Well friends, just over a month ago, it was R U OK Day. R U OK. If you're not aware of that, there's a website, you can look up that acronym which is on your service sheet. R U OK. The topic of mental health and all it's related to is complex. And if you've struggled, and this is an admission from the front, if you're a regular, you know this, I've struggled, my family has struggled, we all struggle with mental health in different ways. It's complex and we need to be sensitive. That often means we don't talk about it a lot, particularly in churches. not in sermons, it might get relegated to the other talk or some other place, which is not a bad thing, it's not a criticism, it's just that we don't often hear God's word preached on the subject. My mother, in the church I grew up in, faithful church, I got converted in that little church. She struggled deeply with mental health in my latter high school years, severely, acutely. And her pastor, who is a well-meaning man, said to her, Christians don't struggle with mental health. And so she had no help in that realm of anyone who understood or could speak to it, or at least could open the Bible on the subject. So I don't blame that man, and she found some help in other ways, but we need to help one another. Now, the culture is changing in Australia, and so we have R U OK? Day. That exists because the culture is changing. I serve as a volunteer police chaplain at the Bendigo Station. One of the big issues in the workplace for them is a culture where it's hard to admit, I'm not okay. Because if they admit that to someone, even in the chain of welfare, they're worried it'll affect their career. Who's going to promote someone who struggles in their mental health? Who's going to want someone in the workplace like that? Who's going to want a pastor that struggles in their mental health? It can be hard to admit the culture is changing though. So we have R U OK? Day. R U OK? is a movement, has a website, that's clearly commendable. Now we are a church, that means we're not a show, we're not a concert, we're not a lecture theatre, we're not even a social club. But we're a church and church is family and that means for us as a community, we ought to be looking out for one another. Asking the question, R U OK? Let me quote the website, R U OK? It says this, this is a direct quote, it's this lack of connection or this lack of belonging that we want to prevent by inspiring people to ask the question, R U OK?, and to listen. We can help people feel connected and have a connection long before they're thinking about things like suicide. It all comes down to regular face-to-face meaningful conversations about life and asking, R U OK? is a great place to start. See, when it comes to the mental health of us, and our church, and our families, we are connected to one another in Christ. We are members of one another, and being members of one another means we listen to one another, and we minister to one another. This morning, we're going to see how God's Word powerfully speaks into that space for us. God's Word, as we read in the New Testament, in 2 Timothy, is thoroughly equipping for every good work, including this good work, friends. And God's Word this morning, Psalm 42, 43 asks question really, or asks. We're in three Psalms intentionally on purpose. So next week is my last Sunday here before I'm away for three months. I'm on long service leave. You won't see this. We'll miss you. But as we were thinking about the sermon series and how the sermon's God shepherds us through His Word, what do we need? What does the corrugation need? And we need to hear three Psalms that speak to our fears. So last week's Psalm 2, if you missed it, Psalm 2 speaking to, I think it's on the live, but soon the sermons will go up on our website, Psalm 2 speaking to our fear when we see our society or the governments, whatever's going on outside of us, those outside circumstances cause us, even the church, to fear. How do we get comfort and what is God's Word speaking to that fear? Next week, Psalm 23, a famous Psalm, speaks to our fears, particularly in life and death, as we walk through that shadow of the valley of death. But this one, Psalm 42, 43, it's the internalized fears, the internal fears of that inner voice that you and I have. How do we address that? How do we answer that, particularly when that gets a bit out of control? And it starts by asking this question, this psalm, these two psalms actually dovetailed together, Psalm 42, 43. I wonder if you noticed that the chorus is repeated in Psalm 43? Because it asks this question. The chorus is in Psalm 42, verse 5, if you're looking in Bibles, it's in verse 11, and then it's in 43, verse 5, the same exact repeated chorus. These two psalms together, and it goes like this. Here's the question. Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why am I down? What's going on? How do I feel? How do you feel? Can I ask you, how do you feel about God? We go through life feeling many things. Human beings, our very being and the way we are designed by God and made from the very fingertips, the edges of our skin, the little hairs that can go up or down depending how we feel. Everything about us is feel. So the inner being, our souls, the Bible describes our inner being, the inner you, the inner us, the inner me, the inner you, as a soul or a heart. Yes, it affects our mind because the whole thing the scriptures see is one, the inner us, the inner you. How does the inner you feel? Not just the skin, but how does the inner you feel about God? Because the inner you gets this feeling that things are broken. Things are not right. Things are not right with the world. Things are not right with me. How do you feel? Are you okay with God? Some of us here feel, I know this because we shepherd you. We know that you feel at times in life, maybe even right now, a deep loss of joy. We pray through that Westminster Shorter Catechism, that our very purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. And then we think, well, how can I enjoy God when I have no joy? I'm struggling with joy in Christ, with joy in God. And the psalmist sums up how you feel. This is the beauty of the Book of Psalms, this Book of Songs, this Book of Prayers. They're prayers, they're songs written by people who are experiencing the very things that you and I experience. calling out to the God who knows us, who loves us, that's his word, but he gives us this book. Luther called it the Little Bible. Hellden, God's songbook, God's prayer book. This book has words that sometimes I think we're afraid even to say. We can't say that to God. Well, the psalmist does, and we can, because he's big enough and sovereign enough and glorious enough and gracious enough. to hear our prayers, to call out our fears and struggles. And the psalmist, in summary, you'll see it on your outline there, really has three things the psalmist feels, that you feel. You feel thirsty, you feel forgotten, you feel rejected. These feelings are directly expressed in these two psalms, penned by people, breathed by God, connecting to us emotionally. The psalmist says, firstly, I feel thirsty, verses 1 to 5. Have a look there at verse 0, verse 0 is the title of the psalm. Have a look there at Psalm 42, verse 0, to the choir master, a masculine of the sons of Korah, The Sons of Korah, of course, there's a couple of Sons of Korah in the Bible, so we gotta be careful by saying, yeah, I'm all for the Sons of Korah, because there's the not-so-good Sons of Korah, and they get judgment, and then there's the other Sons of Korah, and they're different, you know? There's two souls. Well, you get the picture. The sons of Korah here are singing priests. They're singing priests and they lead God's people in the congregation for congregational singing. We like to say around here, the band are not the sing team. This is just accompaniment for us to sing. The congregation are the sing team. What that means is, you can go anywhere in Bendigo and probably get a really good concert in church. You get a really excellent concert. Lights down low, so we don't see each other. I'm not sure why, because I want to see you when I read the Bible. Lights down low, concert from the front, like thumping music moves through your chest kind of stuff. That's not us. It's not us intentionally. Because we believe from the Bible, the sing team is not up here. The sing team is in the round here. And what Psalm 42, 43 are doing is leading this sing team, this congregation, this reflection in a song. So notice, it's important to notice that it's a song. It's not a bullet point explanation. It's not a paper, not a medical paper on depression, nor even a theological paper on depression. It's not an article. We could write an article, put it on our website this week, but this is a song. It's a prayer. And throughout it, we see from verses one and two, from the beginning, the expression of this song is like this. As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, oh God. I grew up with a song in church, maybe you too, in that little, great little faithful Baptist church I grew up in. As a deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you, you might know it. You might not recognize it from the tune I just gave you, but you might know it. I think it's the wrong tune. Here's me, I'm not good at tune at all. I say to the music team, look, we're running out of musicians, it's Christmas, everyone's away. How about I lead us in song and the music and media team say, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a good idea. Because the media team particularly hear my voice in the microphones. Yeah, no, we find someone else. It's not my spiritual gift. But here's me, not spiritual gift, that's the wrong tune. Because the tune is not, I think in Psalm 42, meant to be, I'm just feeling so sad. It's guttural, it's visceral. Like, it's like a deer who has no water. I don't know if you've seen an animal that is so thirsty, like if you see it in a drought time or in summer, a sheep, I've not really had a lot of experience in deer, but I've seen sheep who are absolutely thirsty. Their tongue is swollen. They are panting. They're not just kind of wistfully hoping to get some, they're at will die on the spot. And they do because sheep die at moments notice. The soul of this person, pants for God, tongue swollen. They're thirsty for God. And why are they thirsty for God? Because all they have, verse 3, to drink is my tears. My tears have been my food day and night. This person is so depressed, so vanquished and in anguish that all they have left are their own tears. And in the middle of the spiritual depression, it gets worse. Verse three. They're already depressed. I'm not sure if this has been your experience or the psalmist experiences this. I think a lot of us have. You're already depressed. You're already down. All you have left is your tears and where you would look around for your friends. What does he see? What does he hear? Well, they say to me all the day long, where is your God? There are other Psalms by David. You can read through the Psalms, particularly some of the early ones. Other Psalms by David where he speaks of being under pressure because people want to kill him. So, famously, Saul, King Saul, wanted to kill David. But David had served Saul, he'd been a faithful steward of Saul. Saul wanted to kill David. Later, gets in his family and Absalom wants to be away with David. And David writes psalms crying out to God, speaking of his fear of being hunted and killed. This psalm is not about being hunted or killed. This psalm is not about persecution. This psalm, this depression, is exacerbated by peer pressure. See, not only does God not seem near, but it seems now he's mocked by his so-called mates. And this goes around and around him until it goes inside him and around and around his head space and around and around into his heart space, into his very soul. Verse four, he remembers these things. You would too, wouldn't you? What people say about you or to you. It's very hard to forget. It's very hard to forget. When people use cutting words, when people tell you your words are worthless, that's very hard to forget. You want to forgive, but it's very hard to forget. These things I remember as I pour out my soul. He remembers what's been said. And then he remembers verse four, I used to have joy. When did he have joy? Look at verse four. These things I remember as a poor in 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. What is he saying? He's saying, I long for the days where I got to gather with God's people and be with them. I got to enjoy God. You see, sadly, this is what happens with those who are struggling with mental illness. Struggling with this downcast soul. We want to draw near to others, and often we are there, but we're not there. We're here, but we're somehow not here. And the psalmist is spiritually dry, thirsty for God. To make matters worse, He just feels like God is not near. When we come to church to gather and worship, we meet God at his word. And as we do that, we need to hear him speaking to us and then take his word and speak to one another that word. We need the gospel in dry times. The church needs the gospel. Now, here in Psalm 42, this thirst sees him spiritually depressed. And there's no obvious sin here. So, like Psalm 51 or 32, which has confession of sins. There's no confession of sin in Psalm 42, 43. There's no confession. The problem is not him in sin, particularly, which is in other Psalms. His spiritual depression, he's down, he's dry, he's thirsty. Because here's his problem in Psalm 42-43. All he hears are his own thoughts. I want you to notice this. This is a key feature of Psalm 42-43. All he hears is his own thoughts. Yes, the thoughts of the so-called mates around. Those things have become cutting thoughts and then they're just on replay, repeat, shuffle in his head. And he identifies the problem is, that's all I'm hearing, and that needs to change. So this happens to all of us, it happens to me. What is the loudest voice for you in the room? Right now, I'm mic'd up, and I'm pretty loud, I get that. And I sometimes go to, you know, off the charts level, accidentally, I can't help it, I'm a passionate person. But that's not the loudest voice in the room for you. It's just not. I know it's not. because I've got one too. You might find it hard to believe, but I'm hearing two voices right now. I've got this one, which you have as well, but there's another one. It's the voice in your head. It's the inner voice, it's the inner Russ, who's constantly talking to Russ, isn't he? This happens for you, it happens to me all the time. So, in a normal sort of average day, this is me. I must remember to do that thing I was going to do. I must remember to get the milk and not buy extra things that I'm told not to get at the shops. I must remember that. I must do that thing. I need lists now, because I'm middle-aged. I need lists. The inner voice is always doing that, but the inner voice says, that's healthy, that's fine, that's normal. What happens for my inner voice, where it starts going unhealthy, is then the inner voice starts saying things like this to me, to Russ. Russ, you are such an idiot. And I say, well, yes, I am. No, no, no. You are terrible. You make so many mistakes, Russ. You let everyone down. You are terrible. No one likes you. Your words are worthless. What happens is the inner voice starts taking over and you just keep replaying it and all I'm hearing is my own inner voice telling me how worthless I am. And that is so loud, you could even be experiencing that right now. Even if I'm mic'd up to volume 10 off the charts, our own inner voice is the loudest voice in the room. There's a book written by Martin Lloyd-Jones, you might not have heard of that person, but he was a preacher of the 80s, died last century. This is an excellent book. This is a new version, the old version is old covers, but it's called Spiritual Depression. Martin Lloyd-Jones wrote this book, it's a series of sermons he preached at Westminster Chapel. This is an excellent book, Spiritual Depression, and he looks at Psalm 42, 43, He looks at these things. He's a medical doctor by a previous profession. As a preacher, he says this, and I think he's right. It's been so helpful. We need to stop listening to the inner voice in our head and start instead listening to another voice. We need to listen to the gospel preached into our head, into our heart, into our soul. We need to listen to the gospel. we need to preach the gospel to ourselves. We need to get that gospel and in those moments where I'm telling myself how terrible I am, how hopeless I am, how worthless I am, hear the gospel of how God sees me in Christ! need to cut through that. Let Christ, by His sword of truth, the sword of the Spirit, cut through the vines that entangle me and speak to my heart and my soul and say, I see you in Christ, righteous, sanctified, mine, and I'll never leave you. That's what we need. And that's what the psalmist does here in Psalm 42-43. He does it in the chorus. Have a look at verse 5. He asks the question and then preaches the gospel to himself. Verse 5. Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you in turmoil within me? And now what does he do? He shows to himself his soul. Hope in God. For I shall again praise him my salvation and my God. In the same way, in our dry times, we need to examine, why is my soul downcast? Where have I placed my hopes? In tomorrow being a better day? In next week? In that new change in life for me? Where have I placed hope? Have I placed hope in things that cannot hold up such hope? Or have I placed my hope ultimately in God? When it comes to being depressed, anxious, there are good gifts of God's common grace to us. There's medical help, medicines. I myself am finding it very helpful to see a Christian psychologist who specializes in helping ministers in my particular context and situation. Say that out loud. Because it's okay to say that out loud, isn't it? But we also need, along with those common graces of medical help, God's special grace in Christ. I need him. I need to take the gospel and preach it to my own heart and ask the question, Russ, Russ, in drier times, Russ, where have you placed your hope? Has it been a false hope? Has that hope let you down? Because Christ will not let you down, Russ. Remember who God is, even when you feel forgotten. Verse 6, the psalmist feels forgotten. Now he writes verse 6 at the side of a river, which is ironic because he's spiritually dry. So we look at verse 6. That's the start of the stream. He's by the side of the river. He's in far north Jerusalem, far from the people of God. Not necessarily far away though, but here's where it gets ironic, terribly ironic. He's dry beside a river. And when we say river, we're not talking Murray River, a little stream. But verse 7, this dry man feels like drowning. Look at verse 7, deep calls to deep. Now, if you've read your Bibles a bit, this is going to start sounding familiar because someone quotes this. Deep calls to deep. At the roar of your waterfalls, all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. Who said that? Who has that experience of deep goes to deep? Jonah. Jonah's prayer from the belly of a whale or a fish, whatever that thing is. That beast that he's done, which he sees as actually God's grace. We rightly see it as God's grace. That God saves Jonah, even as deep calls to deep. At the roar of your waterfalls, all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. I'm overwhelmed. I'm under the water. Here we see the Psalmist has this experience. And whilst Jonah, for a moment, in the stomach of that beast, gets it, that God has been gracious and saved, the Psalmist says, why have you forgotten me? Verse nine, I say to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries told me, while they say to me all day long, where is your God? And here in verse 11, then, is the second repeat of that chorus. Why are you cast down, O my soul, O hoping God's soul? This is the heart of a healthy prayer life. The healthy prayer life, prayer is an expression of faith. It says to God, I trust you. Even when I feel overwhelmed, I trust you. Even when I call out, why are you letting me drown? You can call out to God. Because in your drowning, in your despair, He's the God you can call out to. You can shout to, you can groan to, you can say, why? Because even the cry of why is a cry of trust. It's a cry of faith. It says, I know you're there. And you know I'm here. And so we can go to him in prayer. Even when we feel rejected. As we move into Psalm 43, the writer presses his case by praying his second prayer in the psalm, an extended prayer to God. Vindicate me, O God! plead my case, there are ungodly people all around me and in my trouble, deliver me, rescue me, after all, you are my refuge, you are my stronghold. And just like his outburst in 42 verse nine, about being forgotten, here's where he says, why, verse two, why have you rejected me? See, our God is big enough to absorb that question. We feel afraid to, don't we? We can't say that to God. You can, you're encouraged. Say it to God. Why does it feel like you've rejected me? Because he is glorious and gracious and grand enough to have an answer. Even though he says, my tears will be my food, he receives the food of God's word. And after examining his hopes, he sees God give him hope. In a swirl of words, he needs the truth of God's promises. In a world of pain and self-said lies of his mind and his so-called mates, it's striking that he's speaking about light and truth. Notice this, he talks about light and truth. Verse 3, 43 verse 3, send out your light and truth. And how does he speak about light and truth? Like particles and waves? You're a scientist, light lives in particles and waves? Truth in words? No, look at verse 3. It's personified. Light and truth is a person. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling. It's like light and truth takes him by the hand and leads us back to God because light and truth knows the way. And the psalmist sees what we need to see, what we need to know. Even though his head is struggling, he's mentally struggling, and his heart doesn't know where it's at, he knows that God's light and truth will lead him. Because Christ is the light and truth of the world. And Christ, friends, Christ cares for your mental health, whatever you feel. How does he do that? Well, I've got three things from Psalm 42, 43 that Christ helps, Christ cares for your mental health. Firstly, through his word. Let me tell you this, here's another admission. Obviously, I'm a teacher, a preacher of God's word. But I know myself, when I struggle particularly, of all the places I go to, it can be a struggle to go to God's word. We easily find ourselves in other places, hearing the messages from social media or just the so-called mates, or we just sit alone with our own thoughts. The Psalm 42, 43 show me, they show us, You can go to God's Word and readily express what you're finding hard to put to words, pray to God, and know this. He cares and He understands, not because He's distant, but because He has come. And not just because He has come because He's light and truth that leads us through those moments in life, those seasons, but because we can know this about light and truth in Christ. God and Christ experienced the very same things of Psalm 42, 43. We have the true and living God. We have the God who experienced these things himself. We read that cross-reference reading from Matthew 27, didn't we? Matthew 27, what do they say to Jesus on the cross? What do his so-called friends, mates do? They leave him. leave him they will not stand by his side and defend him they all leave him and then some say this Matthew 27 he trusts in God Let God deliver him now, if he desires him, for he said, I am the Son of God. And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. Now the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out. Here is an expression of faith. It's a prayer. And it's a guttural, visceral cry. Eli, Eli, lama samethani. Which means, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Friends, it is Jesus who felt thirsty on the cross. It is Jesus who felt forgotten on the cross. It is Jesus who felt rejected on the cross. Do you feel thirsty? Forgotten? Rejected? Jesus felt all those things for you. Not just as an example and to say, I understand, which he does, but he quotes that Psalm as he does there, Not just as an example or an emblematic symbol, He does it for you. Why? Because on that cross, He goes through those things of human experience and the ultimate forsaking and rejection. You know what a God-forsaken place is? It's hell! God is sovereign and God is sovereign even over hell, but that is a place of God-forsakenness. And what does Jesus do on the cross? Jesus goes to hell and back on the cross. Jesus, because he cares about our sin, because he cares about our suffering, and for the psalmist, in spite of what's happening around him and inside him, in spite of what he feels, Jesus hasn't lost that objectivity that God is his rock. Christ is the rock. He hasn't lost that. But He goes through that for us, instead of us, so we don't have to ultimately be ultimately thirsty, God-forsaken and rejected. See, the deep problem of spiritual depression is we focus on ourselves. I do this all the time. We focus on ourselves. We need to stop focusing on ourselves and focus on Christ. His saving, justifying, work on the cross, but also He is suffering, perceived in our place. And you will discover a joy that exceeds expectations. The Apostle Paul says, sorrowful yet always rejoicing. You can't get that in this world. Our world does not have no category for sorrowful yet always rejoicing. No category for lucky sun, we wait on the Lord. In spiritual dryness, we can keep pouring out our soul to God now. We don't have to wait for circumstances to get better. For some of us, they may not. Not yet, but we can now pour out our soul to God. Come and find your hope in Christ. Join Jesus, because when it comes to mental health, Jesus changes everything. He provides common grace, but he's special grace in our spiritual depression. He changes that. Because he shows us what we're really like, moreover what he's really like. We could start with asking, are you okay? That might be a helpful starting point. It ought to be the place, the ministry of morning tea, shouldn't it? Are you okay? Instead of coming at one another with pressure or accusations, we just ask, are you okay? We give people grace to have meaningful conversations without holding a list against them. We wonder, maybe people are not okay. Maybe that's why they're like that. And I should perhaps instead pray for them. And then we could even say, can I pray with you? Because I know what this place is like too. That's our church friends. That's our culture. That's who we are. Christ cares for your mental health. No matter what you're stumbling through, he will lead you to God's holy hill of heaven. And we can believe that. We can believe that because in his wisdom, he's given us, yes, common grace, but his special grace, God uses both. So if like my mum, someone here said, I'm feeling I'm not okay. we would need wisdom, wouldn't we? We don't have all the pat answers. We don't have that, well, here's the exact Bible verse, you know, go be well. But we could start with Psalm 42, 43, just read it with not have all the answers, but just listen and pray with them. We can know where to go for helps. If you don't know where to go for medical helps, we can guide you and I can direct you to different places. But lastly, that's the third thing, because we are His people who also care. Christ cares for mental health through His people. May we never be a church that just dismisses that and just thinks, well, that doesn't matter, and rails against people instead. May we never be that us. That's not us. That's not Christ. May we be a people that actually care and ask and listen and pray. Our elders, one of our elders particularly Rory, is training in biblical counseling. We are wanting to serve people in this way. But in all of this, see this most of all, See, when Jesus sees people in need of care, what does he say? He says, I care and I'll send my people onto it. But most of all, I cared for you at the cross. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, thank you for your love demonstrated in Christ who came for us to care for us, to be with us, to die for us, to rise to new life for us, to restore us, to renew us, to bring hope for us. Thank you for Jesus. And now help us by your spirit. As we sing this next song with its words that are so true, words from the book of Job, from someone else who experienced these things, we pray as we sing that whatever happens, even under your sovereign hand, that we would hope in you, praise you, our salvation and our God. In Jesus' name, we have this. In Jesus' name, we pray this. Amen.