Psalm 42:   “¹ As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.  ² My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When shall I come and appear before God? ³ My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” ⁴These things I remember, as I pour out my soul:  how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. ⁵ 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 ⁶and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.  ⁷Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me.  ⁸By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.  ⁹I say to God, my rock:  “Why have you forgotten me?  Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”  ¹⁰As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”  ¹¹ 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.”

Have you ever felt like being a Christian means that you have to put on a happy face all the time?  That you go into church, and if you don’t smile and act like nothing is wrong that you’ll get shown to the door?  That is rediculous.  I’ve been to churches like that before, I can tell you that they are not being helpful to anyone.  What about the times when life is hard?  What about those days when you just don’t feel joy for God?  Well if that’s you, know that you are not alone.  Almost every great theologian of the past, and even David, the author of this Psalm, who was described by God as “a Man after His own heart”, had times when he just didn’t feel it.  He wanted to, but it wasn’t there – there was no joy.

So what do we do when we don’t desire God?  When our hearts cannot find joy in Him?

We are constantly being fed information, and making judgements based on what we see, ponder, taste, etc.  Now this is going to sound slightly funny when I say this, but it’s actually quite true.  Of all the people who talk to you throughout the day, there is no more important and influential person – than yourself.  I don’t meant this to say we should walk around all day having an audible conversation, you might find yourself quickly in a padded room with a white jacket on if you do that.  What I am saying is that constantly you are being fed value statements about how you should feel about yourself, and the world from outside influences.  Given the condition of the world as fallen and sinful, how important is it to properly filter that information with your own knowledge of God and the Truth?

So if you find yourself struggling with your joy for God, the first thing to know from above, is that it’s ok,  you don’t have to put up a front.  The second is this – ask yourself, why are you without joy? (vs 5 & 11) Has something happened?  Is there ongoing sin in your life?  What has your relationship with God looked like?  Perhaps the most loving thing for God to do when we are moving away from Him is to remove Himself for a time, for us to feel the full weight of our sin, and see our utter dependancy upon God for all things good.  Perhaps God merely wants to grow our faith, for us to discipline ourselves to persevere.  I wouldn’t spend too much time here though, because regardless of the cause, no one wants to stay without joy, so I would quickly move on to the next step.  Turn to God.  Just go to Him – acknowledge your lack of joy for Him, and everything that you’re carrying with you emotionally.  David was very up front to tell God that his “tears had been his food day and night” (vs 3) and that he feels forgotten (vs 9).

Having confessed your heart to God, and sought Him in prayer, preach to yourself what you know of God:

1)  Remind yourself of God’s goodness – His steadfast love.  Lamentations 3:17-24 – “¹⁷my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; ¹⁸ so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD.” ¹⁹ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall!  ²⁰My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.  ²¹But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: ²² The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; ²³they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  ²⁴ “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” 

Romans 8:28 – “²⁸And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

Jeremiah 29:11 – “¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

2)  Look to the cross and the finished work of Christ.  Grab on to it with your heart, and preach to yourself.  Romans 5:8 – “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 

John 3:16 – “¹⁶“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Set your mind on eternity, and the secure place you have with God.  Psalm 73:23-28 – “²³Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand.  ²⁴You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.  ²⁵Whom have I in heaven but you?  And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.  ²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.  ²⁷For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.  ²⁸But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.”

Romans 8:38-29 – “³⁸For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Now this is probably a good time for you all to see how important daily time in God’s Word is, and memorizing scripture (I know it’s hard).  Where else will you turn when your heart is downcast except to the One who loves you enough to die in your place?  How helpful it is to have these truths carried with you every day, throughout the day to remind yourself of.  We are men, and women, and God is God.  We cannot understand all his ways (Deut 29:29), but we can know that He loves us – he showed that perfectly and magnificently for all time on the cross.  My exhortation today is this – arm yourself now with the Truth and Promises of God, so that you can guard your heart against lies from the world that you will confront you each day, seeking to rob you of your joy in God.  Arm yourselves now, so that when dark times come (and they WILL come), you will be able to turn to the Lord and God willing – soon find joy again in Him.

If you know me, you know that I deal with this more than most people.  So it is fitting for me to say to you all, that I deeply, deeply want you to know that in Christ, you are loved beyond what you can possibly imagine.  As your brother in Christ, know that my affection for you personally, even those I don’t know, powerfully drives me to want to see your joy in God abound in His truth.  If you’re downcast today, please do not let that be something you go through in isolation, God has given you other Christians as a means of His assistance and blessing to you.  If you’re downcast today, know that many great men and women of God before you have been where you’re at, but God is faithful – He proved that on the cross.  He will not leave you to this point in life forever.  Don’t worry so much about the questions of “why is this happening?”.  You’ll have plenty of time and perspective to figure that out a year or two down the road – it isn’t helpful to your situation today.  What is helpful is the encouragement to seek the Lord right now in your pain/struggles.  You’ll find a loving Father who is acquainted with your sorrows, and who in time – when it is good for you, will renew and increase your joy.  That is my prayer for myself and us all – may our joy in God be renewed daily and increasingly made complete.

Grace and Peace,
Adam