December 14
Reading: Psalm 42
To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.
1 As a deer pants for the water brooks,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night,
while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember, as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
a multitude keeping festival.
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
for His saving acts.
6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan
and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves have gone over me.
8 By day the LORD commands his steadfast love,
and 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 do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 As with a deadly wound in my bones,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”
11 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.
Psalm 42 begins the second book of the Psalms. This collection was certainly used in Tabernacle worship during the reign of King David. The theme is that, in God’s Kingdom, God’s king trusts in God. Book two of the Psalter begins with a collection of psalms from the Sons of Korah.
The sons of Korah are the authors of this psalm and the next seven. Korah was a member of the priesthood, a great-grandson of Levi, who led a rebellion against Moses and was destroyed. (Numbers 16) His sons, however, were spared. (Numbers 26:9-11) The prophet Samuel was a descendant of one of these sons and the sons of Korah, by King David’s time, became doorkeepers, custodians, and worship leaders for the Tabernacle. This is all a wonderful picture of the redeeming grace of God.
Psalm 42 is expertly constructed with three stanzas (vss. 1-4, 5-8, 9-11). Each one begins with a longing, a question, a desire for God. Then, each of the stanzas moves creatively to an answer, a resolution, a confidence in God and His wonderful presence. It is worth looking at each of the stanzas in detail and asking three questions:
How does each stanza differently describe our longing for God?
What is the nature of the crisis in each stanza that calls for an answer?
What different answer and blessing from God shows up in each response?
This is all a perfect picture of how faith actually works, in three different movements. Think of a crisis you have had or are having. Maybe you are feeling distant from God. Maybe you are experiencing spiritual depression, downcast in your soul. Maybe you are under attack from people who think little of your Lord God. How can this psalm direct your faith?