Psalm 42: Preaching to Yourself

"Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God." Psalm 42:5/11

Are you one of those people to talks to yourself? Perhaps when you're bored or lonely, do you ever just have a three-way conversation between me, myself, and I? Maybe others have called you crazy, but the psalmist here says that you were doing exactly what you ought to have been doing. In fact, not only should you be talking to yourself, but you should be preaching to yourself!

In Psalm 42, we find the psalmist in great distress. He is in such a harsh turmoil that he says that his tears have been his only food all the day long (3). Have you ever been there? So sorrowful and broken that you had lost your appetite, only to let your tears be your only source of nourishment? Obviously the psalmist here is giving us imagery for deep distress, but it paints a tragic picture, does it not? Yet amidst his groaning, we don't find the psalmist running to Netflix, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, or even Instagram. We don't see him cling to relationships, sex, or even drugs to fulfill him. Rather, he goes straight to God. In verse one of this Psalm, he states outrightly, "As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God."

Amidst his misery, the psalmist was drawn to nothing other than seeking the Lord's mercy. You see, that is what trials do for us. We often complain about our trials, but the truth of the matter is that these trials are what God is using to both point us to him and make us more like Christ! This is what James tells us in the first few verses of his book, right? You see, we must stop seeing our pain as a poison but rather see it as a gift that makes us more like Christ. "Pain, as a gift?" you say, "How could this ever be?" Yet this is what the Bible tells us: that the deepest pains grow the deepest faith. As we rely upon the Lord in our distress, we see the Lord's faithfulness even in our broken condition. This builds within us perseverance and faith (see Romans 5) that we might become more like Christ.

But where does the part about self-preaching come in? Well, in both verses 5 and 11 of this Psalm, the Psalmist asks himself a question, "Why are you downcast, O my soul?" This question is interesting because it seems to us like the answer is obvious: duh! His soul is downcast because he is in distress! But the psalmist is thinking differently, and we ought to as well. Rather than fixing on the circumstances around him of his enemies boasting over him (3, 10), the psalmist is fixed on the goodness and mercy of God. In verses 6-9, we find the psalmist reflecting on these things. In verse 8, he says this: "By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life." Although the psalmist is broken, he is truly curious why his soul is still so cast down since there is a loving God who is present with him.

Thus, the psalmist tells his soul to do one thing and one thing alone: hope in God. Since God is a God of salvation, and after this trial (and amidst it) the psalmist will be able to praise God for his deliverance, the psalmist tells himself to praise God now! You see, there are a lot of psalms that reflect upon how past realities ought to motivate how we can praise God in the present, but this psalm tells us how future realities can motivate our present praise. The psalmist is confident that God will eventually deliver him, and thus he is motivated to praise God now. Surely we ought to do the same.

Thus, we must preach the Gospel to ourselves. God is a God of salvation. In Christ, he has brought us out of darkness and into his marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:9). This being true, we know that God will continue to save us, even after this life is over, when we will stand in his presence on the other side of eternity. Because of Christ and his work on the cross, we have confidence all the more that our God is for us! Thus, we must preach to our souls every day to hope in God. God will save from every evil condition, if not in this life, then in the life to come. Let that be our present hope. Amen!