Psalm 42
|
Psalm 42:1-2:
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? |
David is a prolific writer and he captured well how he actually feels about God. In this verse, we see how David compares his longing for the Almighty.
Water is essential for life. Without water, we are all going to die. However, water is not simply for survival, it’s for comfort and refreshment. On a hot sunny day, a deer would long for the cool water. Sooner or later, the deer can’t resist the need to go to the water brooks and there, receive refreshment. As you can imagine, the deer knew that water is essential and we must always long for it. In the same manner, we should have the same longing for God as the deer longs for the water. This means that the desire to be with God is so strong that it becomes a matter of life and death for us. -Becoming Christian |
Daniel Ploof
As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Psalm 42:1–2a).
Our souls crave deeper intimacy with the Lord, but unfortunately, we often don’t know where to begin. We’re pulled in countless directions with busyness to the point where we assume we don’t have any time available to invest into our spiritual growth, but is that entirely true? Does our greatest problem simply boil down to a lack of time or could it actually be a priority issue instead? Do we not have the ability to think creatively and carve out time for God in our daily schedules even if we only have a few minutes?
“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15–16).
If we’re honest, our struggle is NOT time. Rather, our problem begins and ends with treating our spiritual well-being as a chore. It all comes down to perspective, but our attitude determines our spiritual growth or starvation based on how we view quality time with God. In other words, do we treat spiritual disciplines as burdens we’re expected to do or privileges we get to do? Whether we realize it or not, our souls are crying out for life-giving truth from God’s Word on a daily basis, yet we ignore our hungers pangs and choose to starve instead.
--Daniel Ploof; Wilderness Survival; How to Find Rest for a Weary Soul; 1.25.23
Our souls crave deeper intimacy with the Lord, but unfortunately, we often don’t know where to begin. We’re pulled in countless directions with busyness to the point where we assume we don’t have any time available to invest into our spiritual growth, but is that entirely true? Does our greatest problem simply boil down to a lack of time or could it actually be a priority issue instead? Do we not have the ability to think creatively and carve out time for God in our daily schedules even if we only have a few minutes?
“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15–16).
If we’re honest, our struggle is NOT time. Rather, our problem begins and ends with treating our spiritual well-being as a chore. It all comes down to perspective, but our attitude determines our spiritual growth or starvation based on how we view quality time with God. In other words, do we treat spiritual disciplines as burdens we’re expected to do or privileges we get to do? Whether we realize it or not, our souls are crying out for life-giving truth from God’s Word on a daily basis, yet we ignore our hungers pangs and choose to starve instead.
--Daniel Ploof; Wilderness Survival; How to Find Rest for a Weary Soul; 1.25.23
Psalm 42:3-9:
3 A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth.
4 He will not fail nor be discouraged, Till He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands shall wait for His law.”
5 Thus says God the Lord, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it, And spirit to those who walk on it:
6 “I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness, And will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the Gentiles,
7 To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison, Those who sit in darkness from the prison house.
8 I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images.
9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, And new things I declare; Before they spring forth I tell you of them.”
3 A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth.
4 He will not fail nor be discouraged, Till He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands shall wait for His law.”
5 Thus says God the Lord, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it, And spirit to those who walk on it:
6 “I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness, And will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the Gentiles,
7 To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison, Those who sit in darkness from the prison house.
8 I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images.
9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, And new things I declare; Before they spring forth I tell you of them.”
|
Psalm 42:11:
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. |
 William Bridge
In these words we read of the sad discouragements of a gracious spirit, with those remedies that are to be applied and used against them. The discouragements are expressed in two words, under two similitudes: cast-down, disquieted. As a man is bowed or cast down under the weight of some heavy burden, so art thou cast down, O my soul, says David: and as the sea in the time of a storm is much disquieted, so art thou also disquieted within me, O my soul. The remedies that he uses against these discouragements are two: self-reprehension and self-admonition. First, He chides himself for his diffidence and distrust of God: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?” He chides and rebukes himself for it. Secondly, He admonishes and calls upon himself to wait upon and hope in God: “Hope thou in God.” Why. I. Because I shall yet be delivered: “For I shall yet praise him.” II. Because salvation belongs unto Him alone: “He is the health of my countenance,” or, “the salvation of my countenance.” III. Because He is in covenant with me, and I with Him; He is my God: “The health of my countenance, and my God.” -William Bridge
|
Martin Lloyd-Jones
“Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment [in Psalm 42] was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says, “Self, listen for moment, I will speak to you.” ― Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Ironically, it is also when our body and mind are satiated — when physical gratification has been exhausted and the mind is muddled and mired — that we again begin to hear the murmuring of our restless soul, turning in its longing for true fulfillment.