Why Are You Downcast, Oh My Soul?

How grateful we must be that the psalmist David knew what it was to be depressed, despondent and dejected, otherwise we would have been deprived of many of his most helpful psalms! Two of these which are placed side by side are Psalms 42 and 43. They were obviously written at a time when this great man of the Most High was very downcast. In Psalm 42 compare verses 3,5,7,9,10. It would be true to say that very few Christians escape the experience of depression, and writing of these verses C. H. Spurgeon said, ‘Most of the Lord’s family have travelled the path which is here so graphically described…