Psalm 42 comments

 Psalms 42:1 ¶  «To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah.» As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. 2  My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? 3  My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? 4  When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. 5  Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

 

The hunted and thirst driven deer pants after streams of water as persecuted David pants after God. His soul thirsts for God like the deer pants for water, for the living God, and David longs to appear before Him.

 

Psalm 63:1 ¶  «A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.» O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; 2  To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the

sanctuary.

 

While his enemies push him and mocking him ask where his God is, David’s tears have become his food, figuratively speaking.

 

Psalm 6:6  I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.

 

Psalm 80:5  Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure.

 

Psalm 102:9  For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping,

 

David attended the services for God on a day of remembrance, a holy day set apart for the Lord. Hear Psalm 63:2 again;

 

Psalm 63:2  To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the

sanctuary.

 

He rebukes his soul for being depressed and downtrodden and tells himself to hope in the Lord. David has hope and faith that he will yet praise God for his supernatural deliverance.

 

Psalm 143:3  For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead. 4  Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.

 

1Samuel 30:6  And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.

 

Psalm 27:13  I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

 

These Psalms are such great things to claim and pray for in our own troubles.

 

Psalm 42:6 ¶  O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar. 7  Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. 8  Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. 9  I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? 10  As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God? 11  Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

 

The needful cry of David continues as he recognizes his depression over his circumstances. One affliction after another like the waves of the sea come crashing over him. But he hopes in God and knows that God will comfort him. He believes that. Yet he still feels as if God has forgotten him. He wants to know why he must keep mourning over his oppressions from those who hate him. Their reproach is like a deep wound a sword makes while they, every day, mock him by demanding, “Where is your God?” Then David repeats verse 5 in verse 11 declaring that God is his hope, that he believes he will yet praise God for deliverance, this God who will restore him.

Those of us who have been in dire straits can certainly understand this Psalm. This articulates something we may have felt at being mistreated by others, a financial circumstance, the loss of a loved one, or being told we had a potentially fatal disease.