Preaching to Yourself: The Godly Art of Soul-Interrogation Text: Psalm 43:5
Introduction: The Civil War Within
Every Christian who is actually in the fight knows that the Christian life is not a placid stroll through a meadow. It is a war, and the most intense theater of that war is not out there somewhere, but is located right between your own two ears. It is the war for your own soul. The world, the flesh, and the devil are formidable foes, to be sure, but their primary strategy is to get you to turn on yourself. They want to enlist your own soul to do their dirty work. They want you to become your own accuser, your own tormentor, your own jailer.
This is why the modern obsession with "listening to your heart" or "following your feelings" is such disastrous spiritual advice. It is tantamount to taking strategic counsel from a compromised, and sometimes treasonous, cabinet member. Our feelings are fickle, our hearts are deceitful above all things, and our souls are prone to wander. The Psalmist here, likely David, understands this profound truth. He is in a bad way. He is oppressed by enemies, cut off from the public worship of God, and sinking into a swamp of despair. But instead of letting his soul dictate the terms of his reality, he does something profoundly militant. He grabs his soul by the lapels, gets right in its face, and interrogates it.
This psalm, and its twin, Psalm 42, gives us a divine pattern for dealing with spiritual depression, with that heavy, gray blanket of gloom that can descend upon any believer. The pattern is not to coddle your feelings. It is not to navel-gaze. It is to preach the objective, blood-bought truth of God to your own wavering soul. This is the essence of faith. Faith is not a feeling; it is a rugged, disciplined refusal to be governed by your feelings. It is looking your despair right in the eye and telling it to sit down and shut up, because God is on His throne.
This final verse of Psalm 43 is the refrain, the great battle cry that the Psalmist has been teaching himself. It is a master class in how to handle the civil war that rages within every one of us. It is a lesson in how to talk, not just listen, to yourself.
The Text
Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why are you disturbed within me?
Wait for God, for I shall still praise Him,
The salvation of my presence and my God.
(Psalm 43:5 LSB)
The Godly Interrogation (v. 5a)
The first thing the Psalmist does is put his soul on the witness stand.
"Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me?" (Psalm 43:5a)
Notice the structure of this. He is not being swept away by the emotion. He is standing apart from it, observing it, and challenging it. He addresses his own soul, his "nephesh" in the Hebrew, which refers to the very seat of his life, his appetites, his emotions, his inner being. He sees that it is "cast down," in despair, bowed low to the ground. He feels that it is "disturbed," like a churning, stormy sea within him.
And he asks it a searing, logical question: "Why?" This is not a cry of ignorance, as though he has no idea what the external pressures are. The previous verses have made that clear. He is dealing with the "unmerciful nation" and the "deceitful and unjust man" (v. 1). He feels forgotten by God (v. 2). He is being taunted by his enemies, "Where is your God?" (Psalm 42:3). He has plenty of "reasons" for his feelings. But the "why" here is a demand for ultimate justification. He is asking his soul, "By what right are you cast down? On what authority are you in turmoil? Do you have a case that will stand up in the court of heaven?"
This is a profoundly anti-modern act. Our culture tells us that our feelings are self-validating. If you feel it, it must be true and it must be right. The Bible teaches the opposite. It teaches us to cross-examine our feelings in the light of God's revealed truth. The Psalmist is not denying his feelings. He is not stuffing them down in some sort of stoic denial. He is confronting them. He is saying, "Soul, you are reacting as though God is dead. You are behaving as though the enemy has the final say. You are acting like an orphan. Why?"
This is the first step in spiritual warfare. You must objectify your own subjective turmoil and bring it under the authority of God's Word. You must stop letting your soul preach its godless, circumstance-based sermons to you, and you must start preaching back.
The Covenant Command (v. 5b)
After interrogating his soul, he does not wait for an answer from the trembling defendant. He immediately issues a command. He tells his soul what to do.
"Wait for God, for I shall still praise Him..." (Psalm 43:5b)
The command is simple: "Wait for God." Some translations say "Hope in God," and the concepts are deeply intertwined. To wait for God is an active, expectant, rugged hope. It is not a passive, listless resignation. It is the posture of a soldier on watch, knowing his commander is coming with reinforcements. It is the posture of a farmer who has planted the seed and knows the harvest is coming. Waiting on God means refusing to run ahead of Him, and it means refusing to bail on Him. It is a steadfast confidence in His timing, His wisdom, and His goodness, even when all the sensory data is screaming the opposite.
And what is the immediate result of this command to wait? It is a resolute declaration of future action: "for I shall still praise Him." Notice the "still" or "yet." This is glorious. He is saying, "Despite the current darkness, despite the taunts of the enemy, despite my own churning gut, there is a day coming when my mouth will be filled with the praises of God again. I know it. It is a fixed point in my future."
This is not wishful thinking. This is covenant logic. He is not saying, "I hope I feel like praising Him someday." He is saying, "Praise is the necessary and inevitable outcome for a child of the covenant God. Therefore, I will praise Him." He is binding his future self to the worship of God, based on the character of God, not the condition of his circumstances. He is making an appointment to praise God, and he is telling his soul that it had better be there.
The Unshakeable Foundation (v. 5c)
Finally, the Psalmist grounds his entire argument, his entire self-exhortation, in the bedrock of objective theological reality. Why should he hope? Why will he praise? Because of who God is.
"The salvation of my presence and my God." (Psalm 43:5c)
This phrase can be translated a few ways, "the help of my countenance," or "my salvation and my God." The point is the same. He is identifying God as the source of his deliverance. God is not just the one who sends salvation; God is his salvation. The help he needs is not an abstract force; it is the very face, the very presence, of his God turning toward him.
This is intensely personal. He doesn't just say "God," he says "my God." This is the language of covenant. This is not the god of the philosophers, the unmoved mover. This is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is the God who has bound Himself to His people with oaths and promises. The Psalmist's hope is not in his own ability to hang on, but in the grip of the God who has sworn to be his God.
He is reminding his soul of its true identity. "Soul, you are not defined by this unmerciful nation. You are not defined by your feelings of despair. You are defined by the one who owns you. He is your God. And because He is your God, He is also your salvation." He is looking away from the storm and to the lighthouse. He is looking away from the symptoms and to the cure. The cure is God Himself.
Preaching the Gospel to Your Soul
For us, who live on this side of the cross, this psalm is magnified a thousand times. We have seen the ultimate answer to the question, "Where is your God?" He is not distant. He is not hiding His face. He has shown His face, His presence, His salvation, in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ.
When your soul is in despair, when it is disturbed within you, you must preach the gospel to it. You must interrogate it: "Soul, why are you cast down? Has the blood of Christ lost its power? Has the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea been resealed? Has the Son of God been hurled from His throne at the right hand of the Father? No? Then what in the world are you so upset about?"
You must command it: "Soul, hope in God! Wait for Him! Your salvation is not a future possibility; it is a past, present, and future reality. Your salvation was accomplished at the cross. It is being applied to you now by the Spirit. And it will be consummated when Christ returns. Wait for Him."
And you must declare your intention to worship: "And I shall still praise Him." Our praise is not contingent on our emotional equilibrium. We praise Him because He is worthy of praise. We praise Him for the empty tomb, for the forgiveness of sins, for our adoption as sons, for the promise of glory. We praise Him because our story does not end in a dark valley of despair, but in the courts of the living God, where we will see Him who is the salvation of our countenance, and our God, face to face.
So learn this holy art. When the darkness descends, do not listen to yourself. Talk to yourself. Preach to yourself. Take your soul by the scruff of the neck and make it look at the cross. Make it look at the empty tomb. Make it look at the ascended Christ. For He is your salvation, and He is your God.