Psalm 42
“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? My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, ‘Where is your God?”vs 1-3
There is a longing here for God, for Him to come and answer. The Psalmist is in trouble and it is a deep trouble. God seems to be nowhere in sight and others taunt the Psalmist with that nagging question of ‘where is your God?’.
“When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast. Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.” Vs4,5
He remembers times in the past, good times where God seemed more present, and the psalmist was a part of the grand fellowship of the house of God. But things had changed, and he is asking himself why he is so disquieted. But, in his questioning, he talks to himself, telling himself to hope in God. This is done in faith because He can’t see it or feel it, but he knows he will praise God for the help that will come. He is reminding Himself that God will deliver. He doesn’t know how the help will come or when, but he knows it will there in some way, shape and form.
“O my God, my soul is cast down within me, therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan, and from the heights of Hermon, from the hill Mizar. 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.” Vs6-8
But, in the meantime he is still cast down because he is still in the midst of the trial. He does the next thing which is to remember God. When in a present trial, it is good to always remember past faithfulness because God doesn’t change. If He is faithful then, He will be faithful now and in the future. There are certain things that are bedrock and that don’t change no matter what the trial is. These are God’s promises and His character which are things to stand on in hard times. The things that don’t change are: He loves you, He is in perfect control and He is going somewhere good with it. If God’s waves and billows go over you, God’s lovingkindness and song will come.
“I will say to God my Rock ‘Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?’ As with a breaking of my bones, my enemies reproach me, while they say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’” vs9,10
The interesting thing about this psalm is that the Psalmist’s emotions seem to flip flop from hope to questioning, to hope back to questioning. We are mortal, and in our mortality, we feel the impact of the hard things that come to us in life. If we get victory over our emotions in one trial it doesn’t mean that we won’t feel it again in another one. There are questions that come, and sometimes it feels like God has pulled back and left, and sometimes it means just saying to God in faith, “I don’t know what you are doing. It seems all wrong to me, but I know you and that is enough for me. I trust you. Help me!”
That is trusting where you can’t see or feel and you must just look up to Him in faith anyhow. Faith is precious to God, and He develops it by putting us in trying situations, to glorify His name.
“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.” Vs 11
The Psalm ends with the psalmist still waiting for an answer. But it ends in hope when he tells himself to hope in God because in faith, he knows he will praise God for his help in the end. It will come. Other translations say, I will praise him for my salvation and my God.