TPC Connections

Sermon Notes

“God’s Cure for the Downcast”
9/6/26

Ps 42: 5 “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.”

The Hebrew word for “cast down” in this passage means “to crouch or to bow down.”

It is the same word used in Job 38:40 to describe a lion in a crouched position waiting along the trail for its prey.

So David here is describing his soul as having been bent down by the challenges and difficulties of life, as if a hungry lion had attacked his soul.
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The context is that he is fleeing from his renegade son, Absalom, who was seeking his very life in an attempt to steal the kingdom.

And this trial is harder for David than any he has ever faced.

He’s not in physical pain, but is in the grip of ‘SOUL PAIN.’

—SOUL PAIN can hurt worse than physical pain!

It sometimes seems like nothing can bring relief.

Inner soul pain can be drawn out over months and sometimes even years.
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SOUL PAIN might come from:

• A fractured family relationship that has worn on way too long.
• A bitter betrayal you just can’t seem to get past.
• A nasty divorce battle that feels like its dragging on forever.
• The loss of a job you loved.
• A health condition that has seemingly put you on the sideline.
• Financial pressures that never seem to let up.
• A wrong path taken that is taking years to recover from.
—All of these things can shut down your FAITH and HOPE so that you spiral into a downcast, discouraged state of mind.
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ILLUS: Now, when you go to the doctor with an ailment, you want a diagnosis–what is causing it–and a cure, how can I get better.
Your SOUL is the same way!
When it hurts or is “cast down,” there are reasons, and Psalms 42 gives us both the reasons and cures for a downcast soul!
We see first that David’s downcast spirit is due to:
I. Separation from God’s house
He describes this painful separation in the first 2 verses:
42:1-2 “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?”
As he fled from Jerusalem where he regularly worshiped, his soul was cast down.
He could no longer worship in the Tabernacle like he was used to.
David loved worship, and he loved going to God’s house to celebrate the Lord!
He wrote in Ps 122:1, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’”
So this separation from his regular time of worship in God’s house caused him deep inner pain, and a sense of great loss.
Because he had been forced to leave; he literally felt CUT OFF from the Lord.
Look how his number one question was, “when can I go and meet with God?”
—So the FIRST CAUSE of his downcast soul was absence from the house of God.
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Then a SECOND cause of his downcast soul was:
II. The taunts of the Ungodly
42:3,10 “My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, “Where is your God?” 10 As with a breaking of my bones, my enemies reproach me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
The ungodly “continually” and “all day long” mocked David’s trust in God!
The mockery of the ungodly,
the backslidden, and
those who hate everything righteousness stands for can get under your skin.
David said it felt like their cruel words were breaking his bones.
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You’ve probably heard it yourself:
• Where was your God when you needed Him?
• Why isn’t he helping you now?
• Or, why did He let this happen to you?
—It is when we entertain the questions of the ungodly that we feel our soul slipping down into the pit of the downcast.
It reached the point for David where he couldn’t even eat!
He said, “My tears have been my meat day and night!”
But the Bible reminds us of a “great cloud of witnesses gone before us thru the gates of Heaven who endured and triumphed!”
And so will you!
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The THIRD cause of his downcast soul was:
III. Memories of the Past
42:4 “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!”
The memories of past revivals,
past victories,
and past accomplishments came to his mind,
And he began to wonder if his best days were over.
—This is the trap of those that are aging!
When the great memories of the past become a source of discouragement for the present you’re buying into an age old lie.
Our natural human tendency is to glamorize the past and make it seem better than it really was.
“Oh those were the days” we sigh and say!
But the past should be a place of REFERENCE, not a place of RESIDENCE.
Remembering back can be a blessing—a reminder of God’s faithfulness, of powerful breakthroughs, and of great moves of the Spirit.
But when we start glamorizing the past, it can trap us in a cycle of longing for what was, instead of trusting God’s present and future for us!
The truth is that “back then,” every step you took had its battles, its victories and its losses.
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And there is ONE more contributor to David’s downcast soul:
IV. Feeling forgotten by God
Vs 9 “O God my Rock,” I cry, “why have you forsaken me? Why must I suffer these attacks from my enemies?”
A downcast soul can become doubly downcast when you start thinking God has forgotten you.
Yet the Word of the Lord reminds us without a doubt that God knows exactly WHERE we are and how to LEAD us through it!
—These were the reasons for David’s downcast soul, and for ours as well!
But thank God, the Word also gives us the CURE!
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FIRST, David says:
V. Put Your Hope Back In God
Vs 5, 11 “Hope in God!”
Twice we see the phrase, “hope thou in God!”
Notice that David is TALKING TO HIMSELF,
PREACHING to himself,
ENCOURAGING himself.
—We all constantly talk to ourselves.
In fact, no one talks to you more than YOU!
And it’s very important what you say to yourself!
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Look at how David literally preaches to himself:
“Why are you cast down, my soul? And why are you so restless within me?”
In other words, what are you doing in this condition?
What are you doing in this pit, this negative state of mind?
Snap out of it! Get a grip!
Quit being your own worst enemy!
Get your hope back on God!
He’s never failed you, forsaken or forgotten you!
Get your hope back where it belongs!
WHAT ARE YOU SAYING TO YOURSELF LATELY?
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The SECOND thing David did was:

B. Encourage himself
42:5,11 “…for I shall yet praise him…”
I love the word YET.
YET means things are going to change.
Things won’t always be this way!
I’m not there YET, but I will be.
I haven’t seen a breakthrough YET, but I’m going to!
I haven’t gotten free YET, but I will!
Heb 11:1 “Faith is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead.”
David ENCOURAGED himself in the Lord,
believing that he would return to Jerusalem safe and sound,
and would worship God again in the Tabernacle as in days gone by.
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Finally, David resolved to:
C. Remember God
“O my God, my soul is cast down within me; Therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, and from the heights of Hermon, from the Hill Mizar.”–vs 6
David was saying:
In this lonely land; far away from the place of worship;
in the midst of troubles, and sorrows;
surrounded by taunting enemies,
and having no natural source of consolation,
I will remember my God!
I will remember His mercies, His goodness,
His love and His faithfulness.
I will not forget God!
Ps 103:2 “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”
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So let’s read together the CURE for a downcast soul:
• Place your Hope in God
• Encourage yourself in God
• Remember the faithfulness of God
Is your soul cast down today?
Are you in the quicksand of a sinking spirit?