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I. THE STATE OF MIND IN WHICH THE PSALMIST WAS AND CHRISTIANS SOMETIMES ARE.

II. THE DESIRABLENESS OF THE INVESTIGATION WHICH THE PSALMIST INSTITUTED.

1. It is very often for a want of asking the question that you are in that state at all. Many men allow partly imaginary trials to creep into their souls, that scarcely have a palpable existence if they were only inquired into, and yet when once they are seen they are watched over, and they grow until they expand to such an extent that they seem to fill the man's whole spirit and all around him; whereas if they were just looked at in the face in the light of Divine presence and in the glory that beams from another world, they would vanish in a moment like mists before the rising sun; the man's trouble would be turned into triumph, and his saddest sorrows into sweetest song. Let the inquiry be made, for it is for lack of the inquiry very often that the soul is cast down within us, and is disquieted in all it has to pass through.

2. The inquiry should be made because generally, if not entirely, it would be found that in the Divine dealings there really was no cause whatever for the soul to be cast down at all. The very form of the question implies that. "Why art thou cast down?" Really, the psalmist does not know of any reason why it should be, and he speaks to his soul like another man, of whom he was surprised and almost ashamed.

3. Another reason why the question should be asked is because very often the answer to it will be found in the soul itself. "You ask me why I am cast down within you. Remember all the accumulation of worldliness and care and greed and sinful indulgence that you have heaped up upon me till I have been buried under it and could not move."

III. THE COUNSEL THE PSALMIST ADDRESSES TO HIS SOUL. "Hope thou in God." Look at Martin Luther when his enemies are like raging lions gathered round him, and he is cast into prison and all things look dark and threatening, and a common soul might be disquieted and cast down. "No," he says, "let us sing the Psalms 46th psalm, ' God is our refuge and strength, a very present help; therefore will not we fear though the mountains be removed.'" His soul is not cast down. He hopes in God. What say you — the stream is dried up? Well, in all probability it is in mercy it has, for if that had continued you had never gone to the fountain. Hope thou in God, for if you can say, "God is my salvation," with joy shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation. What do you say — your strength is exhausted and you are feeble and have no power left? Then hope thou in God, for they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.

(J. P. Chown.)

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KJV: Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

WEB: Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him, the saving help of my countenance, and my God.