There's Still Hope
Jim Perdue
Psalm 42-43
Intro/Attention
This morning, we conclude our series, Songs for the Summer. I have thoroughly enjoyed studying selected Psalms with you for the last ten weeks. This morning, we will be studying two psalms together instead of one individually.
Psalms 42 and 43 need to be taken together for several reasons: (1) in a number of the Hebrew manuscripts the psalms are joined together as one unit; (2) Psalm 43 has no introductory title, although every other psalm in book two, except for Psalm 71, does; and (3) the refrain is repeated three times and links the two psalms (42:5, 11; 43:5). The main reason for taking the psalms together, however, is that both deal with spiritual depression. READ Psalm 42 and 43
*It is hard for me to imagine that a book about depression would be very popular, but in 1965 D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the pastor of Westminster Chapel in London, published a book entitled Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure, which became one of the most highly valued and widely circulated books he ever wrote. The only conceivable reason it has been so popular is not that the subject itself is attractive, but that so many people, including Christians, are depressed and looking for solutions. We are all depressed at times. We get down in the dumps. We sing the blues. We feel that God has forgotten us and that we will never be able to get on track with God again. It is a condition the old mystics accurately labeled ''the dark night of the soul.'' It is a puzzling condition too. We wonder why it is happening, especially if we are Christians. We identify with Erma Bombeck, who asks in the title of one of her best-selling books, If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, Why Am I Living in the Pits?*
*Twenty-five million Americans suffer from depression each year. Over 50% of all people who die by suicide suffer from major depression. If you include alcoholics who are depressed, this figure rises to over 75%. Suicides i ...
Jim Perdue
Psalm 42-43
Intro/Attention
This morning, we conclude our series, Songs for the Summer. I have thoroughly enjoyed studying selected Psalms with you for the last ten weeks. This morning, we will be studying two psalms together instead of one individually.
Psalms 42 and 43 need to be taken together for several reasons: (1) in a number of the Hebrew manuscripts the psalms are joined together as one unit; (2) Psalm 43 has no introductory title, although every other psalm in book two, except for Psalm 71, does; and (3) the refrain is repeated three times and links the two psalms (42:5, 11; 43:5). The main reason for taking the psalms together, however, is that both deal with spiritual depression. READ Psalm 42 and 43
*It is hard for me to imagine that a book about depression would be very popular, but in 1965 D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the pastor of Westminster Chapel in London, published a book entitled Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure, which became one of the most highly valued and widely circulated books he ever wrote. The only conceivable reason it has been so popular is not that the subject itself is attractive, but that so many people, including Christians, are depressed and looking for solutions. We are all depressed at times. We get down in the dumps. We sing the blues. We feel that God has forgotten us and that we will never be able to get on track with God again. It is a condition the old mystics accurately labeled ''the dark night of the soul.'' It is a puzzling condition too. We wonder why it is happening, especially if we are Christians. We identify with Erma Bombeck, who asks in the title of one of her best-selling books, If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, Why Am I Living in the Pits?*
*Twenty-five million Americans suffer from depression each year. Over 50% of all people who die by suicide suffer from major depression. If you include alcoholics who are depressed, this figure rises to over 75%. Suicides i ...
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