In his sermon titled 'A Psalm for the Downcast,' Lewis Kiger explores Psalm 42, which he describes as a 'medicinal psalm' that addresses feelings of despair and emotional turmoil. He emphasizes the psalmist's recurring question, 'Why art thou cast down, O my soul?' as a central theme, reflecting deep personal struggle. The speaker suggests that Psalms 42 and 43 may have originally been one composition, written by an author possibly facing significant emotional distress, possibly King David. Kiger discusses the relevance of these psalms to modern experiences of depression and anxiety, noting the importance of empathy and understanding rather than judgment towards those who are suffering. He highlights the need for a candid conversation about mental health within Christian communities, recognizing both spiritual and non-spiritual causes of mental illness. The sermon concludes with practical and spiritual remedies, including confession to God, hope in His promises, praise, and remembrance of past blessings as means to cope with and overcome emotional struggles.

Psalms and chapter number 42, if I can turn there I'll take just a minute to extend the brother Doug into the church here. My great appreciation and being invited to speak is always an honor to Philip Pullpitt. In one of the Lord's churches, I had the great privilege of being here. I was reading after a preacher recently who called the Psalms God's medicine chest. I thought that was pretty aptly named.

So let us open up the cabinet door today and reach into the balm of the 42nd Psalm and ask that God would use the divine medicinal power of His word to bring marrow to our bones and health to our souls. Psalm 42 verse 1 reads, heart panteth after the water broke so panteth 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?

When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me. For I have gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise with the multitude, or with a multitude that kept holy day. Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me, or in me, Halt thou in God, where I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. O my God, my soul is cast down within me. Therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites from the hill miser.

Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts. All thy waves and thy 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 under the God of my life. I will say unto God, my Rock, why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I morning because of the oppression of the enemy?

As with the sword in my bones, my enemies reproach me while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God? Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. Now I want you to look at verse five real quick of chapter 43.

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God." there's a repetition there of that particular verse. I've been assigned the subject of a song for the downcast. There are some biblical scholars who suggest that Psalms 42 and 43 were at one time actually one song that they were Gather together as one and sometime in Israeli history.

They were split up or separated into two different songs in verse 5 of chapter 42 and in verse 11 of chapter 42 and then again in verse 5 of chapter 43 you find almost the exact words spoken, almost verbatim over and over again. It is almost as if this particular line, why art thou cast down on my soul, why art thou disquieted within me, it is almost as if this is the chorus line in the saddest song that has ever been written. We do not know for certain who the human author is of these songs. We have no divinely given signature on the 42nd song here, on the 43rd song, so we don't know for certain who it is. All that we do know is whoever it was and it was probably, and I would lean towards King David, it was probably King David who wrote these songs, but whoever it was, we know this much about them.

They were struggling. They were in a great torment. No matter who the human author is, we know that it was someone under tremendous pressure. What I found interesting is if indeed David is the human author of this psalm, it is curious to me how he could take up his heart and soothe the tormented soul of King Saul, yet he could not bring peace or calm to his own soul. We read here that the psalmist is not merely having a bad day.

He has not been victim to some awful circumstance. There has not been one single event that has brought him down. Rather when we read this psalm, you read of a heart-rending, spirit-breaking hopelessness that had overwhelmed the psalms. We see him writing as a broken man to broken men. We see this song as a God's man writing at the very brink of despair to those who are now kneeling at the brink of despair.

I want you to picture it and feel the weight of the Psalm here today and what it means that this Psalmist would cry out again and again and again, Oh my soul, why art thou cast down within me? Why art thou disquieted within me? I want to talk to you this afternoon about the struggling, crippling effects of being cast down or downcast. If you'll do a study of the word depression, the etymology of the word itself means to be cast down. And you could really read this and not do any reverence to the word of God by saying why art thou depressed?

Oh my soul, why art thou disquieted within me? I speak to you today from the far reaches of my own heart. I want to talk candidly to you today about those who struggle with mental illness, about those who struggle with emotional distress, about those that battle with depression, with being cast down. This psalm speaks very well as a medicinal psalm, declaring not only the terrible position that we get in, but also God's great help in that time of need. There's an openness, a candidness, an honesty about this Psalm that is rarely seen or read anywhere else.

We find very often that when people are hurting, and I want to say in particular, when Christian men and women are hurting, like this Psalmist is hurting, very often they try to mask it. They try to hide it. They try to cover it because they don't want to be embarrassed by you. They don't want to be considered as a weak Christian because they feel that way. And dear friends, I want to speak to anyone and everyone who may be cast down or is struggling in some way that they may find hope from God's word.

Hope for this song, for the cast down. Any mere mortal who has lived here on this earth any amount of time knows what it is to be heartbroken, to feel the anguish of the soul, to be overwhelmed, to be run down. But the psalmist is not just talking about, you know, I had a bad day at work. This is a ripping depression that has seized his soul that he cannot escape from. If you've never been where the psalmist was, And I say this with as much kindness as I can say this, if you've never been where the psalmist was in this 42nd Psalm, have enough wisdom to keep your mind and your ears open and your mouth shut.

That gets me in spirit tomorrow, I can tell you. Have enough wisdom. If you don't know, and you've never been where this psalmist is, where you can't get out of your own head, where you feel as if you're drowning and the truth is you're sick and tired of even trying to tread water. If you don't know what that is, have enough wisdom to sit down and listen and learn a little bit. Because if you haven't been there in all likelihood, you will be.

I want to make three distinctions from our Psalm this afternoon. I want to notice first of all the Psalmist's condition. Secondly, we'll notice the cause of that condition. And thirdly, we'll know the cure, the cure for his condition. I aim and I hope that we may minister to those who are cast down.

When you look at this 42nd Psalm, it is almost as if the writer here, whoever this undisclosed psalmist is, it is almost as if he has made an appointment, as if he has scheduled an appointment with the Almighty. And he is impatiently waiting for his name to be called. When you see in verse number two it says, my soul thirsteth for God for the living of me. When shall I come and appear before God? This 42nd Psalm brings us from the waiting room of God's providence and into the examination room of the great physician.

We overhear the trouble writer as he pours out his heart to God. He candidly lists all of his symptoms. It's almost like you and I go to the doctor we sit there we wait we wait and they finally call her name and we go in and most of you wait so more and when the doctor comes in you list all your symptoms that's a little bit what's happening in this 42nd Psalm It is as if the Psalmist here enters into the examination room and he is waiting to be examined by holy hand. He's waiting on the Supreme of the Earth to come and so that he may pour out or disclose all of his symptoms, everything that's wrong with him. Let us consider the psalmist's troubles.

Let's notice his condition. Is there any legitimacy to the psalmist's claims? Is he merely faking this illness in order to garner attention? Is he exaggerating his grief? Look at the text.

Look at it with me and you will see a roller coaster of emotions. The psalmist reveals his unbalanced emotional state. There is in this song an honest record of all the spiritual breakdowns that you and I go through before God. Here is an inspired and accurate portrait of the highs and lows of this life emotionally, psychologically, spiritually. You read this Psalm, you see he is a hurting man.

He is struggling, His faith is failing. His hope is crumbling. He is having a hard time even hanging on. His very soul is in deep despair. Read with me verse 1, as the heart penteth, he is yearning for God, realizing the inspired writer here has a relationship with God, Yet it seems as if God is a million miles away, as if there is some huge distance between He and God that He just cannot get to Him.

Perhaps you've never felt that way, but I have. As a heart panted after the war so my soul thirst after thee my soul what is he saying my soul first it for God for believing up when shall I appear before God my tears you read that third verse My tears have been my meat day and night. Emotionally, the psalmist is curled up in a fetal position in the midst of a dark injury abyss. Spiritually, he is hanging on by a thin single strand. Psychologically, he is on the verge of collapse.

See the pain of this human rider. See as he is hurting emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, he's struggling just to breathe. And while all of this is taking place, there is the enemy whispering in his ear, verse three, the end of it, where is your God? It is almost as if Satan himself comes onto the scene and the solace is there grasping for air, struggling to keep on day by day. And all the while here in his ear, there's the enemy of God, where is your God?

You realize that enemy didn't come around because everything's going good, right? You know the enemy didn't come around and say to Job, when everything was good, where is your God? Because everybody knew Job's God, but when everything was taken away, where now is your God, Job? It was obvious to everyone that the Psalmist was hurting. And not only did he have this battle going on in the inside, he also had voices on the outside.

And I want to challenge you that you and I be careful that we're not one of those voices that are hurting or kicking those who are already down. You and I could argue whether the psalmist is not listening to his head or his heart. Both may well be true. His head is trying to convince him that God has not abandoned him, but his heart doesn't feel that way. His heart is hanging on to faith, but his mind says, look around you.

Feel his pain. If God cares about you so deeply, why are you feeling this way? I'm interested in verse number four because the psalmist says and if you'll read this psalmist just like a roller coaster it's just like that up and down up and that's exactly what it is the verse number four when I remember these things what did I pour out my soul in me. You hear the personal way that the Psalmist writes this? I pour out my soul.

You see how empty he felt? How alone and miserable that he was? And then he says, I went with him. When they loaded up and went to God's house, I went with him to God's house. When they stood up and sang praises to Jehovah, I stood up with him.

When they bowed their heads to pray, I prayed with them. When the preacher got up, I sat under the preaching of the word of God. Did that fix everything that was wrong with me? Look at verse number five. No, because there he is back down again.

I tell you, like I told my church, said, Come and the church may not help, but stand at home and promise you won't help. Come and may not tear it but stand at home and definitely think you won't help. The psalmist said another psalmist, it's not mine. I didn't understand everything until I went to the house of God. And then the Lord taught me a few things when I got there.

Verse five, why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why? That word disquieted. Well, he says, why art thou disquieted within me? The best illustration that I can come up with me to take a wild animal and put them in a cage.

And as they kick and roar and battle and stretch to try and free themselves from that, having no peace because they are no longer at home. That is a good analogy of what the psalmist is saying. Why are you cast down on my soul? Why are you disquieting? Why are you raging?

Why are you acting so violently against your own self? He had no peace within him. And as you read this Psalm, you see the Psalmist is as much talking to himself as he is talking to God. Why art thou cast down on my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me?

And then he tries to stir up a little hope in himself. In verse number five, hope thou in God. The echo of his God-given faith will not release him. He knows he's hurting but at the same time that faith steps up and says, hold on, hang on, hope, Thou in God. And then he said, I praise him.

I praise him for the heavens. And then verse six again, oh my soul. Oh my God, my soul is cast down within me. Do you not see this roller coaster of emotion that the Psalmist is on? Verse 7 deep calls them to deep.

Do you notice in verse number 7 whose waterspouts he is under? That's right. Do you notice whose waves and billows have run over him? Oh, if they comfort you. In verse eight, he reaches out and he remembers who God is and the promises of God.

And he says, though, in verse number nine, I will say unto my God, why hast thou forgotten me? You see, the psalmist here wasn't the first one of God's saints, that's why. And he wasn't the last one either. Because dear friends, you and I realize that in a great degree, you and I should be very cautious about questioning God But I am gonna say you might as well be open and be playing with God because he knows your heart anyway Why? Are diverse Number 10 as with the sword in my balls by an enemy's it reproach me while they say daily To me where is that?

It's almost as if the psalm says I know I should shut out the ignorant words of the heathen But their words just keep ringing in my ears, and I can't let it go I know that it is all vain and empty talk but I still can't shut it off. Their words cut me as like it was a sword in the universe. Why are we power casting? See this emotional rollercoaster that he is on. I don't know how many of you sitting in this building this afternoon have ever struggled with depression.

I don't know how many of you have ever felt abandoned and alone and you have felt like you were near the point of giving up. I don't know how many of you have been besieged by anxiety and overwhelmed with grief. How many of you have nearly abandoned God and wondered why God hasn't intervened to change your circumstances of life. But if you feel that way, you are not alone. The psalmist felt that way.

This preacher has felt that way. The pain that the psalmist feels in our text is real. And I think that it is high time that we as Christians Address and have a candid conversation about the real struggles that men and women go through, one in five. One in five in this room will suffer depression. One in ten will suffer through panic attacks.

You say, well that's people out in the world Would it be great if the statistics were different among the Lord's churches, but they're not Suicide You realize that suicide is the leading cause of violent deaths. And it is often a result of mental illness, head or depression. And I think it's high time that we as God's children start having a conversation about this. So that our people, and I mean we as pastors as well, so that our people are not too embarrassed to come to us and say I can't go on. I'm hurting and I'm struggling.

There's not a physical problem but I'm still in great pain. And Dear friends, if you think it's not real, and you know when I was a child, I thought I was a child, I was a child, I was a child, I behaved as a child, but when I came to man, I put away child's things. And there was a time that I thought all of these things were just made believe, but I've learned better. God has grown me and I've learned there are real sicknesses that can't be seen. There are some illnesses that are invisible.

Some maladies that cannot be magnified by a microscope. And it is high time that you and I reach out to those who are hurting and those who are down so that they may realize and know there are people that care about them and we'll receive them as they are. The Psalmist's pain is real. It may not show up on an x-ray, it may not show up on an MRI, but it's real. And he's murdered.

How many lives have we seen fall victim to some invisible infection not in the body but of the soul? How many homes and divorces have we been witness to because someone was struggling with an unseen sickness. How many of our Baptist brethren will we have to bury who stand at the desperate precipice of suicide Struggling far greater than any of us can imagine before you and I will accept and believe that there are some conditions that cannot be cured by willpower. Maybe not everybody's been where the Psalmist was, and you've been cast down to the excruciating level that he was, but some have. Be ready to offer sympathy and not score, compassion and not criticism and Condemnation to those who are hurting in this way.

We see him hurting. What was the cause of it? We see his condition. What was the cause of his condition? Tell me if you will.

I would challenge you if you think you know why the psalmist was hurting like he was when I get done this afternoon you come show me from this book because I've read it and I've studied it and do you want to know something? The great physician never discloses to the psalmist why he feels like he does. Now you and I know, and let's just go ahead and get it said before y'all write me off, you and I know that very often depression, anxiety, and being cast down very often is a result of sin, but not always. And I would challenge you, if you could show me, I'll sit down at your feet and learn something. But you better show me from the black and white and the inspired page, otherwise I'm disinterested.

I think it is a terrible significance that God never reveals to the psalmist why he felt like he did, because dear brother, you and I, and sisters, we may ask why, but God is not inclined to always tell us why. You realize He does not owe us an answer. Amen. He does not have to reply to us when we are his and we've been bought with a price. Can he not do that with his own, that which he wills?

Dear friends, I don't know why Osama's felt like he did. Sometimes People get the idea that being a Christian would remove you from suffering with different illnesses. But the truth is being a child of God just paints a target on your back. Why did he feel this way? What was the cause of it?

I don't know. I don't know. I've studied it and I've tried it. I don't know. And I think it's so important because you and I are so quick to judge.

You and I are quick to when we see others hurry, we become the good friends of Job. And we are quick to tell them why they are where they are and why God has put this on them in this way. I remember once early in my ministry telling a young lady she was shrugged and she didn't want to get out of bed. And I said to her So ignorantly, you just need to suck it up and get over it. Just get up and go on.

I found out later on that a young lady had been molested over and over and over again as a young child. And whether or not you believe this, there's some things that you may never get over in this life. I can tell you some preachers, and I'm not going to let anybody in this room, but I have a preacher friend of mine who battles with panic. He gets these panic attacks. Anxiety overwhelms him.

And you say he's a preacher. Yeah, but he was also molested repeatedly as a 13, 14 year old. You say you don't know what's going on with people. Don't judge Don't judge others Not knowing and understanding what they may be going through you don't know And before you judge the psalmist anybody want to jump up say hey, but psalmist just suck it up and get over it. Bless God if you'd get your life right with God, you wouldn't be feeling this way.

You start showing up at church, you wouldn't be having this trouble. And see that's what our attitude is a lot. But we never know. We may not know here on Earth why God is pleased to bring us through the valley of despair. And before we judge another, you might better show a little compassion towards them.

Sometimes the causes, and I've got to hurry. Sometimes the causes of depression, mental illness, sometimes it's genetic. We're learning more and more. Doctors And psychologists are learning more and more every day about the red carry side of emotional disorders and issues. Sometimes there can be a physical or chemical issue within the body that causes someone to battle with depression.

Sometimes it may be that a brother or sister is in the midst of a great spiritual battle. And they may not be demon possessed, but while that's true, they may certainly be being oppressed by demons. And they may have this dark shroud of demonology around them and you want to come over them and kick them in the tail and tell them to suck it up and get over it? How calloused and cold we can become. Sometimes depression, I don't know why.

David Murray's got a great little book on Christians getting depressed too. Everybody ought to read it. David Murray, Christians getting depressed too. We live in a fallen world. And if you and I believe, do you not believe that the diseases that cripple our bodies are a result of the fall?

Do you not also believe that there can be diseases and illnesses that not only attack the body but can attack the mind as a result of living in a fallen world? And if somebody walked in here and they said we have cancer, we wouldn't say suck it up buddy, get out of bed and marring face it. But if someone walks in who is depressed, downcast, battling with an emotional trauma. A lot of times they are rejected instead of embraced. I want to erase that stigma and embrace those who are hurting.

Sometimes depression is a result of divine order and that's exactly what the psalmist says in verse number seven. I'm drowning because of you, God, because of thy waterspouts, thy waves, thy billows. Hello, run me. It would be enough for a child of God to deal with all these things, but you know what makes things especially hard on a Christian? Is that they know they shouldn't feel that way.

It's like a two-edged sword. It's one thing for a lost person to do battle with this. But then for a child of God to do battle with this, it hurts even more because they questioned within themselves like the psalmist. Why aren't they casting? You know better than this.

God loves you. He will not abandon you. You know that his son died for you. Why do you feel this way? And that makes it hurt even more.

Far too often we as God's children want to treat the symptoms and I deal with the problem. And in this dear friends we must stop trying to heal ourselves or cure ourselves, but turn to God. Some of you know this, some of you don't. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, Struggled greatly with depression. He struggled with it deeply.

He got up on Sunday and preached, God saved souls. He went home on Sunday night. He laid down on his couch. He wept all night and all day the next day. Someone came to him and said, Pastor, why are you weeping?

What is wrong? You know what his response was? I don't know. I've learned a little something in ministry. Mondays are hard on a preacher.

Maybe that's just me. Money's are hard on the pastor. It was a blessing to have a job because you had to get up and go to work and you didn't have time to feel sorry for yourself. Maybe. I don't know.

Emotional, spiritual darkness may isolate us, but God can illuminate. Hidden within the words of this song are the remedy. I've got a few minutes left and I'm going to take every bit of it. I went to the doctor the other day and explained to him what was going on. He wrote out a prescription for me.

I took it into Walgreens to get the prescription field and go back the next day, they don't have it ready. I say, what's the problem? And they said, we can't make out the doctor's handwriting. We don't know How often you're supposed to take this medication? And so I didn't get it.

Well, I needed it until they could iron all that out. But I'm glad God's prescription had it in that way. That God didn't write it in an illegible manner that you and I can't understand, written on the inspired page, hidden within the words of the solace himself there's the cure. Now let me say this real quick. I don't believe that it's always spiritual.

I don't believe there will be physical problems. There are going to be emotional, psychological problems. I don't believe that when someone battles with different kinds of illnesses that is that is necessary only spiritual but I will leave out a spiritual remedy no matter what the problem is. There is no cure without Christ. There may be a need for medication.

There may be a need for counseling, for professional help. I would encourage you to do that. There is no magic pill that just makes it go away. There isn't. But I tell you what there is.

There's the bottom of God's word. There's God's medicine chest. And there's the 42nd Psalm where he says, here is how I feel. I have just a few things. Confess to God.

How do I deal with this? How do I overcome making confession to God? That's what he did in verse 4. He confessed to God how he felt. Hope in God.

Verse 9. Put your full assurance in who God is. Don't just hope in some aimless way and hope is not I'm not a lot of people are having a little sure it's in god have a great aim for your hope. Hope thou in God in who he is, in his love. In Psalms 84 verse 11, no good thing will he withhold from them that love him and walk uprightly.

Praise him, verse five. In the midst of turmoil and strife, stop and praise God. It's hard to be feeling sorry for yourself and praising God at the same time. Remember in verse number six, Remember what God has done. There's a lot of confusion about what the close of verse 6 is talking about.

And I think essentially what he is saying is, I remember where I came from. I remember Lord where you've brought me from, what you've done for me in the past remember God remember Christ in Gethsemane when he cried out and said my soul is exceeding sorrowful even under death And remember that we have such a high priest that became us. Boy, I could preach an hour, but you won't let me. For such a high priest that became us, who is touched with the feelings of our interprenet, Who knows what it is to be left alone and destitute and isolated by even those that were the closest to him? Remember him, sing to him in verse 8b.

The second part of what I had in my notes, the second, sing to him, pray to him, trust him, hold on to him till the storm passes by. Give help. Very practically I'll say, don't lay down, get up. Satan would love nothing more than God's people to lay down and stay down get up and go when life's dark maze I tread and grief Surround me spread be thou my God Big darkness turn today light sorrows tears the way nor let me ever stray from the aside Dear friends, are you trusting Christ because I can tell you this You're never gonna have any real peace in your heart when you're covering up what you ought to be confessing. Do you know him and the power of his resurrection and he didn't born again?

There'll never be any peace without that, I promise you. There's no guarantee of peace after that, but there won't be peace without it. Are you trusting him? Why are they? Cast down, hold my soul.

Thank you for your time.