Community & Discipleship

Why Are You Cast Down? Hope in God! (Psalm 42:1-11)

2026.07.19Harold Kim시편 42:1-11

Hope in God starts with preaching God's word to your own cast-down soul, and Jesus, who descended to the very bottom, feels the bottom with you and lifts you up.

Possible causes: disappointments, enemies, and the devil (9-10절)

Completing the list from last week, Harold names a fourth possible cause of depression: disappointments, enemies, and the devil. Earlier causes were the body, a "spiritual COVID" in which one loses the taste and smell of God, and communal breakdown. The devil can use any of these, as well as disappointment or enemies, to take Christians down and keep them down. Satan's main point of entry is the mind, which is why Ephesians 6 repeats "stand" in the truth. He sends messages like "God does not care for you" and, through enemies, "Where is your God?" and "Is it worth it?" He wants Christians joyless and ineffective so that unbelievers will not want to become like them.

Thomas Brooks and 30 devices of Satan

Quoting the Puritan Thomas Brooks, Harold says the devil tells the world that those who walk in religious ways are the poorest, meanest, and most despicable people. The devil cannot touch a Christian's place in heaven, but he wants to make sure that person takes no one else along. Brooks's book, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices, lists 30 devices of Satan and 30 biblical remedies. Harold jokes that he will not preach a 30-point sermon. He says one common thread runs through all those remedies, which leads into the practical prescriptions.

Patience, persistence, and preaching to yourself (5절, 11절)

The first prescription is patience, because God does not work on our schedule and waiting on him is an acid test of trust. The second is persistence. Like the panting deer, the psalmist keeps pursuing God in prayer even when he feels he gets nothing from it. The third is to preach to yourself. Martyn Lloyd-Jones asks whether our unhappiness comes from listening to ourselves instead of talking to ourselves. The psalmist argues with his own soul, "Why are you cast down?", and tells it, "Hope in God." Preaching is saying what God has to say in your situation, so that God's word reorders and renews your feelings.

You are your own most influential preacher

Feelings in Psalm 42 swing like a roller coaster, from deep depression and tears to loneliness, mockery, and the promise of praise. Scripture says we are saved by believing, not by feeling, so feelings matter but must not be at the center. Harold asks who your most influential preacher is and answers that it is you, since you listen to yourself all the time. Elijah came down from Mount Carmel and fell into despair because he preached doom and gloom to his own heart. The psalmist instead stops listening to his usual voices. He takes hold of himself, pleads and argues until his soul listens to God.

Preaching Christ to the lies within

Harold tells how he hit the bottom of depression in 2020 and then spent two years in counseling, prayer, patience, and persistence. He came to see that his calling had been born partly from inadequacy and an urgent need to make up for his father's short life. God taught him to preach to his heart that Jesus died so that he does not have to die trying. His salvation, significance, and healing are found only in Christ's perfect life, death, and resurrection, as an adopted, beloved son of God. We can preach better than the psalmist because we can preach about one greater than David, who was cast down, ate his tears, was taunted, and descended into death and hell so that hope might come all the way down.

Jesus feels the bottom and lifts your face (7절, 5절, 11절)

Spurgeon says being cast down can shed pretense, humble pride, deepen intimacy, and instill courage and empathy. Verse 7 describes depression as drowning in waves. In Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Hopeful holds the panicking Christian in the river and says, "Fear not, my brother, for I feel the bottom." Hopeful is Jesus, who hit rock bottom to meet you there, so no one lies beyond his empathy. He rose from the grave, and all who cry his name will rise and praise him again. In Hebrew, "my salvation" in verses 5 and 11 reads "the salvation of my face." The downcast face will be brightened under the loving face of God.

Apply to Life

  • Let us not reduce depression to a spiritual problem, and let us care for our body through eating, sleeping, exercise, and medical checkups.
  • Let us wait on God patiently and keep pursuing him in prayer, even when we feel we are getting nothing out of it.
  • Let us stop merely listening to ourselves and preach God's word to our own souls, saying, "Hope in God."
  • Let us follow God's word more than our feelings and more than what the world says.
  • Let us cry out the name of Jesus, who descended to the bottom, trusting that he meets us there and will lift us up.

This summary was made automatically from the sermon's captions and may differ from the sermon.

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