In the Office, Michael Scott is your loveable clueless boss. And one of my favorite quotes from him is: “Sometimes, I’ll start a sentence and I don’t even know where it’s going. I just hope I find it along the way.” Now, we’re meant to laugh at Michael’s cluelessness with this quote but I have a question: do you and I do the same thing? Perhaps not verbally but what about in our mind?

Do you ever sit and listen to that little voice in your head and wonder: “How in the world did I start thinking about this?” Going further, how often is that little voice in your head actually helpful? If you’re like me, that little voice in your head can be overly critical of yourself and others. That little voice can quickly spiral to crushing lows of anxiety and depression. That little voice can slowly crush out hope, if you let it.

Paul David Tripp often quips that the most influential person in your life is you because no one else talks to you as much as you talk to you. So, the question is: what are you saying to yourself? That’s what the Psalmist in Psalm 42 is addressing. And today, we’ll be seeing why you should stop listening to yourself and start preaching to yourself.

Here’s the thing: there are some of you who may be in a spiritual depression, challenging season, or life just feels really hard. If that’s not you, can I let you in on a secret? You will - and Psalm 42 prepares you for when that day comes. This Psalm is critical for us so that we know how, by the Spirit’s help, to choose hope even when things feel totally hopeless and so that we know the feelings we have can be valid but we also have the choice to respond to them as well. When you preach to yourself instead of just listening to yourself, your eyes lift — and you remember that God's faithfulness and goodness are still there, even in the darkest season.

Will you stand with me, if you’re able, as we read Psalm 42-43? They’re separated in our bibles but as you’ll likely be able to tell, they go together and would be sung together.  

Feeling Distant from God

Do you feel the weight of this Psalm? This wasn’t written by David, Asaph, or Moses – it was written by the sons of Korah who were responsible for leading God’s people in song. So, this Psalm was meant to be sung by the people of Israel which is good news for those of us who have struggled with depression, anxiety, and more.

In Hebrew poetry, which the Psalms are, words don’t rhyme. Instead, the Psalmist repeats questions or phrases to convey the deep anguish or strong feelings he’s experiencing. Psalm 42-43 is no different, the repeated question is: why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?

We’re going to look at the rest of the Psalm to better understand why he was feeling this way and I bet you have also felt this way at some point in your life. The Psalmist takes us through two journeys of his heart, both leading to a deeper anguish:

1. Looking for Him But Not Finding Him

The Psalmist compares himself to a deer that is panting for water, the deer is thirsty and knows what it needs but it can’t drink. Joel 1:20 uses this imagery as he’s describing how Israel is so parched and destroyed by sin that the deer are looking for water but there is none to be found. Do you ever feel that way – knowing you need God but feeling like you can’t find him? So in the same way, the Psalmist is realizing the thing he needs most is God but he can’t find him.

This leads him to verse 3 where he can’t eat because he’s so distraught. His daily sustenance is no longer food, it’s his tears – that’s why he says his tears have been his food. I’m reminded of C.S. Lewis’s words after Aslan was murdered by the White Witch as he shares how Lucy and Susan felt: “If you've been up all night and cried till you have no more tears left in you—you will know that there comes in the end a sort of quietness. You feel as if nothing was ever going to happen again.” Why is the Psalmist so distraught?

He tells us in verse 4: he knows what it’s like to need God and to have him by your side. He used to be the one who would lead people in worship at the Temple in Jerusalem – he would shout with joy and praise! But, something happened and he’s no longer in Jerusalem – verse 6 tells us that he is far away north in the heights of Mount Hermon which is well over 100 miles away from Jerusalem. Some scholars believe this Psalmist has actually been imprisoned or exiled which is why he’s far away from Jerusalem as well as enduring the taunts and mockery of folks asking: where is your God now?

And remember, Israel believed, at this time, the Temple was the unique and central place where God had chosen to dwell with his people. To be away from the Temple, it felt like you were away from God’s presence. So, this Psalmist feels cut off from the place where God dwelled and he naturally feels like he has no hope to ever lead worship again.  

So, that’s why he is so downcast, that’s why he weeps, and that’s why he is pouring out his soul. This is one of my favorite Psalms because it shows us that wrestling with God is okay. It shows us that having questions or real struggles in our walk with Christ isn’t evidence that we don’t have enough faith or out of God’s will. These two Psalms show us how to respond when those things happen. I worry that sometimes we feel like our prayers have to be super pious or we can’t talk to God about these hard things, the Psalmist gets super real here and I don’t see any indicator that God rebuked him for his honesty.

So my friends, have you felt this way before? You’ve had times where you’ve searched for God, cried out to him, and it feels like he’s not listening? Psalms 42 and 43 show us that this is part of the human experience and it’s extremely healthy to process this pain. As we read this together, I hope you were encouraged that these Psalms don’t hold anything back. In your own prayer life, you don’t have to hold anything back. God can handle your honesty, your doubts, or your hurts but you need to express them to him as well.

Things continue to grow worse from the Psalmist’s perspective. Since he can’t find God, he ends up:

2. Feeling Abandoned and Rejected by God

Because of all that has happened, the Psalmist ends up feeling abandoned or forsaken by God. In verse 7, he shares how God’s waves and breakers have swept over him meaning the troubles facing him have totally overwhelmed him. In verse 9, he reaches his lowest moment – he asks: “God, why have you forgotten me?” How many of us have wondered that very same thing?

Because he feels forgotten, he describes just how bad he feels: he describes his bones being in agony. This has moved from his mind into his body– this Psalmist feels abandoned and that has impacted his body, his mind, his heart, and his soul. Psalm 43 tells us that he feels rejected by God – perhaps he felt that God had equipped and called him for a specific purpose but now that’s been taken from him. The Psalmist is likely wondering: God, why did you reject me? What did I do to deserve that?

In these Psalms, things have slid from bad to worse. This is why the Psalmist asks the question: why are you downcast, o my soul? And my friends: I’m willing to bet that you have felt that too. Why am I so upset? Why do I feel like God doesn’t love me or care about me? Why is this happening to me?

As it was read, did you notice how there was something else going on? There was this internal battle going on in the Psalmist’s words – there was all the terrible stuff we just went through but there was also hope through gritted teeth. Here’s what I mean.

The Self Talking to You

As the Psalmist is reflecting on everything, do you feel the overwhelm and hopelessness? These Psalms are fascinating because we don’t see all of his circumstances but we see the war in his heart. Left unchecked, this is a very dangerous war.

Like all of us, this Psalmist has a voice in his head. In this Psalm, we’re getting an insight into the Psalmist’s unfiltered thoughts. Some of his thoughts are indeed true. He really is suffering. He really is far from Jerusalem. He really is being mocked. The problem isn't that his circumstances are false—the problem is that his pain is becoming the lens through which he interprets everything. Left unchecked, those thoughts begin to spread and dominate his perspective.

Specifically, the Psalmist’s thoughts are telling him: he has been abandoned by God, he’s been forgotten, and that God has allowed him to be totally overwhelmed. He is feeling crippling anxiety that overwhelms him. And if we’re honest with ourselves: this is where our thoughts can go too – how often does a thought pop into our mind about something hard or tough in our lives? Then, next thing you know, it’s all you can think about. You begin to spiral and it robs you of your present moment and it consumes your mind.

For me, I can often feel shame and guilt over my past mistakes before coming to faith in Christ. I think of the many mistakes that I made. And once those thoughts start coming, it’s like a fire hose. More thoughts start to come that I can’t control: thoughts that I’m not loved by God, that I can’t be a pastor because of my past, and that I don’t deserve to have such a loving wife and three great kids. It leads me to a dark place where I retreat inwardly away from God, away from my family, and away from my friends.

In those moments, the Psalmist and I have a similarity: we are just listening to ourselves and letting that voice in our head talk to us and define our situations. These negative and destructive thoughts totally overwhelm us but Psalm 42:5 is a turning point. He refuses to let his emotions have the final word – it’s a turning point that he returns to three times where he effectively says: “Enough is enough, I’m fighting back!” That’s when he stops listening to himself and starts preaching to himself by asking: Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? He’s wondering: how in the world did I get to be feeling this way?

It’s at this critical moment that the Psalmist decides to fight back. The rest of verse 5 gives us the weapon he uses to fight back.

Choosing to Hope (Preaching to Yourself)

He repeats this phrase twice in Psalm 42 and once in Psalm 43. The fact that it’s repeated three times in 16 verses tells us something critical. He says “Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my savior and my God.” This is said for the first time in Psalm 42:5 and what’s incredible is what happens next: the Psalmist acknowledges that he is still downcast but he will remember God – even though he feels distant from him. His circumstances have not changed but when he says he “remembers God”, that means he is consciously reminding himself of God’s faithfulness, kindness, and love that has been shown to him all his life. The Psalmist is fighting back by intentionally deciding to trust in God in the present moment by reminding himself how God has been trustworthy in the past.

As he does this, he finds his strength and voice again – you can see this in Psalm 42:8. He recalls God’s love, his presence, and how he is involved in his life. He says by day, God directs his love and by night, God's song — his very presence — is with him. Remember how he started? He said his tears have been his food day and night but who else was there? God. Every tear he cried wasn’t prayed with an absent God but rather in the presence of God who was with him all along.

In Psalm 42:9, he calls God “His rock” which is a far cry from where he started. The destructive thoughts come up again and he believes he’s been forgotten by God and the pain of it is unimaginable. But, does he allow this to overwhelm him?

No, he asks the question posed earlier: Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God! Psalm 43 follows a similar theme where he calls God “his stronghold”. A destructive thought comes up again but he decides to fight back by asking God to send his faithful care and his light so that he can draw near to him once again. Psalm 43 draws to a close with the Psalmist calling God his joy and his delight. This is what preaching to yourself can do – it doesn’t change your circumstances but it does change your perspective.  

So, what should you do when it’s Monday morning and those negative thoughts start coming? I want to give you an example and then a practice with this.

Before I give you a practical example, I want to say something important. Some of you may be in a season where the weight you're carrying goes beyond a Monday morning battle with negative thoughts — and what you genuinely need is a trained counselor or therapist. If that's you, preaching to yourself is not a replacement for that, and pursuing help is not a failure of faith. The Psalmist cried out for help too. Please don't hear this next section as 'just try harder.' What I'm offering is a daily practice — not a cure for everything.

And as we move into the practical part of this sermon, I want to read an excerpt from the brilliant Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones who wrote a full book on Psalm 42:

Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but there they are, talking to you. They bring back the problem of yesterday. Somebody’s talking. Who’s talking? Your self is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment in Psalm 42 was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself, “Why are you cast down, O my soul?” he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says: “Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you.

So, as destructive thoughts flood your mind, how do you actually preach to yourself? This is one of the reasons why I believe knowing Scripture by heart and memory can be so helpful. Some of you may be thinking: “Anthony, memorizing Scripture is so hard.” But yet, you know the rosters of all your sports teams and the life story of a celebrity. If you can do that, you can memorize Scripture.

In my case, I often think of the glorious eighth chapter of Romans to combat negative and destructive thoughts. Like I shared earlier, when the weight of my past mistakes and regrets feels too heavy to bear, those thoughts of: thoughts that I’m not loved by God, that I can’t be a pastor because of my past, and that I don’t deserve to have such a loving wife and three great kids.

What do I preach to myself? I remind myself that there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. I remind myself that I have failed to live up to God’s standards but Jesus did that on my behalf. That old self is dead, I live life by the Spirit and he is making me new. I wish I did things differently but God works all things together for good for those he loves who are called according to his purposes. I am God’s child, I’m not forsaken by him because of my past – he knows my past and he’s written my future. God isn’t against me, he is for me and if he is for me, who can be against me? My past, my regrets, my mistakes then and now cannot ever separate me from the love of Christ that is found in Christ Jesus.

Do I always do that every time I have a destructive thought come into my mind? I wish I could say yes but like you, I’m still learning and growing. But when the Spirit reminds me to, I begin to find my courage and strength again. I remember my true name and true identity.

And that’s what I want you to do this week: take some time this week to write a messy prayer. Here’s what I mean by that:

·      Write down the pains, hurts, and sorrows in your life currently.

·      Share how you’re honestly feeling with God as a result of those – do you feel forgotten? Abandoned?

·      Choose to put your hope in God by preaching to yourself.

·      Remind yourself of God’s past faithfulness, kindness, and love. Preach to yourself verses from Scripture – this is fighting lies with truth.

And when those destructive thoughts come again, refer to the prayer that you wrote. Preach to yourself truth so you can overcome the lies.

I know that may feel overly simplistic but I want to remind you why all of us here should put our hope in God. Psalm 42 and Psalm 43’s toughest moments were lived out by Jesus Christ himself. Heading to the cross, Jesus wept as he asked his Father: “is there any other way?” He was heading into the beast of sin and death where he would feel the weight of anguish and pain like the Psalmist felt, like we’ve all felt. The Psalmist felt the deep waters sweeping over him but Jesus Christ felt the deep destruction of sin on the cross. He absorbed the full weight of sin and died. Jesus felt the full weight of this – even quoting Psalm 22 to communicate his deep anguish, asking God: “Why did you forsake me?” Though Jesus entered into death itself, the Father vindicates Jesus through the resurrection and establishes him as his chosen king. Jesus displayed his authority and power over sin and death. Those things have no power over him and if you follow him as your Lord and Savior, they no longer have power over you.

On the day that Jesus died, it would have been understandable to give up hope. It would have been understandable to think Jesus was a fraud or there was no way he was coming back. But, he did. The cross didn’t have the final word, the resurrection did. And that’s why we can put our hope in God – our perspective on things aren’t always accurate, we need the daily reminder that because of the resurrection, we can have hope that sorrows, pain, and hurts can be transformed for our good. They aren’t evidence of God’s absence, they’re evidence of the sin in our world They’re evidence that this world and all of need a great savior. And by God’s grace, that savior is Jesus Christ and it is in him that we put our hope in. So, my friends – this is your reminder to stop listening to yourself and start preaching to yourself a Gospel of hope, mercy, forgiveness, of a God who cares, and of a God who reigns.

I’m going to invite you to stand for one final worship song and I’ll pray for us.