Deep calls to Deep (Psalm 42:6-11)
Psalms 42-43 form a single Psalm in 3 parts (42:1-5, 6-11, 43:1-5), each of which ends with the same refrain, where he speaks to his soul. It is designed to teach us how to overcome spiritual depression, which is seen as being a process (as seen by the 3 stages in which he progressively comes into the victory). The Psalmist was mourning (v3), because he had been falsely accused (43:1) and exiled far from Jerusalem and its Temple worship (v2,4), where he experienced God’s Presence, so he felt himself cut off from God. This was made worse by the taunts of the backsliders among whom he lived (v3), and the oppressive spiritual atmosphere there (v9). All these things pulled his soul down, but He did not surrender to his feelings of spiritual depression and discouragement, which often trap a discouraged person. He didn’t say: “My soul is cast down and that’s how it is. There’s nothing I can do about it.”Instead, he spoke to his soul and challenged them, saying: “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? HOPE in God, for I shall yet thank Him for the saving help of His Countenance (Presence)” (v5). He commanded his soul to hope in God, for God is faithful to His promises, and will come through for him, and bring him through the trial, into a good place. This refrain (v5) completes the first stage of his fight to overcome depression. The negative circumstances and words were pulling his soul down, and if he passively surrendered to them, he’d fall into the darkness of unbelief, further cutting him off from God’s Presence. He had taken the first steps of realising his deepest need (thirst) was for God’s Presence (v1,2), and turning to God in prayer for the answer (v4a), and building his faith by remembering his past experiences of His Presence (v4b), and by calling his soul to hope in God (v5). A battle was raging in his soul between depression and hope. Depression is the loss of hope, so hope is the antidote to depression, so by speaking God’s truth to his soul, he began the process of establishing his soul in hope (God’s plan and vision for his future), which will overcome all depression. Although in the first stage he had made progress in this battle for his soul, he still had to deal with depression as we see at the start of the 2nd stage of his journey to victory: “O my God, my soul is cast down within me” (v6a). He turned to God and reported his cast down soul to Him. Bringing his soul before God (as in v4a) was wise, as a common mistake at such times is to stay awayfrom God or hide the problem from Him.
“Therefore (because of feeling depressed), I will remember (intentionally focus my attention on) YOU from the land of the Jordan, and from the heights of Hermon, from the Hill Mizar (‘small’)” (v6b).He used his depression as a stimulus to turn to God and mediate on Him. In this verse, he also reveals his physical location in exile the far north of Israel, at the foothills of Mt. Hermon, from where the Jordan River originates, near Dan and Banias (Caesarea Philippi). The Hill Mizar is probably the Rockface at Banias, out from which the Jordan flows, before going down a nearby waterfall. He uses the local scenery to aid his mediation on God as the natural is the image of the spiritual. Mt Hermon = Heaven, from where the Jordan flows, a picture of God’s River of Life, flowing out on earth through the Rock (Christ). In v1-2, he expressed his THIIRST for God’s living water but now his faith has grown to where he is able to DRINK deeply of the Holy Spirit: “DEEP calls unto DEEP at the noise (sound) of Your WATERFALLS” (v7a). The Banias waterfall (where the waters plunged down into a deep pool at its base) reminded him of the waterfalls of God’s abundant grace flowing down from above into the depths of our open heart. When we hear the sound of God’s waterfalls through His Word, faith arises in our heart (Rom 10:17), so that from the depths of our heart we call out to the depths of God to fill us with His Spirit. The Depths of God answer to the depths of human need. As a result of this prayer: “all Your waves and billows (of love and grace) have gone over me.” I imagine him in the river under the waterfall. Many say v7 refers to the depths and billows of his suffering sent by God, but this misses the point. v8 confirms they are waves of lovingkindness, as does the way v7 fits with v1-2 (in v1-2 he thirsts for the living water, and then in v7 he receives (drinks) it by faith). Now troubles can reveal our need, causing us to open up the depths of our heart and call on God to fill us, so that His strength is perfected in our weakness (2Cor 12:9-10). As we turn to God in these situations, we connect with God on a deeper level and grow spiritually in His grace.

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