and father and their son. Their son was a high school football star. He went on to be a quarterback and now a wide receiver at University of Louisville. And his freshman year, the father, who actually I've gotten to know fairly well, suddenly passed away.
And so a couple months later, I just wanted to check in on the mother, and I walked over to her apartment. I did not call or text or give her a heads up. And I knocked on the door. And she opened, and she was a little confused while I was there. And I just said, how are you doing? She said, good.
Can I help you? And I was like, the church is supposed to help the widows. It just came out. And it was not comforting at all. And she very sweetly just gave me a hug and said, thank you, and shut the door. Because, I mean, we just want to fill that gap of silence sometimes, and we don't have the best things to say.
Sometimes you hear, like, empty platitudes, these sayings that don't really have a whole lot of helpful meaning. Some people will say, we know when someone dies, they'll say, you know, God, he needed another angel. And it's like, no, that's not how that works. Like, we're humans, and his other creation is angels. Like, we don't convert to being an angel. That's not how that works.
And I really miss them. Like, that's not helpful. Some people will say, not necessarily with death, but also just with the loss of a job or just tough times. People will say, you know, God will never give you any more than you can handle. And I'm like, no, it certainly feels like it's more than I can handle. And you got that from 1 Corinthians 10, 13, which is about temptation.
It's not about actually trials. Like, those are two separate things. That doesn't help me. Some people will say, everything happens for a reason. And it's like, yeah, okay. It still does not comfort me in this moment.
The other thing I see more and more, and it comes from a really good place, is that when someone dies, let's not do a funeral. Let's have a party. And I get that. I get the understanding behind that. The understanding is, is that, especially if they're a Christian, like we're celebrating, they're in the presence of Jesus. They're in a much better place.
We should celebrate that. And I understand that. And I hear that heart. But that's not how human emotions are supposed to work. That's not how we're designed to work. And that's not how Jesus responds to loss.
When you look at Lazarus, his friend. When Lazarus dies, Jesus hears about it. He is coming. Lazarus has been dead for days. He knows what he's getting ready to do. Like, he knows he's going to show his power.
He's going to raise Lazarus from the grave. So he knows how this is ending. And he shows up to the gravesite. And Mary and Martha are there, and they're crying. And what does it say? The shortest verse in the Bible.
That Jesus wept. Like, he weeps with those who weep. There's the process of grieving and being sad is important for our souls. So we're bad at lamenting alone, too. Like, some of us, our go-to is, like, we'll run to alcohol. We'll run to Valium.
Anything we can do to numb the pain. Others of us will bury grief. It's like, I just ignore it and bury it. And we know that that never works. Some of us binge on food or Netflix or video games. Whatever we can do to escape our present reality.
And our culture, largely, it avoids sadness at all costs. Like, avoid sadness and hoard happiness. That's kind of how our culture is. We don't want that kind of sadness if someone's grieving. If someone has lost a job, we get really uncomfortable. We want to hear about all the details.
If we have friends who are in a long depression, like, we want to stay away from that. If we have friends on Facebook who kind of go on Facebook and are repeatedly posting sad things, what do we do? Hide the post. Unfriend them. It's kind of our go-to. I think the makers of the movie Inside Out realized that adults are terrible at this.
That we don't have a category for sadness. So they had to make a movie to show that there's a place for that. If you haven't seen the movie, one of the whole points of the movie is that there's this little girl. And she's got the different emotions in her head. Different feelings in her head. And they tell sadness, you stay over here.
You stay in the circle. You don't move. And by the end of the movie, they realize there's actually a real place for sadness. And as a culture, we censor death. We censor loss. And when we do that, we hurt ourselves.
Because the reality is that death and loss, we live in a fallen world. That is going to come. And if we don't know how to process it well, the sting of that loss, the sting of that death will linger. And our souls. And it will do real damage to our relationship with God. It will do damage to our relationship with others.
So we, as a church, have to grow in being better mourners and being better lamenters. So we are in Psalm 22 this morning. And in this Psalm, I want us to grow in two areas. On how to individually, healthily lament before God. And how to lament with one another as the church. That's how we want to grow as we walk through Psalm 22.
So I'm going to pray. And then we're going to dive in. God, thank you for Psalms like this. That remind us that in our pain. That in our suffering. That in our loss.
You have words for us. I pray that you would let these words be helpful for our souls. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, so Psalms 22, verses 1 and 2.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me? From the words of my groaning. Oh, my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer. And by night, but I find no rest. All right, so we'll stop there.
So we've covered David's life a good bit throughout the Psalms. Because his life kind of sets up as the backdrop. And the context for many of which the Psalms are written. And as we've talked about him. We've noticed that his life was a lot of life of suffering. Like, yeah, he was a king.
And there was times of prospering. But he also was on the run for his life a lot. He was suffering pain and loss and death. And Psalm 22 is written in that context. And he starts out saying, my God, my God. Now we have to stop there.
In the Hebrew language, which is what this was originally written in. Repetition is really important. It serves as a major marker. So as the Israelites would have heard this, they would have stopped and thought about what he was saying. The reason why he stops and he says, my God, my God. Is because what we need to see is that he is lamenting from a position of faith.
He's lamenting from a position of faith. In the midst of loss, David still has faith. You are still my God. So I want us to see that all healthy lamenting is done from a position of faith. And we see that in David's life. And we also see that in the story of Job.
Job is one of the books that's the most helpful books that we have in the Bible on suffering. If you haven't read that book, it's a longer book in the Old Testament. It's one of the oldest stories in the Old Testament. And it's about a man named Job. And Job has a lot. His life is prosperous.
He has a large family. He has lots of money. He has lots of land. He has great health. Everything's going well for Job. And he also loves God.
And then Satan comes along and he talks to God. And he says, you know, the only reason that job loves you, the only reason he has faith in you, is because you've given him all this stuff. If you took all that stuff away, he'd curse you. And God, knowing Job's heart, says, no, that's not what would happen. And in a very uncomfortable reading as we read through it, God says, okay, you can take everything away except for his life. So Job's life immediately starts to fall apart.
His children die. He loses all of his money. He starts suffering. His health starts deteriorating. And he's falling apart. And that's like the first part of the book.
And then the rest of the book, most of the book, is about Job's three friends. They come and they give three speeches. And they're long. And basically, to summarize them, they're kind of this, you must have done something wrong and God's punishing you for it. Some kind of weird God-controlled karma. You earn this.
And Job, as he's listening to these speeches, like he missteps. He missteps. He gets a little arrogant. He questions God's character. But what's beautiful about this story is that his faith doesn't change.
And one of the most beautiful passages in all of the scriptures, Job 13, 15, Job says this. He says, though he slay me. He's talking to God. Though he slay me, I will hope in him. Like that's the position of his heart. And it doesn't change.
And at the end of the book, like God corrects him on his arrogance. But his faith never changes. And God restores his family, his wealth. And he lives a long life that comes out of that. And what we see from Job's story and what's helpful for us for understanding Psalm 22 and lamenting is that God does ordain suffering. Like he allows suffering for a purpose.
I mean, he's the sovereign king of the universe. Like if he wanted to stop a hurricane of pain from happening in your life, if you want to stop Hurricane Harvey from happening, he would. But he doesn't. And we don't always get to know those purposes. Most of the time we don't get to know the purposes behind it. And David is in that context as he's lamenting.
He says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Where are you? Like, why are you far from me? I mean, I'm crying out to you day and night. And all I hear is silence. And I understand David's situation.
We've got to jump down a little bit to verses 12 through 15. I understand what David is going through. In verse 12, he says, As many bulls encompass me, they open wide their mouths at me like a ravening and roaring lion. And the picture here is poetic. He has enemies that are like bulls that are ready to destroy him. And some of us, like we feel like we can relate to that.
Like some of you may have work situations where you feel like every day you go into work, you've got enemies that are ready to take you down, ready to ruin your reputation, ready to move in front of you, ready to take your livelihood. I had a friend in Louisville. He was in the dermatology program at the University of Louisville. It's one of the most competitive programs in the country. And he'd come to a community group every week. And I'd say, man, how was your week?
And he said, it was awful. It's awful. Every single day is awful. Because everyone's positioning. Everyone's trying to sabotage one another. Everyone's trying to move ahead so they can get the next fellowship so they can move on and advance past you.
And some of you, like you feel that. Every day you go into work, you feel like there's enemies that are surrounding you. Some of you feel like that with your families. Like there's people trying to rip your family apart, trying to tear your lives apart. So we can relate to David when he says this.
He keeps going in verse 14. He says, I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. And the picture here is that David is physically suffering. Which makes sense. I mean, he spent most of his life in battle. Like his body is probably starting to fall apart.
And I can relate to this in a small way. I have regular back and neck problems. Like you saw Chet bring this up. I had to come over and say, dude, my back is starting to tense up. When we brought this over here earlier, I was like, oh. I felt it tightened up a little bit.
Because I regularly have back and neck problems. I had a violent wreck in high school where I flipped a truck on top of me. And ever since then, by God's grace, I survived. That was like a really, I think the survival rate on that wreck is like 1%. But since then, ever since then, I've had back and neck problems.
I mean, every couple months, I'm having to do some rehab. I'm having to get some shots. And it's painful. And as I've been here with you guys the last year, my suffering does not hold a camel to what some of you have walked through. Some of the physical suffering that I've seen in our church. And we're often left wondering, like, why am I suffering like this?
Why is it that I'm continually, I can't, like, God, you could make me better. Why am I suffering like this? And David keeps going in verse 15. He says, my strength is dried up like a pot shared. That's a broken, dried up piece of pottery. So my strength is dried up like a pot shared.
And my tongue sticks to my jaws. And the picture here is that he's starving and he's thirsting to death. And we have stories of David that show that. That on the run for his life, he's starving and he's thirsting. And we can't relate to that as much because we're Americans. And, like, we have an abundance of food.
McDonald's is, like, five miles away at any given time. And you've got a dollar menu. You can go buy food like that. We can't relate to that one-to-one. But we can kind of relate to the financial provisions part of it.
The God providing for us daily bread. I mean, some of us, I mean, I feel like when we build up a little bit of savings, it's like we take two steps forward. And then, like, three steps back, we have a medical bill that comes. Or we have a car that breaks down. And some of you feel like that. You can't ever get over the hump.
I was talking to somebody a couple years ago, and he had made a mistake 15 years ago and was still paying for it. And still financially paying for it. And he looked at me and he said, when is God going to relent? Like, when am I going to get over this? And I just looked at him and I said, I don't know. I don't know.
So we can relate to David's suffering. We can relate to what he's saying here. All healthy lamentsing is done from a position of faith. Like, that idea, we have to hold that central. But lamenting is also airing out, making known, revealing your sufferings before God.
That's airing out your sufferings before God. And we, as we do this, we need to be careful here. Like, we need to be careful because we can air like Job. We can mess up like Job and we can come at it to God from a position of arrogance and pride. And that's not what this is supposed to be. The tone of lamenting is not arrogantly questioning God for our suffering.
It's airing out our sufferings from a position of faith. But here's the deal. We're still called to, like the psalmist, to air out our sufferings before God. And that takes some honesty. I mean, and here's a little bit of the freedom we have here. Like, God knows your heart.
Like, if you're questioning God arrogantly in your heart, like, He knows the thoughts you're going to have before you have them. He knows what's going on there. So we need to ask God to change our heart to help us repent of that. But we need to be honest with God. And if you're like me and you feel a little bit uncomfortable with doing this, just take a Psalm of lament like Psalm 22. Read and pray through it.
And air out your sufferings alongside the psalmist. So, from a position of faith, airing out our sufferings. And then we get to see David's, what he's facing here. As he's facing it, how he remembers God's past presence in Israel. In verses 3 through 5, he says, In the midst of his lamenting, David is remembering who he is and who he comes in the line of. He's remembering the fathers of Israel.
So, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David is an anointed king. He's following in that path. He's remembering his identity. That he's a chosen son of God. That he's a chosen king. So, likewise, in the midst of our lamenting, we have to remember our identity.
That we are sons and daughters of God. Now, we're going to touch more on this next week as we close out the Psalm series. Remembering God's work in our lives. But it's important for us in lamenting here to remember this. To remember that if you believe the gospel. Like if you've trusted in Christ as your only hope.
That God finds favor upon you. That, hear this, God loves you. That he loves you. In the midst of our lamenting, we can remember that. Even when it doesn't feel like it. When our situations may seem like that isn't true.
God still loves us. And David, he kind of messily works through this. In verse 6, he says, he goes back. But I'm a worm and not a man. Scorned by mankind and despised by the people. I mean, that's how he feels.
He doesn't even feel like a man. He feels like a worm. Despised by others. And then he keeps going and showing how others are questioning his identity. In verse 7 through 8, he says, Here's what they say. He trusts in the Lord.
David trusts in the Lord. Let him deliver him. Let God rescue him. For God delights in David. So they mock him.
Yes, some things, some things never change. Like David, he hears that. That false understanding that if you're loved by God, suffering won't come. He hears that from others. And some of us, man, we'll hear that from others. We'll hear that from our own flesh.
Just kind of saying, does God really love me? In the midst of all this, really? Does he love me? Some of us are going to hear that from our enemy, from Satan and his band of demons. Are going to whisper in our ear, causing us to question, does God really love you? In the midst of your suffering?
It sure doesn't look like it. And we're going to hear those type of lies and hear those type of doubts. And like David, we should respond with truth. He picks it up in verse 9 through 11. He says, Yet you are he who took me from the womb. You made me trust you at my mother's breast.
On you was I cast from my birth. And from my mother's womb you have been my God. Be not far from me. For trouble is near and there is none to help. So David, he hears the lies and he responds in truth.
He's remembering truth in his lamenting. That God has found favor on David in a unique situation. He's found favor on David since his birth. And out of this truth, he calls upon the Lord. And he says, Be not far from me. For trouble is near.
And in our grieving and our lamenting, we are going to face doubts like David. And we have to respond with truth. Respond with the truth of the gospel. If we can learn to individually lament before God from a position of faith. Airing out our sufferings before God. Remembering our identity as sons and daughters of God.
And responding to doubts and lies with truth. We can grow in being healthy lamenters. Like God can equip us when suffering comes. And suffering is going to come. In college, when I had a family member die, My response was not good. Like I immediately was frustrated and angry.
And my immediate thought was, Why, God? I mean, don't... I thought you loved... Like what's... I was mad. And I started questioning God's goodness and His character.
And I didn't have a good category for how to air out sufferings from a position of faith. And I was having trouble remembering my identity as a son of God. And I did not do well in responding to the lies with truth. And in the years that followed after that, I realized like that cannot be the pattern for how I lament loss. That can't... Like I'm...
That's going to do damage. So over the years, Like I was trying to grow and mourning the smaller losses. And lamenting the smaller losses. And trying to be more faithful throughout that. So I could grow and be prepared.
Because the reality is we live in a fallen world. We live in a broken world. And suffering is going to come. And it came for us in a big way last summer. Last summer, we're getting ready to move down here. And we're excited.
We're getting ready to church plant. But even more than that, We're excited because Anna, my wife, was pregnant. And we were really excited. And we didn't want to see a doctor while we were in Louisville. Because we're getting ready to move. So we waited some time.
We moved down here. We tell our friends. We tell our family. And then eventually we find a doctor down here. So we go to see the doctor.
And we're excited. It's the first sonogram appointment. And the sonogram tech starts to do her work. And she finds the heartbeat. And it was really, really dim. And immediately, my wife picks up on something's very, very wrong.
I'm a little bit slower. And the nurse finally says, Have you had trouble in previous pregnancies? And that hit me like a ton of bricks. Because we didn't have a history of that in our family on either side. And it hit us. And there was a painful silence for the rest of that ultrasound.
And then she gets up. And she says, The doctor will see you when you're ready. And we are scared. And I just take Anna's hand. And I just start praying. I'm like, God.
You're sovereign. You're the king of the universe. You can save our child. I put a ton of hope in that heartbeat. I was like, you can save our child. But whatever happens, God, just be with us.
Help us get through this. And then the doctor comes. And she's just honest with us. She said, listen, based on what we're seeing, you're going to miscarry in the next couple of weeks.