When I read Psalm 42 I have a deeper sense of how the psalmist feels because of being to Israel. Between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea is the wilderness and it is dry and hot. I have never been without water for more than a day, so I do not know what it would be like to need a drink after days in the wilderness. I have lived in hot, arid lands. I spent a while in the desert in Pakistan teaching teachers how to teach. The Christian village was struggling because local Muslims had cut off their water supply. The parched earth made your throat dry to look at it. Where there should have been crops there were dusty cracks in the ground.
The longing for water of a parched animal is compared with the longing of the psalmist’s soul for God. His mind is uncluttered from what is really important. What fills your mind with longing? Marriage? Children? A desire for a better job or salary? Jesus said not to chase after these things, but you should seek first the kingdom of God and all your other needs will be taken care of. Psalm 42 gives us a sense of that longing.
Psalm 42
For the director of music. A maskil[c] of the Sons of Korah.
1 As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
under the protection of the Mighty One[d]
with shouts of joy and praise
among the festive throng.
5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
6 My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.
8 By day the LORD directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?”
10 My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
11 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
Questions
- How would you describe the psalmist’s condition upon writing this psalm?
- How is the depth of God’s relationship with the psalmist described?
- Why would water be such a powerful theme in Israel/Palestine?
- How would you describe your prioritizing of your relationship with God?
- What sharpens your sense of need for God?
Going Deeper
Listen to this song. Is it faithful to the passage? Is it dated?
Plymothian 
Questions
1. How would you describe the psalmist’s condition upon writing this psalm?
Desperate. Lonely. Lost. Needy. Depressed. Sullen. Disturbed. Discontent.
2. How is the depth of God’s relationship with the psalmist described?
Using statements such as “all you waves and breakers have swept over me and “by day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me,” the psalmist makes it clear that this is a STRONG RELATIONSHIP!
3. Why would water be such a powerful theme in Israel/Palestine?
Located in a desert location, Israel gets hot! Both the people’s survival and contentment are contingent upon water. By comparing his longing for God with a longing for water, he effectively communicates his enormous longing!
4. How would you describe your prioritizing of your relationship with God?
Unfortunately, the busier I get, the farther my relationship with God slips down the “priorities list.” Currently, I’d say my relationship with God is a great priority of mine, but that is often not the case.
5. What sharpens your sense of need for God?
My weaknesses, my consistent struggle with certain sins, and my simplemindedness absolutely force me to see my need for Christ.
Couldn’t get the “Going Deeper”video to play! Sorry, mate! 😉
1. He seems very desperate for God. I believe he also feels far from God. He seems to be struggling internally with what people are saying about his God, as it is what he is already feeling at times.
2. He compares it to deep water, with roaring waterfalls. It is of an unknown depth, there is mystery in it.
3. I think water is important specifically to Israel and Palestine for two reasons: 1) Water was a symbol of purity. It was used to cleanse those of impurities and to be made ceremonially clean. 2) Israel is very hot. When we get thirsty for water, we get dry in the mouth, and nothing will satisfy it except water. We will do whatever it takes just to cool off and to have a drop of water on our tongues.
4. I feel like I would give up anything for God, however, my actions would suggest that God is secondary to me, maybe even lower. Life gets busy, and I “just don’t” have time for God. I am not this psalmist…unfortunately. I look to quench my thirst elsewhere. School, family, friends, my girlfriend, sports, etc.
5. When I am downcast or in need is when I sense my need for God most. I struggle to have that need any other time. I need Him when I feel invincible, as well as when I feel mortal.
1. Longing, Sorrowful, Lonely, Unsatisfied, Desperate, Yearns for God, Hopeful. It feels like he has been satisfied by God before and he wants that satisfaction but feels as though God is far from him.
2. The psalmist is genuinely longing for the Lord to satisfy his thirst, because he has been to the house of the Lord and worshiped with joy. God is his rock and his life. He is present day and night with the Lord, who he puts his hope in and salvation.
3. Because like it was mentioned above Israel is not exactly a cold/rainy place, therefore because of the drought and lack of water sources, stranded in the desert leads to excruciating thirst. Also the reference to the dear, I have learned that when a dear is thirsty it will not stop until it reaches the stream of water to satisfy their thirst, so the psalmist is paining a picture of a dear panting for water so should the soul for God.
4. I would say I am still a work in progress. My desire for God to be everything to me in word, though, and deed has been burning inside me for a long time. I plead with the Lord to help me eliminate the distractions of this world to rest and have a genuine relationship with Him. But I have noticed that He is answering my prayer in some ways that I did not imagine, and it makes me hopeful that though I stray away He is constantly pursuing me. Being sensitive to the Holy Spirits reminder to live in the now, worshiping Him now, honoring Him now, enjoying Him now, makes the world of difference. I know the satisfaction that I get from being in the presence of my Father but I quickly forget that when I am wrapped up in daily tasks.
5. My stubborn independence, thinking I can do it all on my own. Fear of not being good enough so I push harder to be good enough. When the world is slowly being pulled under my feet I am quick to remember that I need to be fully dependent on Him. In His grace and mercy, He never fails to be there when my heart so desperately needs Him to satisfy my longing soul. I found that no matter what it is in life that I am pursuing if God is not present in that I do not wish to be there because with out Him I have no purpose or meaning on this world but with Him I am complete.
1. He is longing for more, he sees his soul as downcast.
2. The relationship is deep, he is so dependent upon the Lord. His hope is in the Lord and asks his soul why he is sad, his relationship is not only in the good times but asks God to fill him again.
3. Water would be such an important theme because it was such a precious commodity. He is showing the deep imparted need he has for God. It is a powerful image of his need that is truly life or death.
4. God (in my mind) is my first priority. But I don’t think that my life always reflects that. If I’m honest I think that I very rarely have a truly humble and proper perspective. But I want to.
5.I think I depend on God more when I see my life failing. When I feel, or am forced to acknowledge, that everything is out of my control I am able humbled and am able to see my need for God. I think that I often find myself turning to God but not with a full heart, I pour out my heart to God but its often superficial. I am really just telling myself but address my thoughts to “God” because I was raised in Sunday School. But I do often get dragged back on my knees to see my need for GOd.
5.
How would you describe the psalmist’s condition upon writing this psalm?
The Psalmist seems to be distant from God, and longing for something to fill the craving and longing of His heart.
How is the depth of God’s relationship with the psalmist described?
The Psalmist uses language that talks about nature in comparison to the depth of the relationship he has with God. It reminds me of the song that says, “if your grace was an ocean, we are all sinking” The depth of His love is incomprehensible. Our relationship with Him is deep.
Why would water be such a powerful theme in Israel/Palestine?
Water is such a powerful theme for the people in this area because it is such a necessity. In the dessert, water is not flowing from the earth, but the body still requires it day by day. So must our souls long after Christ.
How would you describe your prioritizing of your relationship with God?
I feel so weak in prioritizing my relationship with God right now. I am so caught up with summer school, work, friends… that I don’t “long” for a deeper relationship with God the same way I long for water.
What sharpens your sense of need for God?
My sense of need for God is sharpened when I am spiritually thirsty. When I have literally walked away from the living water and been drinking the salt water (sin and disobedience) instead, I realize just how thirsty I am, and I come turing back to Him. I wish it wasn’t this way. I want to be aware of my need for God, even when I feel like things are going well.
1. He is desperate, anxious to see God, just as a thirsty deer pants for water in the desert.
2. His relationship is intimate, to the point where the psalmist is completely dependent upon Him.
3. Because without water life cannot continue to exist.
4. Just as a plant without water will dry up and die, my life not revolving around Christ will dry and go to an end. That’s how important He is, and how much of a priority I must consider Him in my daily life.
5. Unfortunately when I seem to be doing good I don’t seem to seek him so eagerly as much as when I am in trouble or in need. My constant struggles and conflicts that make me even more aware of my inability to have it all under my control makes me cling even more to the ONE and only who is sovereign over all things.
1. Spiritually thirsty and hungry for God. Away from God and forgotten by Him. Downcast.
2.What the psalmist needs to live is God, just like we physically need food and water to survive. We spiritually need God. God is his stronghold. He is Omnipresent.
3.Because of the lack of it being in a place of great need. It makes it precious and valuable. Just like the saying “One does not know what one has until it looses it.”
4.As I have been growing and recognizing my flaws I grow to be more dependent upon God yet I also give Him and “understanding role.” If I can’t spend a lot of time or anytime, other than prayer-on-the-go, He will understand for He knows what is going on.
5. My inability to do many things, and my ability to be greatly overwhlemed by things of this life. When I see the many mistakes that I make through the day, whether I talk too much or I can not do things quickly in the morning, like waking up, or I don’t do what I am suppossed to do, then it hits me even more how much I need God. Today at work I feel like I talked too much andit just makes me feel awful, because maybe I hurt the other person, and I am looking forward to tomorrow apologizing, but for now I am praying that God would help me to have more control.
Going Deeper: I had heard this song before and sung it, but unless we are truly thinking about the meaning of the metaphors it becomes pointless.