Psalm 42:11 Why are you cast down, O my soul? and why are you disquieted within me? hope you in God: for I shall yet praise him… I. NOTHING IS SO BAD AS A CONTINUED AND ALLOWED DOWNHEARTEDNESS, 1. It magnifies troubles. 2. It drags at and prevents work. 3. It shadows blessings, making the hard things in life prominent rather than the ameliorating things. 4. It bereaves of God and shadows the promises. II. THERE ARE MANY CAUSES FOR DOWNHEARTEDNESS IN THIS STRANGE AND DISCIPLINARY WORLD, 1. Exile. 2. Overstrain of work. 3. Hard environment. III. HOW CAN ONE DEFEAT DOWNHEARTEDNESS AND LIFT INTO AND KEEP HIMSELF IN CHEER? 1. By recognition of the fact that downheartedness is worst for us. A man ought to esteem it as bad for the soul as some corrupting contagion is for the body. 2. By service for others. That is one trouble with downheartedness — it emphasizes self. And a good, and frequently quick, cure for it is the determined emphasizing on our part of other Selves, thus causing, somewhat at least, a forgetfulness of the morbid self. 3. I pray you also, when you are downhearted, make your work a sacrament. By strong and prayerful volition put yourself at the daily duty; do it even more painstakingly than ever, even though you feel so little like it. A high reactive feeling of victory will have large share in scattering your darkness. 4. Last and chiefest, turn to God. Follow the example of the psalmist here. (W. Hoyt, D. D) Parallel Verses 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. |
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