To the Cast Down Pastor: Pant For God

“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” This repeated theme of Psalm 42 is the common struggle of many faithful pastors. The constant pressure of weekly sermon preparation, tight budgets, and lack of church growth is tiresome. And these are the easy problems. Overseeing church discipline cases, never living up to a congregation’s expectations and preparing the saints for death are beyond tiring; it can be brutal. The sum of it all beats a pastor down.

“What am I doing?”

A pastor enters seminary with grand visions of revival resembling something of colonial New England. He imagines his sermons bringing modern day thunder like Spurgeon. Yet now, the church is stuck. No growth. Sermons often feel more like whispers than thunder. Especially on Monday morning, the day after church, a low-grade depression sets in as a pastor wonders “what am I even doing?” Year by year, decade by decade, the pastoral call slowly wears a man down. “Who is sufficient for these things” (2 Cor. 2:16) a weary pastor asks alongside of Paul. The cast down soul of Psalm 42 is a shared pastoral predicament. 

Psalm 42:1 

As a deer pants for flowing streams, 

so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,

for the living God.

In this well-known psalm, the tired deer is thirsty. This deer is panting. This deer needs the pure flowing water of the nearby stream to be refreshed for his days ahead. Without water the deer stands no chance. The panting of the deer is the required discipline that forces the deer to return repeatedly to the river. In the same way, pastor, you must pant for God as the hope for your cast down soul. Hopeful pastors are panting-for-God pastors. 

For the cast down pastor, here are three ways to pant for God. 

1. Pant in Worship

At the heart of Christian worship is the gathering of the saints on the Lord’s Day. In this gathering, God graciously ministers to his people by word and sacrament. To use a Presbyterian phrase, this is the ordinary means of grace. The pastor has the holy privilege of leading this sacred service. He rightfully pours himself into this service where God graciously meets his people. Yet, if he is not careful, he can lead the service as a professional, not as a worshipper. Instead of a heart for God, the pastor leads the service out of duty. God graciously meets with pastors as well in the service.

Pastor, the worship service is just as much for you as it is for anyone else. Yes, you put the service order together, but that’s not a reason to disengage from the service. It is all the more reason for you to give it your whole heart. 

Pant for God in worship. 

Sing with a full voice. Confess your sins during confession. Hear the words of assurance for you. Don’t preach the sermon just for the sake of others, hear your own words as God’s word speaking to you. 

The rhythm of the Christian life is to labor for six and to be restored on one. Downcast pastors need the restoration of the Lord’s Day as much as anyone. Worship is the river of God’s grace for you. Like a deer, head to the river of worship for refreshment.

2. Pant in Prayer

Throughout the week a pastor’s prayer list grows. From the small to the serious, the members of the church often ask a pastor for prayer. It is right that he commits the needs of the church to God in prayer, but it is also right for a pastor to go to the Lord not just with a list of requests, but to go to the Lord for himself. Notice that Psalm 42 compares the deer panting for water to the Christian wanting God. 

All the deer wants is water. The psalm does not describe a deer wanting water for the sake of something else. More than anything the deer needs the refreshment of drinking deeply. Like the deer, pastors need God. He does not need God plus something else. He needs God. Prayer is the mean by which a pastor’s soul can be revived by God.

Pastors must pant for God in prayer. 

Pastor make sure you aren’t just praying for others. Pray for yourself. Pray that you might know more of God. Panting prayer is sitting in God’s presence, asking that God would become all the more precious. This kind of prayer should be guided by the scriptures, but not guided by the verses that will be used in the sermon this upcoming week. This kind of prayer should be personally devotional, not filled with requests for the upcoming elder agenda in a mind. Other types of prayer are needed for an effective pastorate, but all the other types flow from a pastor who is seeking first God for himself.

Panting pastors pray for more of God. 

3. Pant in Your Identity as a Sheep

In Luke 10 Jesus send out the 72 for the first mission trip in the history of the Christian church. It was quite the trip as the men saw demons subjected to the name of Christ—amazing ministry fruit for first-timers! And yet, as these men return rejoicing in ministry fruit, Jesus reminds them not to rejoice in their ministry, but to “rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Lk. 10:20)

For as wonderful as it is to be entrusted with the glorious calling of ordained ministry, there is still a better call. Pastor, your name is written in the book of life. The blessing of your name inscribed in that book is far better than any ministry you will ever partake in. The call of being a sheep in God’s flock is better than shepherding role we will ever have. Our foundational joy ought to be that by grace we are saved into God’s eternal family. Everything else is the cherry on top. 

Panting pastors are sheep before shepherds.

Yet, ministers often forget their foundational call and begin to boast in ministry more than their own salvation. And as soon as this happens, the pastor’s heart will easily be cast down by the crushing weight of ministry. If one’s highest identity is in the fruit of ministry, he will surely be let down. Ministry fruit is far too uncertain to make it the final source of joy. The security of salvation is a much better foundational joy. When downcast by the grind of pastoring, remember who you ultimately are. In glory, you will worship Christ not as a pastor, but as a Christian.  

As Martyn Lloyd-Jones was nearing the end of his ministry as death approached, he commented on Luke 10 by saying, “Don’t rejoice that spirits submit to you. Rejoice that your name is written in heaven.’ I am perfectly content.” The doctor’s identity as a ministry leader was about to end. Yet, he was content. Why? Because he understood he was a sheep first.

Psalm 42 ends with the repeated question “Why are you cast down, O my soul?” Yet, by the end the tone shifts as psalmist continues “Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” Like a panting deer that has found the refreshment of water, so has the psalmist found the refreshment of God. 

Cast down pastor, keep panting for God, for he alone is the refreshment for your weary soul. 

© 2025, Jonathan Saunders. All rights reserved. Used by permission.