Preaching a Psalm

Listen to the complete prayer

Use this tool when preparing a sermon from a Psalm. The worked passage is Psalms 42 and 43. Read both aloud without stopping to make a point after every line. Notice the prayer’s movement before choosing a title. On a second reading, mark the words addressed to God and those addressed to the speaker’s own soul.

The repeated refrain links these two Psalms. Their prayer moves through complaint, petition, and hope, while the speaker’s distress remains present. This pattern allows the preacher to hear the prayer’s development rather than reduce it to a cheerful sentence detached from its crisis.²

For preparation, divide a sheet into three columns: what the speaker says, what the speaker asks, and what the speaker expects from God. Keep the wording close to the verses. Do not identify a particular illness, exile, or personal event as the historical occasion unless evidence establishes it. Here the exact occasion remains uncertain.

Observe pictures and repetitions

The opening deer picture expresses thirst for the living God. Later the language of waves and billows pictures overwhelming distress. The prayer also names tears, remembered worship, reproach, lovingkindness, light, and truth. These details belong together within the speaker’s appeal to God.¹

A picture should be explained through its immediate lines. Deep calling to deep in Psalm 42:7 occurs amid waterspouts, waves, and billows. It should not become an unsupported technical account of spiritual levels or a command to produce a particular sound in worship. The surrounding words give the image its direction.¹

Repetition need not mean the preacher is running out of material. The refrain returns after different expressions of trouble. Let listeners hear what has changed around it. A repeated appeal to hope can coexist with a continuing need to bring sorrow before God. Do not force the prayer into a timetable for recovery.

Complete a Psalm observation sheet

Use these spaces before writing the sermon. When a word is unfamiliar, consult a reliable language resource and record what it explains. A word’s older English wording does not require an invented Hebrew meaning. This sheet can also be used without adding a language discussion.

1. Psalm or connected Psalms being preached: ____________________
2. Who speaks and whom the speech addresses: ____________________
3. The situation described, with verse references: ____________________
4. Important details the text leaves uncertain: ____________________
5. Three main pictures and the lines that explain them: ____________________
6. A repeated word or sentence and each place it occurs: ____________________
7. What the speaker remembers about God: ____________________
8. What the speaker asks God to do: ____________________
9. The movement from the opening to the ending: ____________________
10. A main message that preserves that movement: ____________________

A worked map for Psalms 42 and 43

The situation is longing for God amid tears and reproach. The speaker remembers joining the worshipping multitude, yet now experiences distress. The first movement, Psalm 42:1 to 5, brings thirst and remembered worship into a direct appeal to hope in God. The prayer does not conceal the tears.¹

The next movement, Psalm 42:6 to 11, holds overwhelming trouble together with remembrance of the Lord’s lovingkindness. The speaker calls God a rock while asking why he has been forgotten. The return of the refrain therefore sounds within a struggle, rather than after every problem has disappeared.¹

Psalm 43 asks for vindication, deliverance, light, and truth. The desired destination is renewed worship before God. Its closing refrain returns to hope. A proposed sermon message is: In trouble, bring your longing and questions to God while directing your hope toward him. This sentence should be explained through the full prayer.

Shape an outline that follows the prayer

Use the outline below as a worked preparation example. Its three movements come from the passage already observed. Read enough of each movement for listeners to hear its tone. Avoid using only the refrain while leaving out the words that make the refrain necessary.

1. First movement: Thirst and tears can be spoken to God. Explain Psalm 42:1 to 5, including the remembered worship and the first appeal to hope.
2. Second movement: Remembering God matters within the struggle. Explain Psalm 42:6 to 11, including both lovingkindness and the difficult question.
3. Third movement: Ask God to lead you toward renewed worship. Explain Psalm 43:1 to 5, including light, truth, the altar, and the final refrain.

Prepare a fitting pastoral response

A proposed response is to invite listeners to bring one honestly named burden before God. Explain that prayer need not begin with pretending to feel strong. Give room for quiet prayer and for a person to speak with a trusted pastor afterward. Do not require a public description of a private sorrow.

In a Pentecostal congregation, praying together and seeking the Spirit’s help can accompany the message. Keep that response connected to the Psalm’s appeal to God. A person’s tears, quietness, or difficulty joining a song should not become a measure of whether the message has worked or whether the person has sufficient faith.

A sample transition could say: This prayer gives us words for longing, questions, and hope. We can bring our trouble before the Lord without hiding it. As we pray, ask him for his light and truth. If you would value a private conversation afterward, the pastor will be available at the place announced. Confirm that arrangement before using it.

Check the finished sermon against the Psalm

Read the outline alongside the full prayer once more. Check that the explanation includes the speaker’s actual requests, the repeated refrain, and the expectation of worship. Remove a guarantee of immediate relief that the Psalm itself does not give. Also remove imagined circumstances that have quietly become the sermon’s main claim.

Ask a reviewer to identify the central message and the verses that support it. Then ask whether a distressed listener could hear the sermon without feeling rebuked for having a burden. A faithful message can encourage hope strongly while allowing the prayer’s honesty to remain audible.