Psalm 42 – As the Deer Pants
By Bunni Pounds
*This blog is part of our weekly, virtual Bible Study through the book of Psalms. For information on how to participate, please visit this page.
Hunger for God – it sounds so deep and theological, but it can manifest in an ache, a longing, and a feeling of exhaustion without Him.
I can just imagine the deer without water for hours upon a time and panting at the edge of the brook for a drink. Finally, the deer has arrived after miles of travel to the source of life. It leans over and fully drinks. How refreshing it is!
As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So pants my soul for You, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God? (verse 1-2)
Jesus said it this way in Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.”
When I read these words – my spirit leaps because I am so hungry for God.
I get extremely tired and exhausted – constantly going and I hit a wall where I need God to refill me. I am there now in this current moment. I have been running non stop since April – speaking around the state and my spirit is screaming for Him. I need to sit with Him and take in His words – DEEPLY.
I can feel that ache where all I want to do is pray, so I know I have to make it happen or else I will fall apart.
We were created for God – to know Him, to walk with Him, and to find our source of life from Him. Nothing else will sustain us, even good things. He is the water that we need – like the deer panting for the water.
This Psalm is the first of eight Psalms attributed to the sons of Korah. It is the beginning of a new “book” – book 2 of 5 that divides the Psalms. In Psalm 42 – the Psalmist is in a state of desperation for God, but the question is – will he find God in faith? His soul is “cast down” – the spirit of dejection is struggling against the spirit of faith.
He is trying to find time “When shall I come and appear before God?” (verse 2)
He is trying to turn off his tears of despair “my tears have been my food day and night” (verse 3)
He is trying to silence the voices of his enemies “while they continually say to me, “Where is your God?” (verse 3)
He remembers his past when he used to praise God in the multitude. “When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude.” (verse 4)
Then he encourages his downcast and “disquieted” soul – “Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him. For the help of His countenance.” (verse 5)
In this Psalm we see powerful keys to seeking and knowing God – one of them is REMEMBERING GOD.
“O my God, my soul is cast down within me: Therefore I will remember You…..” (verse 6a)
As he remembers – breakthrough happens – deep calls unto deep.
“Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls;
All Your waves and billows have gone over me.
The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,
And in the night His song shall be with me—
A prayer to the God of my life.” (verse 7 and 8)
Our born-again spirit that is alive to God cries out for God. There is a deep well inside of our hearts that many times has to be re-dug through worship, prayer, and meditation on the Word of God. Water must be pulled out of places that sometimes have laid dormant. This is the truth though even in this picture – the water is still there.
As the noise of His waterfall crashes over our souls – we come alive. As we sit in His presence in worship, “deep calls unto deep”. There is nothing more powerful than that.
This picture of the Lord commanding His lovingkindness over us in the daytime and singing over us at night is so powerful. When He does this – it demands a response from our spirits. We start declaring who He is and His Word in faith over our souls and then we start singing back to Him.
“Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.” (verse 11)
Here is the declaration of truth to our souls – HOPE IN GOD!
Even in the midst of busyness or anything that attacks our souls – Jesus is there calling us to Himself.
Remember His prayer in John 17:24 – “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”
We will praise Him forever because that is where our help comes from – in His presence.
In the place of praise and thanksgiving is where our countenances’ change and God becomes so much bigger in our eyes.
Just like the deer find their water at the brook – we find the place that our souls are longing for – in faith and in His truth.
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