Sermon: Healing from Despair (Hopelessness)
Bible Passage: Psalm 42-43
I. There is no problem if believers experience and express deep feelings of hopelessness
1. The psalmist was a believer, godly person, and worshipper of the LORD
2. Yet, he felt despair (hopelessness)
3. He does not hesitate to express his feelings to God and his community
4. Even Jesus expressed His feeling to the Father “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me” (Matt 27:46)
5. Paul openly expresses his issues of “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor 12:7)—his frustrations with his fellow Jews
6. Jesus and His disciples expressed their feelings openly and they are preserved for the benefit of the believers
II. Let’s now look at Psalm 42 & 43
1. The psalmist was helplessly stuck in a foreign land, away from the Temple and his people (42:1-2)
a. The psalmist was in despair (hopelessness) that is spiritual in nature (verse 1)
b. He was in an intense desire toward his God (verse 2)
c. But he could not sense God’s presence
d. He desired God to be active in his life, but God seems to have been absent
e. He was down casted, depressed (42:5-6, 11, 43:5)
2. Despite his situation (i.e., feeling of “absence of God”) he nurtured his desire for God and maintained communion with God (42:3-4)
a. By being totally consumed with his thoughts on God (verse 3)
b. By NOT paying too much attention to his tormentors (verse 3)
c. By reminiscing his earlier experience of going to the Temple along with the fellow worshippers (verse 4)
d. By nurturing his hope of going to the Temple and be around the fellow worshippers (43:3-4)
3. His theological convictions helped him to stand firm in his faith during the time of despair (42:8-10; 43:1)
4. When his situation continued for a period of time, instead of forcing his agenda he left it in God’s hand (43:3-4)
III. 1 Peter 1:17: if you address as Father the one who impartially judges according to each one’s work, live out the time of your temporary residence here in reverence
TAKE AWAY
Accept your situation, focus less on the negatives, and concentrate on God
