Psalm 42 is a master class on how we never deny the reality of painful circumstances, yet be full of faith. Remember faith doesn’t eliminate fear, hope doesn’t ignore despair and trust doesn’t avoid trials. The language of the bible is not “if” but “when”!

Today, a major theme in the scripture is spiritual discouragement. It speaks to those who, from time to time, will go through difficulties and seasons of discouragement. My goal this morning, is to help you see, you can bring everything you are experiencing before God, naming it as the Psalmist did, and come to a place of hope, of joy, and of praise to God. Let’s meet with the living God this morning.

(READ Psalm 42)

Call it what you will, the person who wrote Psalm 42 is clearly struggling.

This is not someone saying casually in the hallway “I’m all good” when actually things are very tough. This person is struggling spiritually. Some of us will know what that’s like. The reality is our spiritual vibrancy and zest for worship is completely drained from us, and God feels distant. Quiet times are a hard slog. Prayer feels empty. Psalm 42 gives us a way of being near to God and present with God in difficult times. Psalm 42 gives us ways of navigating our way through spiritual discouragement.

So in these few moments I want to:

• Give an overview of Psalm 42
• Show you what the Psalmist was feeling?
• Learn 6 ways we can face spiritual discouragement.
  • Let’s meet with the living God.

OVERVIEW

Psalm 42 is a song of the Sons of Korah[1], people responsible for leading worship for God’s people.  

2 Chron. 20:19, 21 Then the Levites from the clans of Kohath and Korah stood to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud shout….²¹ After consulting the people, the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the Lord and praising him for his holy splendour. This is what they sang: “Give thanks to the Lord; his faithful love endures forever!”

We see from 2 Chron. 20. these were not people just making up the numbers, they were out front, leading on the front lines of battle.  Meaning worship, is not a side-line activity, worship is a spiritual weapon. Now that is crucial when it comes to the theme of Psalm 42.

What was the Psalmist experiencing?

He’s facing Taunting in Vv.3 and 10.

1. [3] …“Where is this God of yours?
   1. The taunting is “continual…” and it is a physical dominating, ungodly, oppressive presence, with a loud convincing voice. And it is a presence that is working hard to force him to believe that God has abandoned him, and to create doubt in God
      1. “It’s as if that opposition is saying – If this God of yours is real, why isn’t this God of yours lifting you out of this?”
   2. Such was the weight of the oppression, the psalmist felt emotionally spent – v. 9 why must I I wander around in grief – and, physically crushed by their words – v.10 Their taunts break my bones
2. The world we live in today stands ready to taunt and oppress believers. In many places abroad we see this in the persecution of Christians. Here, in subtler forms, but just as grieving, crushing and oppressive, particularly with pressure on the church to become increasingly liberal[2].

Inner condition

1. Weeping
   1. We see in 3 he is discouraged to the point where his weeping lasts day and night and his tears are like food
2. Heart break…
   1. In 4 his heart is broken because he longs for past experiences of worship. He feels detached, and knows the importance of gathering for worship, because it’s there he meets God. And he knows what that does for his soul. So he mourns the absence of joy and fellowship with other believers.
3. Discouragement
   1. In 5, 6 & 11 three times the word discouraged.
      1. In v.6 “deep discouragement” Because of oppression, and things others are saying. He mourns the absence of corporate worship. And he feels so distant from God, it’s like the geographical distance between Hermon, Jordan, Mount Mizar, and Jerusalem 200kms south, where the temple was.
      2. The Psalmists deep discouragement also felt like; being completely engulfed by difficulties and oppression.
         1. That’s the picture of v.7 I hear the tumult of the raging seas as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.
         2. Picture swimming in a rough ocean with huge waves knocking and flipping you over like you’re in a washing machine.
         3. The Psalmist says, “God, its so painful, I feel like I’m drowning…”
      3. Why is the Psalmist asking why?
         1. Why discouraged? Why sad…
            1. Is it because he thinks that someone who believes in God shouldn’t be discouraged? Is it because he believes in God but there are things at war against him making life difficult and worship hard? What he does know, is that he has to fight and cling to hope in the only one who can help him, God!
         2. Discouragement is a real thing. If our thinking is that Christians should never be discouraged, Psalm 42 disproves this.
            1. And think of David – Ps. 6 My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long? …All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.
               1. Elijah the spiritual giant ran for his life from Queen Jezebel in the desert, he said, “It is enough! O Lord, take my life”!
               2. Charles Spurgeon, shocked his listeners when he said in a sermon: “I am the subject of depressions of spirit so fearful that I hope none of you ever get to such extremes of wretchedness as I go to.”[3]
            2. Discouragement is a real thing.
               1. When we are discouraged, grieving, sad, broken and we have our “why” questions what do we do with that?
               2. Why am I going through this? Why do you feel distant God? Why do I have to put up with these people? Why do I have this illness and you don’t appear to be healing me? It feels like were in the churn of Gods ocean.

If we’re being honest before God this morning, we’ve all been in this place. Perhaps even today we’re facing one or more of the things the Psalmist was experiencing. I faced all of these several years ago. I’ve felt this when Karyn needed to finish midwifery very suddenly – that was a dark time. You might feel this when no one calls or visits you or seems to care about you. You might feel this if you’re in a workplace where you’re the only Christian. You might feel this when the future of your physical health is uncertain…

That leaves you feeling spiritually discouraged. You feel that, but let me tell you, God has not abandoned you.

Listen, the people of Israel felt this to, but in Isa. 49:14-16, we read “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

Whatever we are facing, God, has not forgotten us! The reason he was asking why is because[4] deep down he knew God is good and God is faithful. For everything the Psalmist was feeling he never lost sight of God, fighting hard to hold onto hope. He’s fighting for hope at the end of this Psalm and he is still fighting at the end of the next Psalm, 43![5]

Here’s 6 ways of facing spiritual discouragement and/or difficult seasons in our lives

1. We Long For God (v.1)
   1. [1] As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.
      1. This is NOT that nice little picture on a Gift Card of a healthy deer, frolicking through grassy meadows with monarch butterflies fluttering…
      2. The picture here is of a deer in a drought, desperately seeking water.

• The Psalmist is saying in the same way the deer longs for water, he longs for the presence of God.

1. Spurgeon said: the enjoyment of communion with God was an urgent need of his soul; he viewed it not merely as the sweetest of all luxuries, but as an absolute necessity, like water to a stag.

Like the parched traveller in the wilderness, whose skin bottle is empty, and who finds the wells dry, he must drink or die – he must have his God or faint.

1. His soul, his very self, his deepest life, was insatiable for a sense of the divine presence.[6]

1. Not many of us would go a day, or even a week without a good meal, or water. Yet do we feed our soul? The point of Psalm 42:1 is that we are active and intentional about craving for God, feeding on God and his presence…
   1. 2ndly…
2. We Thirst for God (v.2)
   1. [2] I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him?
      1. Matt. 5:6 Blessed are those hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled
      2. Longing and thirsting for God and being in the presence of the living God is HOW we equip ourselves and fight against discouragement friends. [7]

• …meaning, the hardest times, when we see ourselves slipping into a space of discouragement are when we need to prioritise time with God, on our faces more in prayer.

1. One writer I read said: This is no mindless meditation, a closing of the eyes or a passive twiddling of the thumbs.[8].
   1. We have to fight!

3. We Remember God (Vv. 4 & 6)
   1. [4] My heart is breaking as I remember how it used to be: I walked among the crowds of worshipers, leading a great procession to the house of God, singing for joy and giving thanks amid the sound of a great celebration! … [6] …Now I am deeply discouraged, but I will remember you
      1. Psalm 77 …I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago. They are constantly in my thoughts. I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works. O God, your ways are holy. Is there any god as mighty as you?

1. One of the greatest things you can do in seasons of discouragement is recall times of answered prayer, times where God has met your needs in the past, times where you know you met with God and, times of wonderful praise and worship with other believers.

• Folks that we might grasp the importance of corporate worship. It grieves me and I believe God, the low value many place on gathering for worship.
  1. Why has gathering lost value? Why isn’t this a high priority? Can we see that despite whatever personal expectations we may have, that we’re all broken sinful people, who need each other? Our souls / need worship, together.

1. In worship, together we remember God. Think of the Lords table; what do we do? We remember – perhaps the most important remembering – what Jesus has done for us. Worship together is faith building, I hope?!
2. The Bible also says in Lamentations 3:20-23 I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.
   1. There is power in remembrance!
3. I love the story about Martin Luther. For several weeks he looked glum and moped around the house and just said negative things. One day his wife Katie, came out of her room dressed all in black. You didn’t wear black then because it was fashionable, you wore black because you were going to a funeral. Out she comes in her black dress and Martin Luther says, “Katie, who died”? And she said, “God is dead”. And he said, “What on earth do you mean”? She said, “I’ve been looking at your life the last few weeks. It must only mean that you believe God is dead. By your attitude around the house, God is dead”. Well, that shook him to the core. It is said that Luther wrote a single Latin word, vivit, which means “he lives,” and placed it in his study, so every day he’d walk by it and remember the truth that “God lives” [9]
4. We Hope in God (Vv.5 & 11)
   1. 5] Why am I discouraged? I will put my hope in God!
   2. Discouragement is managed by accepting God often doesn’t give us the answer we want, but his answer is always “I’m with you”. His answer to your “why”, is “trust me that I have your back” His answer to your why is “I’ve got you!”
      1. Our answer to our why is “I will put my hope in God”. It’s the message we preach to self!
         1. I can’t tell you how many times in my Christian journey I’ve prayed these very words, proclaimed these words over my life, into my soul. “Put your hope in God, Ross”.
         2. As Karyn has faced many seasons of illness “put your hope in God, Ross”. When things were desperate for us financially, “put your hope in God, Ross”
            1. We’ve got to fight for hope…!
         3. Hope does not eliminate human feeling and emotion. Hope doesn’t remove us from the reality of pain. Hope never ignores or makes light of discouragement and despair. Hope, knows how to find God. Hope knows how to move toward God and meet with the living God in the middle of discouragement. Hope means discouragement and despair never pull us away from God; they drive us toward him.
            1. Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise[10]. 

5. We Sing Gods word
   1. Do you see this in v.8[11]? Even in the churning waves of discouragement, somehow – like a man being rescued from flood waters – he is able to grab a hold of the lifeline of God’s love. “He loves me!”[12]
   2. Then the love that’s being poured on him in the day, turns to songs of prayer to God in the night.
      1. “God your steadfast love never ceases; your mercies never end…”
         1. No, it’s not easy, singing Gods word is powerful, it tethers/anchors our souls to God in the middle of discouragement[13].
      2. This last point gathers the other 5 up… these (point) all praise God.
   3. We PRAISE him (Vv. 5 & 11)
      1. …I will praise him again— my Savior and my God!
         1. Remember where we started? The sons of Korah were worship leaders, out front, leading the people into battle, with praise.
         2. Why is praise important? Praise shifts our focus from me, to him. Praise affirms the goodness and greatness of God over whatever we’re facing. Praise is our declaration that says I believe in the power of God and that he cares for me.
            1. Psalm 34:1 supports this, I will praise the Lordat all times, I will constantly speak his praises.

Hope, and Praise of God is what carried Tobymac when his son Truett died of a drug overdose Oct 2019. Listen to this:

SONG[14]

But when my world broke into pieces, you were there faithfully
When I cried out to You, Jesus, you made a way for me
I may never be the same man, but I’m a man who still believes
When I cried out to You, Jesus, you were there faithfully[15]

(play song… TobyMac – Faithfully (Single Version)   

Everyone here is navigating different pain, discouragement and despair. Will we allow Psalm 42 to help us meet with the living God? Don’t suppress discouragement let it draw you deeper toward Christ – long for him, thirst for him, remember him, hope in him, sing to him and praise him!

Why should you do this? Because we know on this side of the cross, who the greatest ground for our hope is: Jesus, who bore everything, including discouragement, so that we can stand victorious and know hope in the face of any trial.

Heb. 4:14-16 14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

Bring everything you are experiencing before God, naming it as the Psalmist did, and come to a place of hope, of joy, and of praise to God, and meet with the living God.

[1] …S.O.K wrote 11 Psalms: 42, 44–49, 84–85, 87–88

[2] Sometimes that ‘taunt’ comes from within too. Taunts of guilt and shame…

[3] https://www.keepbelieving.com/sermon/longing-for-the-lord/

[4] Though desperately struggling

[5] Psalm 43:5 Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and my God!

[6] Adapted from: Sam Storms: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma > Preaching to your Soul (Psalms 42-43)

[7] I’m not talking about trying to read a verse of scripture while you’re making toast, cooking eggs and pouring coffee in the morning. Longing and thirsting, is on our knees or our faces for enough time that we know we’ve met with the living God. That we are satisfied He knows I long for him and that I need him. My life depends on him.

[8] Sam Storms: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma > Preaching to your Soul (Psalms 42-43)

[9]Adapted from:  Skip Heitzig – Radioactive (Psalms 42-43) » Watch Online Sermons 2025

[10] Rom. 15:13 – May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

[11] But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life

[12] Psalm 139:7-10 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? ⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there ⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, ¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

[13]  Heb. 6:19 This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls.

[14] TobyMac – Faithfully (Single Version)

[15] https://www.bing.com/search?pglt=41&q=toby+mac+faithfully+lyrics&cvid=c90ab92587e64048982c1f40959877