Hope for the Depressed in Psalms 42 & 43

The Psalms are a natural landing place for anyone experiencing depression and with 150 choices, there are so many great places to start, but Psalm 42 & 43 are my favourite. After many years of spending time there for my own mental and spiritual health, I made a worksheet to go with these two psalms. I have used this worksheet with counsellees and in workshops, and have found it a useful tool. I would like to share this resource with you as you help your counsellees struggling with depression. Feel free to download this and use it however you find it to be helpful. Let’s walk through how to use this resource.

Psalm 42 and 43 are ‘Maskils of the Sons of Korah‘ and are connected by the refrain: 

Why, my soul, are you so dejected?
Why are you in such turmoil?
Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him,
my Savior and my God.

They describe a person who is downcast, depressed, dejected, longing for the way he felt in the past, yet clinging to hope. This describes a depressed person well, and people who are suffering this affliction will relate to how the psalmist feels. This leads us to the first instruction on the worksheet, to circle all the phrases that describe the psalmist’s mental health and/or emotions. The purpose of this exercise is to help the counselee know they are not alone in how they feel and to know that God cares so much about their experience that he makes sure it is described in Scripture.

You will want your counselee to notice phrases like, I long for you, God, My tears have been my food day and night, Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? I am deeply depressed, Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression? 

These phrases will help them feel as though Scripture is speaking right to their experience and because of that, there is hope. Next, ask them what phrases they identify with. This is a great way of using Scripture to help you know your counselee better. You can talk through how they are feeling and why they are feeling that way. 

The next step is to underline all the actions the psalmist takes to deal with these emotions. You can point out how the psalmist is bringing these emotions to God in prayer and song and is being completely honest with God. The psalmist also uses the word remember. He remembers what it was like when he was not depressed and he remembers what God had done for him at the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. He comes to the altar of God and praises, despite how he is feeling. Maybe most importantly, he knows where true hope is found and puts his hope in God and in the fact that he will still praise him again. Ask your counselee what would help them the most right now and to star those underlines on the worksheet. 

Next, have your counselee box all the phrases that tell us what God does for us when we are depressed. Pay careful attention to the phrases The Lord will send his faithful love by day; his song will be with me in the night — a prayer to the God of my life, Vindicate me, God, and champion my cause, you are the God of my refuge, Send your light and your truth; let them lead me. Alongside your counselee, think through what these phrases mean to someone who is depressed. I often say depression is like a darkness that lies to us and the psalmist asks for God’s light and truth. Because depression lies to the sufferer, they need God’s faithful love by day and because depression is a darkness, we need God’s song in the night. 

Finally, we want to brainstorm together with our counsellee practical steps inspired by this psalm. These ideas can give you homework assignments for weeks! Some ideas might be to create a playlist for the dark times, journaling assignments based on these psalms and honesty with God, making art out of some of these phrases that mean a lot to the counsellee, making a list (remembering) how God has rescued them in the past. The possibilities are endless. Your counsellees may come up with some really creative ways to use these psalms to fight their depression.

These psalms and this worksheet do not guarantee immediate relief of symptoms. Even in the now familiar refrain, the psalmist looks ahead to a time when he will still praise God, despite how he feels. Our counselees may benefit from some physical interventions as well, but we know that Scripture is supernatural and essential for life. 

My prayer is that this worksheet will give you a starting place as you get to know your counsellee better and as you help them get to know God’s Word and his character and how he can change their life.