Psalm 42- As the Deer

 Psalm 42- As the Deer

Psalms 42:1-2 (NET) 

1 As a deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God!

2 Ithirst for God, for the living God. I say, "When will I be able to go and appear in God's presence?"

This is an appropriate psalm for this season in Texas. It’s been a very hot and dry summer and the streams have all dried up. We put out water for the deer and they eagerly come up for a drink even though it is close to the house. Their desperate thirst overcomes their fear of humans.

Are we that desperate in our seeking the living God? Do we cry out to the Lord in our troubles like the psalmist does?

Psalms 42:3-11 (NET) 

3I cannot eat, I weep day and night; all day long they say to me, "Where is your God?" 4 I will remember and weep! For I was once walking along with the great throng to the temple of God, shouting and giving thanks along with the crowd as we celebrated the holy festival. 

5Why are you depressed, O my soul? Why are you upset? Wait for God! For I will again give thanks to my God for his saving intervention. 6 I am depressed, so I will pray to you while I am trapped here in the region of the upper Jordan, from Hermon, from Mount Mizar. 

7One deep stream calls out to another at the sound of your waterfalls; all your billows and waves overwhelm me. 8 By day the LORD decrees his loyal love, and by night he gives me a song, a prayer to the living God. 9 I will pray to God, my high ridge: "Why do you ignore me? Why must I walk around mourning because my enemies oppress me?" 10 My enemies' taunts cut into me to the bone, as they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?" 

11Why are you depressed, O my soul? Why are you upset? Wait for God! For I will again give thanks to my God for his saving intervention.

None of us like trouble, but sometimes the only thing that convinces us to call out to the Lord is a time of difficulty. The important thing to remember is to call out to the Lord and not get bitter. The danger is our tendency to turn inward and blame the Lord for our problems instead of waiting for Him to deliver us. We need to be like the deer and seek out the stream of water and wait in the Lord for His refreshing. 

Psalms 42:11 (NKJV) 

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 mycountenance and my God.

Hope in God distinguishes us from the unbelievers around us. Everyone has their own trials but only those who have hope in God are able to overcome them with a good attitude. Praising the Lord in the midst of difficulties marks us as “a peculiar people” who don’t give in to the spirit of the age but instead rely on the Spirit of God to sustain us and empower us to love out neighbors, even when we ourselves have circumstances that could cause us to worry, so don’t be downcast but hope in the Lord and praise God no matter what is happening in your life.