Gut-Level Dryness (3 of 5)
Series: Gut-Level Worship
Dave Gustavsen
Psalm 42
We're continuing our series from the Psalms today. And we're specifically focusing on the ''darker side'' of the Psalms. The book of Psalms was the song book for the people of Israel. And you don't have to read the Psalms very long before you realize that they're not all up, happy, joyful songs. A lot of them are written from a place of pain or confusion or anger or some other really tough emotion. And normally, you wouldn't think those emotions have any connection to worship! But they do. And these Psalms really show us how to take those emotions, and-instead of letting them drive you away from God-how they can actually draw you closer.
And today we're going to look at the emotion that I'll call ''dryness.'' Spiritual and emotional dryness. In an extreme form you would call it ''depression.'' But even if you're not clinically depressed, you can be at an emotional and spiritual place that just feels dry and lifeless and flat.
Have you ever been there? I'm sure some of you are there right now. And I can almost promise you that if you are on a path of following God, at some time or another, you will be there. So this is, once again, a Psalm that I'm so thankful God included in the Bible.
So let's jump into Psalm 42. The heading says: For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah. The sons of Korah were professional worship leaders at the temple-so they were appointed by the king to write worship songs and lead temple worship. And that term maskil is a musical term. We're not exactly sure what it means, but it comes from the Hebrew verb that means ''to make someone wise'' or ''to instruct.'' So it probably means, ''This is a song that instructs. If you let the lyrics to this song sink in, you'll be wiser because you did.'' So here's the Psalm-I'm going to read through the whole thing:
1 As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
...
Series: Gut-Level Worship
Dave Gustavsen
Psalm 42
We're continuing our series from the Psalms today. And we're specifically focusing on the ''darker side'' of the Psalms. The book of Psalms was the song book for the people of Israel. And you don't have to read the Psalms very long before you realize that they're not all up, happy, joyful songs. A lot of them are written from a place of pain or confusion or anger or some other really tough emotion. And normally, you wouldn't think those emotions have any connection to worship! But they do. And these Psalms really show us how to take those emotions, and-instead of letting them drive you away from God-how they can actually draw you closer.
And today we're going to look at the emotion that I'll call ''dryness.'' Spiritual and emotional dryness. In an extreme form you would call it ''depression.'' But even if you're not clinically depressed, you can be at an emotional and spiritual place that just feels dry and lifeless and flat.
Have you ever been there? I'm sure some of you are there right now. And I can almost promise you that if you are on a path of following God, at some time or another, you will be there. So this is, once again, a Psalm that I'm so thankful God included in the Bible.
So let's jump into Psalm 42. The heading says: For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah. The sons of Korah were professional worship leaders at the temple-so they were appointed by the king to write worship songs and lead temple worship. And that term maskil is a musical term. We're not exactly sure what it means, but it comes from the Hebrew verb that means ''to make someone wise'' or ''to instruct.'' So it probably means, ''This is a song that instructs. If you let the lyrics to this song sink in, you'll be wiser because you did.'' So here's the Psalm-I'm going to read through the whole thing:
1 As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
...
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