Taking a Look at the 42nd Psalm

THIRSTING AFTER GOD

Psalm 42:1-3 New Living Translation

For the choir director: A psalm⁽¹⁾of the descendants of Korah.⁽²⁾

1 “As the deer longs for streams of water,

         so I long for you, O God.

2 I thirst for God, the living God.

         When can I go and stand before him?

3  Day and night I have only tears for food,

         while my enemies continually taunt me, saying,

          “Where is this God of yours?”

            Today I am beginning a devotional study on the 42^ndPsalm. The word Psalm means a sacred song or hymn, often times sung in celebratory fashion. There are a total of 150 Psalms in the Old Testament. While David didn’t write all of them, he did compose 78 of them. Various different writers wrote the other 73. In the case of Psalm 42, it was the sons of Korah who wrote it. These young men were Temple musicians & their assistants. The purpose of this Psalm was to speak of their thirst for God in the face of trials and tribulations.

            The illustration of a deer longing or in some other translations, panting for streams of cool, clear, fresh water is marvelous. It presents a beautiful mental image of how we are to thirst after God. We are to desire God more than anything else in our life. We could go so far as to say that the world that we live in is parched and dried out. There is nothing of any lasting value found in it. The non-believing inhabitants of this world seek to quench their thirst but continually drink from temporal fountains that are here today and gone tomorrow. Only the water God provides can quench the thirst that man has. 

            The Sons of Korah wish to know when they can stand before the living God and speak with him. All the while enemies of the faith taunt and ridicule them asking where God is? This is no different than when the crowd of onlookers and the Roman soldiers taunted and ridiculed Jesus as he hung on the cross _{(Mark 15:16-21)}.

            Have you ever been ridiculed for your faith? Know that God is with you wherever you go. The ridicule is of him and not you, but it still hurts. We ache at the ignorance that is exhibited so often. It is at such a time that we must dig down deep inside and BE Christ to these people. What Jesus himself said of the crowd that mocked him is so very true, “Forgive them Father, for they don’t know (or realize) what they are doing.” So what we can take from these first few verses is that we are to thirst after God, for just as water sustains a deer, the living water of God shall sustain us as well. And finally, when our faith is mocked, do not lash out, but pray for them quietly that their eyes may be opened to the truth they have been unable to see. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing!

Resources: The Life Application Study Bible, www.biblegateway.com, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.