(This series by Dr. Ekstrand speaks of the reality of the sincere Christian’s walk and the revelation of the depravity of the unrenewed soul, with the only hope that exist being the work of the Holy Spirit. Actually, it is the mature Christians who experiences most of this that they may be brought into “the deep things of God.” Until then life’s difficulties are to expose that sinful self and the flesh. As I read it reminds me of ‘Theresa of Avila’ book “Dark night of the Soul.” She was a Catholic mystic of the 1500’s, one who knew well of the sufferings of this walk and the associated blessings. – Art Licursi)

The deadness of soul is terrible!  To be surrounded with spiritual food, but have no appetite to enjoy it is bewildering.  To be loaded with privileges, yet feel neither life nor comfort from them is frustrating.  Writes James Smith, “It is at this point that the hidden evils of the heart, the concealed corruptions that lie embedded deep in the soul… they begin to rise, rage and roar!   Such foul, filthy, and unmentionable corruptions are discovered.  These terrify and alarm us, while Satan suggests that it is impossible for God ever to dwell in such a vile heart; or for Christ to love and nourish one so corrupt.  It is at this point that the soul is troubled like the sea… there is no rest… just tossing, trembling, doubting, fearing, sinking, sighing, and groaning.”  

Smith inquires: “Do you know anything of this?  Many of the Lord’s people do.  Some, who appear to others to have a very smooth path, because all without appears to be prosperous — suffer a martyrdom within.  It is a difficult road along which many of God’s flock travel, but all do not sink so deep in the mire, or pass through such miry roads, as David did.”  The psalmist prayed, “LORD, Quicken me!”  Only the Holy Spirit can quicken us — He gave us life at first, and He must renew us again.  

Just as God in nature renews the face of the earth in spring, so does the Holy Spirit renew the souls of the Lord’s tried and troubled people.  “Bring my soul out of trouble!” was David’s cry.  We can get into trouble ourselves, and often do, but only the Lord can bring us out of trouble… and this He does in His own way… and in His own time.  In the 143rd Psalm, David used two pleas to God — two reasons why God should act:

1. “For Your name’s sake” — that is, because You are gracious, merciful, long-suffering, and abounding in loving-kindness, goodness and truth; and because it is Your desire to be known   as such.  David here was praying, “For the sake of Your own glory, show Yourself to be the God of loving-kindness and power which You are esteemed to be, that my soul might praise Your name (Ps 23:3; 25:11; 31:3); for the sake of the honor of Your name, that it might be honored by others, may it please you to quicken and deliver me and deal graciously and bountifully with me!” (Ps 25:15; 34:17; 138:7; 142:7).  Likewise, we are also to plead the name of Jesus, and pray that for His sake, on account of what He has done and suffered for us, that we might be renewed, and that He might be praised.  The prayers of most believers lack this perspective — most often they simply ask God to do something “for their sake and what they have done” … not for “Christ’s sake and what He has done” (Ps 127:1; Jn 15:5; 1 Cor 3:6).  Think about that.  Asking God to do something “for His sake” or “for His Name’s sake,” essentially is a direct equivalent of asking God to do something “in Jesus Name” or “for Jesus sake” (Jn 14:13-14; 15:16; 16:23) — remember, that needs to be the “primary reason” for any request (Jn 14:13-14; 15:16; 16:23): God’s will, not our will.  It should be noted, to ask in Jesus Name is not simply to insert His Name at the end of the prayer — it is to ask in accordance with His mind and will (Mt 26:39, 42;   Jn 6:38), and it is to ask for those things which will glorify God, bless mankind, and be for our own spiritual good.  Furthermore, in order to ask in Christ’s Name, we must live in close fellowship with Him, otherwise we would not know His attitude… and the closer we are to Him, the more our desires will be the same as His are; so when we live in the center of His will, and walk in fellowship with Him, and ask for that which the Lord desires, we can be sure that our prayers will be answered — “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much” (Jam 5:16).  The Following is a list of 36 passages in Scripture that stress the importance of action taken “for God’s sake;” carefully reflect upon them to enhance your appreciation and understanding of this concept (DON'T JUST SKIP OVER THEM!) — 2 Kg 19:34; 20:6; Ps 23:3; 25:7, 11; 44:22; 69:7; 79:9; 106:8; 109:21; 143:11; Is 42:21; 43:25; 48:9, 11; Jeer 14:7, 21; Ezek 20:14, 22, 44; Dan 9:17, 19; Matt 10:18; 16:25; Mark 10:29-30; Luke 6:22; Acts 9:16; Rom 1:5; 1 Cor 4:10; 2 Cor 4:11; 12:10; Phil 1:29; Phi 1:6; 1 Pet 2:13; 1 Jn 2:12.  Remember, life is ultimately about God, not us… God is the preeminent One, not us — obviously, that thought runs completely contrary to the flesh, because the flesh is all about “self.”  It takes most believers a “lifetime of struggling” to apprehend and accept this truth (Rom 11:36; 1 Cor 8:6; Eph 3:21; Col 1:16; 1 Tim 1:17; Heb 2:10; 1 Pet 4:11; 2 Pet 3:18).  Carefully reflect upon all of the verses listed above in this section.

2. “For Your righteousness’ sake” — from this expression we understand God’s faithfulness to   His Word, in which He has promised to do these things for us… or His just dealing with us, as one in covenant with Him, for God has covenanted to withhold no good thing from us!  Blessed be God that we can “plead His name!” — even though we can plead nothing of our own!  Yes, we can plead His righteousness — not withstanding our own unrighteousness!   Think about that — why do we try to make ourselves “presentable to God” in order to get stuff from Him, when it is impossible to do so?  Remember, the only thing that is acceptable to God is that which is “perfect!” — and the Lord Jesus is the only One who is perfect!  We can approach God’s throne in heaven only because of Christ and His righteousness.  Even though we ourselves have “absolutely nothing” to bring to the table, so-to-speak, we have been given the wonderful privilege of pleading “His righteousness!”  Carefully reflect upon this concept: We can plead His righteousness, even though we lack a righteousness of our own!  Praise be to His glory!  not ours!  So why do we insist on being able to “bring something to the table” when we have absolutely nothing to offer?  This is the work of Satan in our souls, insisting that we become worthy in and of ourselves (at least to some degree) … lest God cast us out!  Satan will always make us feel “shamefully unworthy of God’s love” when we sin… the truth of the matter is, Satan is a religious junkie who wants to get us all tangled up in a “religion of works!”  By the way, if that’s the train you’re on, get off of it!  You’re on the wrong one!  Jesus is our righteousness! beginning to end! (Gal 3:3, 11, 19).  Get your eyes off of yourself, and get them on Christ! (Heb 12:2).  He is our salvation… not us!   Every good and perfect gift comes to us “from above” … that He might be praised!  Not us!  If this is a strange concept to you, prayerfully wrestle through it over and over again until it peacefully settles in your soul.

Writes James Smith: “Soul trouble is the heaviest trouble!”  As Solomon said, “A man may sustain some bodily infirmity, but a wounded spirit — who can bear?”  Yet, when soul trouble weans us from SELF, and drives us to the LORD, it does us good.  Smith says, “Whatever makes us pray is a blessing” — when the soul is troubled, it is at this time that our theology becomes more than just some forensic truth.  The good news is, the Lord’s name, and His righteousness and faithfulness may always be pleaded by us — we cannot plead our own names, or our own doings — but we can always plead the name of Jesus! even though we are shamefully guilty of some wrong!  Therefore, however dark or dead we may feel… however Satan may tempt, or corruptions work within us… however feeble our faith, or strong our unbelief… let us still cry out to the Lord and plead His name and grace, that He may quicken us again; thus bringing our souls out of trouble… setting our feet upon a rock… and establishing our goings to the praise of His glory!  It is also good to remember that David’s experiences (at least in part) were also for our benefit (1 Cor 10:6, 11), and were recorded for our instruction and encouragement (Rom 15:4).

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes: “No temptation has overtaken you but such as     is common to man” (1 Cor 10:13).  The message is this — there is no such thing as a new trial or    new temptation under the sun; none of us are subjected to a “totally unique trial” — they are all common to men.  All those men of great doctrinal knowledge down through the ages, who were at the forefront of Christian ministry, had their ebbs and their winters.  Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) battled terribly with a depressed soul; he saw his depression as his “worst feature.”  He once    said, “This depression comes over me whenever the Lord is preparing a larger blessing for my ministry.”  Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) suffered from depression throughout his life.  Writes George Marsden in his biography of Edwards: “Even as he kept the disciplines of the faith, he was frequently afflicted by times of spiritual darkness.”   Likewise, Martin Luther (1483-1546) also experienced great discouragement in his soul — on one particular occasion he was forcefully reminded of this by his wife, Katharine.  Seeing him unresponsive to any word of encouragement, one morning she appeared dressed in black mourning clothes.  Luther inquired as to the reason, and she responded, “Someone has died.”  “Who died?” questioned Luther.  “It seems God must have died” his wife replied.  Luther got the point.  All of God’s great saints were familiar with the despondency and depression that David and others in scripture experienced.  The author of   Psalm 42 was downcast and troubled in his soul, because it seemed to him that God had forgotten him — thus he was far more aware of God’s absence than God’s presence… as we often are.