Psalm 42. While you’re turning there, I want to sing a song. Not because I can sing by any means, but I think this song goes right along with the message tonight. And I love this song. If you know it, you can help me sing it, okay? So it won’t be quite as bad on your ears if you drown me out. The song is called Does Jesus Care? On page 89.
Does Jesus care when my heart is paint too deeply form as the burdens press and the cares distress and the way grows weary and long I like the answer, don’t you? Oh, yes, he cares I know he cares his heart is touched with my grief when the days are weary the long night’s dreary I know my Savior cares does Jesus care when my way is dark with a nameless dread and fear as the daylight fades into deep night shades does he care enough to be near? Oh, yes he cares I know he cares his heart is touched with my grief when the days are weary the long night’s dreary I know my Savior cares does Jesus care when I’ve said goodbye to the dearest on earth to me? And my sad heart aches till it nearly breaks is it ought to Him? Does he see? Sing it if you know it. Oh, yes he cares I know he cares his heart is touched with my grief when the days are weary the long night’s dreary I know my Savior cares
That’s a good song, isn’t it? The song has been on my mind and my heart for a while and I like that song. Psalm song 42. Let me turn my microphone on.
Okay. I think we’re on, brother Jake. What to do in life’s trying times. I think we’ve visited this song before and we’re going to read through it and look at it. It says, to the chief musician Mascul for the sons of Korra. And the best that we know that term, mascul. It’s a psalm for instruction, something to instruct us in. And there are seasons in life where we all get down. I don’t know if you’ve been there recently, but we get discouraged, we get disappointed. We may feel like we’ve been defeated. This is just a down season of life, and winter time seems to be the hardest on it. The spring flowers are gone, the summer grass is gone, the leaves are gone. And until there’s snow, there’s no life out there. I love snow. It just kind of blankets everything in a picturesque blanket of white. But I know it’s hard to drive in and many of you that have to get out in it don’t appreciate it. Brother Robert loves snow. He gets to stay home on those days and have to go in to work for that. But I know sometimes in our life we go through seasons and sometimes we’re on the mountaintop, other times we’re in the valley and there are down seasons in life, just like there are seasons in the year. And it may just be weariness from the journey. We get tired going through this life. It could be from doubts and fears. We’re going to see this psalmist. Whoever it was that wrote this went through the same experience. And there are some that many believe that David wrote it. It doesn’t say so in our Bible. One individual, John Phillips, thinks that it was written by King. Hezekiah could be. I tend to think it was maybe King David because we’ll see some expressions here. But either way it’s a psalmist that we can relate to because it was given by inspiration of God. Amen. And all scriptures given by inspiration of God, and it’s profitable for us. So we’ll pray, then we’ll get into it. Am I too loud out there? Okay, it’s loud up here, so I just didn’t know I’m too loud for me up here. All right, let’s pray. Heavenly Father, lord, thank you for your word. And Lord, thank you for caring for our souls. And Lord, I know we all go through seasons in life and it seems like right now there are many any burdens on our heart. So Lord, would you help us to find the help and the strength that we need in Jesus name? Amen. It’s a psalm of help after deep despair. Spurgeon says this it is a cry of a man far removed from the outward ordinances and worship of God, sighing for the long loved house of his God. And at the same time, it is the voice of a spiritual believer under depressions, longing for the renewal of the divine presence, struggling with doubts and fears, but yet holding his ground by faith in the living God. And my wife says, I write long sentences, amen. But Spurgeon said, and I believe this, the theme of it, it’s a spiritual believer under depressions, longing for the presence of God, struggling with doubts and fears, yet his faith stands firm in his God. So we’re going to read it, we’re going to look at it, and then we’ll get into it. As the heart paneth after the Waterbrooks, so panth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, where is thy God? It’s amazing, just that verse itself. He said, I’ve been so heartbroken that I can’t eat what has been my meat has been my tears. I’ve been fasting, I’ve been crying from a broken heart. And the enemies are saying, where is thy God? Verse four. When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me. For I had gone with the multitude. I went with them to the house of God with a voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holy day. Why art thou cast down on my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God. Right. There’s our answer. Hope thou in God. I’ve got that underlined in my Bible. For I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. Oh, my God. He’s my god. And he’s your god. Let’s claim that he is my God. My soul is cast down within me. Therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of the Hermannites from the hill miser. Deep calls unto deep at the noise of thy water spouse all thy ways and thou billows are gone over me. Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime and in the night his song shall be with me. In my prayer unto the God of my life I will say unto God my rock why hast thou forgotten me? Why go out mourning? Because of the oppression of the enemy. As with a sword in my bones my enemies reproach me while they say daily unto me where is thy God? Why art thou cast down on my soul? And why art thou IST quite within thee? Again, hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. While we’re here, let’s just read Psalm 43. Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust men for thou art the God of my strength. Why DOST thou cast me off? Why go out mourning because of the oppression of the enemy. O send out thy life and thy truth. Let them lead me, let them bring me unto thy holy heel, unto thy tabernacles then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy. Yea, upon the heart will I praise thee, O God, my God. This should be familiar. Why art thou cast down on my soul and wiret? Thou is crowded within me. Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance in my God. Three times in these two psalms he asks the question why art Thou cast down on my soul and wireth? Thou disquiet within me. Three times he gives the answer hope thou in God. When we get depressed and discouraged, just down weary our hope still is in the same place it’s always been. And that’s in God. Hope in God there is a natural season, a natural time of life. When we go through things like this, I think of Moses. He got discouraged, didn’t he? A man that God greatly used. I’m sure Joshua got discouraged. Abraham had tons of discouragement. Elijah, the great prophet Elijah who called down fire from heaven, he got discouraged. And God had to come to him and said elijah, what are you doing here? Why are you here? He said, I’m the only one left that’s serving you. God had to remind him, hey, there’s 7000 that have not yet bound a knee to bail. He said, Why don’t you go? I’ve got a job for you still to do. There are going to be attacks from the enemy. Saint Corinthians Ten, verse three says, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Our enemies are spiritual enemies. And let me tell you this, if you are a born again child of God, you have enemies out there, the devil that’s trying to destroy your life and he will use every situation he can to get a foothold. And you know what one of his main attacks is? To have you cause you to doubt God’s care for you. He’s done that to me over and over again. I’m sure he’s done that to you over and over again. He brought doubt to Eve about is that really what God said? Half God said, he said, well, he really don’t care about you. He don’t want you to be as wise as he is. He’s lying to him, lying to her and adding words to what God has spoken. But at the heart of it that’s his favorite attack is to have you doubt God’s care, God’s faithfulness. Because if he can make your faith waiver, then he’s got you. The Bible says in one John five four, whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. And this is a victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. So our faith in God helped us overcome the trials in this life. So no wonder he wants to disrupt our faith. If he can disrupt our faith, he can discourage us. There are plenty of people that are out of church of seeing Him because they’re discouraged. The devil has attacked their faith in God. They don’t understand why things have happened to him and there might be question why things have happened to him. He’s going to come after you too. Look at verse number three. The question that the enemy asks this psalmist, we’re going to call him David. If it’s not David, I apologize. Whoever wrote it, we’re going to call him David. He says, Why are they continually saying to me, where is thy God? They’re saying, where’s God? If God cares, where is he? Where is God in this situation? And he’s going to get the answer to that later. Just because God cannot be seen or felt does not mean that God is not near and God’s not here with us. Hold your place here. Turn with me to Matthew, chapter 27. Matthew 27 41.
Once you noticed somebody else that was ridiculed received that same question more or less. Verse 41 likewise also the chief priest mocking him, saying with the scribes and elders said he saved others himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him. He trusted in God. Let him deliver him now if he will have him. For he said, I am the son of God. Now who are they talking about? Jesus on the cross of Calvary as they walk by, you know what they’re saying? He’s saying you believed in God. Where is God? Where is your God? If you say you are who you say you are, where is God? They said the same thing to Jesus, and no doubt the devil was behind that attack. He likes to attack our faith in God’s care. He attacks our faith in God’s ability. If God cares, why hasn’t he done something? Is he able to do something? We just say God does care and God is able to meet our needs. But God has a plan. And that’s the third area, I think, with the devil attacks. Now. What’s God doing anyway? But it’s important for us to keep trusting in God. Hope thou in God. The psalmist recognizes this. Your faith is pleasing to God and only overcomes the world, but it’s pleasing to God. Bible says that without faith, it’s impossible to please Him. Pray that comes to God and us believe that he is that he is a reward of them to diligently seek Him. And also it helps us see past our circumstances, see beyond and see that God is working things out for his glory and our good. Romans 828. It’s still in the Bible equipment to defeat the devil’s attacks, I think is found in Ephesians six. There’s the armor of God, but in it it talks about the word of God. Prayer, the shield of faith is listed as well. So what are you getting at, Brother Eric? I’m saying when we get to this point, let’s not lose our faith, our confidence, our trust in the living God. There’s a purpose and there’s a plan. So though we may be through this season of trial or this discouragement, we don’t understand everything that’s going on. God still has a plan and a purpose and he’s going to work it out. Just trust in him. As Scripture says. Hope thou in God. Our hope is a living hope. I’m thankful for that. Bible says we have a lively hope because we have a living Savior and he is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Don’t lose sight of God’s care, God’s ability. Exodus, chapter number three. You don’t have to turn it. I’ll turn there real fast. You can turn there to check me if you want, but Exodus chapter three, verse seven, it says and the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people. But let me broad quoted this one night in camp meeting. I’ve seen the affliction of my people return to Egypt and have heard their crime by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. He not only sees our need, he hears our need. He knows our need. Verse eight and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, to bring them up out of that land, into a good land and a large he’s come down to deliver. Our deliverance may not be right away, right when we want to want it to happen, but it’s coming, and it’s coming at a purpose, at a purposeful time and a purposeful ending. So don’t lose sight of God’s design and purpose. I like what Psalm three said. Well, I promise we’ll get to Psalm 42 in just a minute. I like what Psalm three says. It says, I cried on the Lord with my voice and he heard me out of his holy hill sela. I laid me down and slept. I awaked, for the Lord sustained me. He said, there’s enemies all around me. But I went down, I slept. God kept me safe. God sustained me. Psalm 55, I think it’s verse 22. Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. I looked up the word sustain in the dictionary. Are you ready for it? This is exciting to me. God said he will sustain us. So what does sustain means? We get an idea what it means. Well, here’s what it means in the according to the dictionary to bear, to uphold as a foundation sustains the superstructure so it’s rock solid. We’ve got a good foundation, only number two, to hold, to keep from falling as a rope. Sustains await. I like that definition too, don’t you? Jesus keeps me from falling from faltering when I feel like I’m going to fail. I can’t live the Christian life the way I ought to live. Jesus sustains me. He keeps me from falling if I depend upon him and trust him to support, to keep from seeking into spontaneous. That’s definition number three. God does that too, to maintain, to keep alive, as in Nehemiah 921. Yea, 40 years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness. God does that sustaining too. He keeps us alive. He’s going to provide Jimmy with more deer meat if that’s what they need to make it through this winter. And Jimmy says, hey, man, that’s what I need. Number five. To support in any condition, by aid, to assist or relieve. Number six to bear, to endure without failing or yielding. Can I just say God never fails, god never yields. He is faithful to perform that which he has promised. Amen. Number seven to suffer, to bear, to undergo. I’m glad he’s my undergirding. He is supporting and sustaining me. The last definition in music, if you’re musically inclined to continue as the sound of notes through their whole length. I like that definition too, don’t you? You know, when you sustain a note on the keyboard, there’s a button on the pedal. So they tell me. It’s not for gas, it’s not for go. It means you press it and you let go of the key and that note will be sustained. It will continue. You know what God does for us? He helps us to continue through the whole duration. That’s pretty good, isn’t it? I like that. I like that. God sustains us. Don’t lose sight of God’s sustaining grace. Don’t quit. Our help comes from God. Despair comes when our soul look at verse number one. We’re back in Psalm 42. Now you ready? Our soul falls into despair when we get away or we lose sight of the presence of God. John said he would never leave us nor forsake us, right? He also said in John Ten my sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all. No man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. We aren’t going to be plucked out of the Lord’s hand or out of the Father’s hand. We’re with the Lord forever. But sometimes you have to admit, if you’ve lived this Christian life, any length of time, that communion with God, that fellowship with God, it doesn’t seem to be as close as it once was. Something may have happened. Maybe you’re in, just discouraged, you’re weary with the journey, and it’s not what it used to be. And that’s normal through this life. But we don’t have to stay there. We don’t have to get our roots dug down in the village of Despair, the valley of Despair, whatever you want to call it. He said, as the heart paint after the waterbrook soul panthe, my soul after the old gods. And I’m missing that communion. I’m missing that fellowship that I once had. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God. Then he says, when shall I come and appear before God? It’s like Joke said. I looked at my right hand, I looked to my left, I tried to find God wherever he was. We don’t have to worry about losing our salvation. But in that sweet, when that communion is there with the Lord, you remember those times. And sometimes it’s in the deepest, darkest valleys that we go through that our communion with the Lord is the greatest, is the sweetest, and God will help us with that. He said verse three. My tears have been my meat. If I just knew that God was here with me in this trial, I could make it a lot easier. So that’s what he’s getting into, the verse four. Let me read to you what Spurgeon wrote on this. He said, when it is as natural for us to long for God as for an animal to thirst, it is well with our souls, however painful our feelings. In other words, God brings peace. God brings peace to our soul when we trust in him, no matter what we’re going through the question from the enemy, where is thy God? And I can hear in my mind, because I’ve heard it, I’ve heard it countless numbers of times, many instances, many occasions the devil will come to me and say, where is God? What’s God doing? I don’t know if he’s done you that way. I’d imagine that he has. He is that way. He is a liar, he’s a deceiver, he’s a murderer. And he would love for nothing else than to destroy your life and to cause you to doubt God’s love and care. We just say God didn’t leave the Hebrew children in Egypt. He didn’t leave them in the wilderness. He didn’t leave Abraham his promise. He didn’t leave Jonah in the well backsliding Jonah. He didn’t leave Jonah alone in the way. God didn’t leave Paul without grace to sustain him through the thorn in his flesh that he had. You remember the thorn that he had. He said, my grace is sufficient for thee. God didn’t leave them. God’s not going to leave you. He’s not going to leave me. Verse four. When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me, for I had gone with the multitude. He’s gonna say, these are some of the things I remember. I had gone with the multitude. I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holy day. Think about those that can’t be here tonight for sickness. Maybe they’re shut up in their house and they can’t get out like they used to. No doubt they remember when they got to come to church and worship together one with another. That ought to cause us to count our blessings, how grateful we should be that we can still get out and worship the Lord publicly like this. But number two, though, they can’t come here anymore, god has not forsaken them where they are and God will not forsake them where they are. They can worship God where they are, though they’re providencely hindered. But he said, I remembered how good God has been in the past. And I think that’s key when we get in those valleys of despair, we got to remember, hey, God was good. Not too long ago, I was on the Mountaintop Experience. Remember that time when God came down and met with you and you had that community, you had that fellowship? He said, I remember that time when we worshiped the Lord together. Verse number five. I think this brought him out of his despair. He said, why do thou cast down on my soul? Why thou disquiet it in me? Hope thou in God. It’s like went from the bottom of the valley and he’s looking up to the mountain now, isn’t he? He sees the sunshine and he said, hope thou in God flew. What he says next, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. I know help is coming. Help is on the way. Amen. He said help is coming. I’m going to be praising God for his help. He said, I may not feel it now. I may not always feel as if I’m saved and born again. I may not wake up rejoicing. There may be something ailing in my body. There may be something I’m going through in my family. And I may not feel it like I once felt it. But I know that he’s my savior and health is on the way. And he has heard my prayer. Our faith in the Lord will sustain us through these trials. He said, this is faith winning over fear. We have not lost God’s love, though at times it may seem like it’s afar off in our seasons of struggle, it seems that way. But God hasn’t he hasn’t grown cold in his love for us. It’s still the same as it’s always been. Then verse six, he goes into it again. He says, oh, my God, my soul is cast down within me, therefore I remember thee. He said, it’s cast down. So what am I going to do? I’m going to remember thee from the land of Jordan and other Hermannites from the hill miser this it could be. I don’t think we’re stretching scripture too much. If this is written by David, and this was during a time when some think it was that absalom. His son was trying to overthrow his kingdom, rule in his place. He was betrayed by his own son and he was forced out of Jerusalem. He was fleeing for his life. He said, no matter where I am, I’m going to remember the goodness of God. That’s a good thing to remember. Even in the darkest valleys. I’m going to remember God’s good God’s faithful, I can trust him. He said, Hope thou and God. Look at verse number seven. He said, Deep calls on the deep at the noise of thy water. Spouse, all thy ways and thy billows are going over me. A couple of things here in this verse. He said, this is too much for me. I’m overwhelmed. He said, the waves are crashing over me, the storms around me are threatening me. But look at who he gives credit to. He said, all thy waves and thy billows are going over me. He said, the storm seemed like it’s going to crash in on me. I’m overwhelmed. But still that wave that’s coming over top of me, that belongs to God, said, those bills that are rocking the boat that are about ready to throw me overboard or make me see six one. He said, hey, that belongs to God. That storm that’s around me, that belongs to God, all of it belongs to God. Nothing happens to his children that he does not already know and has already provided a way for us through it. I don’t know about you. That brings comfort to me, knowing that whatever I go through, god’s already made a way and he’s going to go through it with me. And he’s allowed it to come. David or the psalmist, wherever it is, he said, thy ways and thy billows are going over me, yet the Lord will command his loving kindnessness. In the daytime. He said, It may be dark now, but daybreak is coming, daylight’s coming. There’s hope around the corner that I may not be able to see very far off. I don’t know what the end of the situation is going to be, but I know God will help me through it. And we’ll get through it, and there will be an end of it. And in the night his song shall be with me. In my prayer unto the God of my life, he makes his complaint to God. I like what a commentator said on this. He said, if we were to furnish our own comfort, we would have but poor provener. And that’s true, isn’t it? We make poor comforters of ourselves. I can’t talk myself into making myself feel better. Have you ever tried that? There is no solid foundation for comfort in such fickle frames as our heart is subject to. I’m glad he just gets to the point, aren’t you? He said, It is well to tell the Lord how we feel. And the more plain the confession, the better. He said, the psalmist here is talking like a sick child to its mother. We should learn to imitate him. What he’s saying is, even in my complaints and the Gods, my faith in Him is standing steadfast, standing shore. It would be better to talk to Him and say, lord, I don’t understand this. As opposed to blaming Him to someone else saying, lord, I don’t understand this, but I know that my anchor holds. I’m still trusting you. You’ve got a purpose and plan for this. And though it’s dark right now, I can’t even see the other side of this valley. I know that there is another side of this valley. There is daylight, there is a dog to the dark. You will bring me through it. Psalm 23 says, yay, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, even when life gets seemed like on this side of things, life gets its lowest when this physical body dies. I’m not alone because Jesus walks with me. And we’re going through as children of God, that valley and what a glorious entrance into heaven we get at our lowest point. How much more all the other ups and downs through this life will God go with us? He said, I will say unto God, my rock, why hast thou forgotten me? Why go out mourning? Because of the oppression is of the enemy. He’s asking God questions that you and I might we might blush at asking God. I think we’ve thought those before. Lord, Why is this happening to me? Have you forgot about me? Are you forsaken me? Am I so small that maybe my concerns aren’t before you right now said, Lord, don’t forget about me? You know what? God hasn’t forgot about us. God hasn’t forgot one thing about us. There’s a purpose and plan through it all. And through it all this psalmist is saying I might be questioning things, but still he’s my rock. He’s my God. He’s my anchor, the anchor of my soul. You see what he said? Verse nine. I was saying to God, my rock, why hast thou forgotten me? Why go on more to him? Because he preserved the enemy. See, faith allows us to ask those questions because he’s realizing that God is in control. Say, Lord, you’re allowing me to go through this. I don’t understand it, but I know it’s you that’s allowing me to go through this. I’m trusting you through it. Verse ten. As with a sword in my bones, my enemies reproach me while they say daily unto me, where is thy God? The enemy doesn’t let up. The devil does not let up. He seems to find us at our weakest. It even kicks the harder he doesn’t let up. But there’s hope in God. Wired thou cast down on my soul and wipe thou disquiet within me. Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him who is the health of my countless and my God. This is faith closing the struggle. He said it in verse five. He says in verse eleven. He closes again. In verse number five is the next psalm that my hope is in God. I shall yet praise him. So I’m going to just go ahead and praise him now because one of these days I’m going to praise him again. I’m going to be through this valley with through this trouble, through this trial and with the other side of things. My faith is in God. How many of you have ever heard of Dr. Tom Malone from Pontiac, Michigan? A couple of you have heard of him. I think he has articles in the soul of the Lord. He’s an older preacher. He had this to say about this psalm. He divided into five categories. He said there’s a deep insatiable thirst for the presence of God a deep expression of lonely despairs when he said my tears have been my meat. A deep embarrassment because the unsaved. But there’s a deep sense of memory of better days and a deep sense of faith and hope. I like that outline. He also relates a story of a man who he had read about. He was so happy that his countenance radiated the Lord so much that a little child said of him I believe he goes to heaven every night because he is so happy every day. What a testimony that would be. But one time somebody said to this man whose counters radiated like that he said, what is joy? The Christian answered, Joy is the flag flown from the castle of the heart when the king is in resonance there, it’s pretty good. Read that again. So we get it. Joy is the flag flown from the castle of the heart when the king is in residence there. Joy is the flag that indicates that the king is present in the heart. You know what the psalmist is saying? I’m going through this trial, and the dark clouds of this valley have obscured my vision. I can’t see the Lord right now, but I’m still cleaning on to him. I’m still trusting that even though if my hands falter like the McBride saying, he will hold me fast, amen. He will not let me go. My faith, my confidence is in him, not up to me. I can’t see my way through this valley, but I know he’s got me. He’s going to hold me. He’s going to keep me, and my hope is in him. Do you know what that does? We may not be going through a sorrowful time in our heart, but there’ll be an inner joy and an inner peace that settles the heart, that soothes the soul and lets us realize, hey, it is well. Everything’s okay. It’ll be all right. God has me in his hands. I’m okay. And I believe truly. When we are in communion with the Lord in thy presence is fullness of joy. When we’re in fellowship with the Lord, no matter what our circumstances are, joy will be shown on the outside. Others will see that we’re walking with the Lord. So what’s the point tonight? Well, the point is there are seasons in life we can’t help what circumstances come. I’ve tried to worry circumstances away, and somebody said one time I forget how they said, I think it was my granddad that had such words of wisdom that worrying must have helped or didn’t help, because 99% of the things he worried about never came to pass. I forget how he said it, but anyway, worrying doesn’t help, does it? It just causes more problems. I can’t worry myself, too, but I can trust God through it. I can rest in him to it. So no matter the circumstances, no matter what comes my way through the circumstances of life, I have a rock solid anchor in the Lord of Jesus Christ. He’s my hope, he’s my confidence, and he’s going to keep me through this and many other storms in this life. And listen, the best is yet to come for all of us eternity in heaven with our Lord coming soon, I believe he’s on his way. I don’t believe it will be long at all. Hope thou in God. I shall yet praise Him who is the health of my countenance and my God. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, what I hoped.