“As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, O God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before Him? Day and night I have only tears for food, while my enemies continually taunt me, saying, ‘Where is this God of yours?’”
Psalm 42:1-3 (NLT)
Psalm 42 is a Psalm written by David (David of David and Goliath). In my Bible is a heading at the beginning of this Psalm: “Thirsting for God when in trouble.” We have this psalm for a couple of reasons: (1) David is attempting to process what he is feeling in the presence of God. He is praying his depression and struggle. (2) God guided David to write this to help those of us who would have similar struggles so we could know God’s plan to navigate back to a place of hope in God.
“As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, O God.”Psalm 42:1 (NLT). Psalm 42:1 is a verse that you could find on a coffee mug in a Christian bookstore–picturing a doe drinking from a picturesque stream. But that is not the true picture of this verse. The true picture is an image of a parched, thirsty, emaciated deer trying to survive. David tells God he doesn’t know if he will make it.
“I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before Him? Psalm 42:2 (NLT). David is saying: God, I don’t know if You’re there, You feel absent. Have you ever had that thought? If you are, let me encourage you to do what David did–bring yourself to a place where God will speak some words of hope into your heart.
“Day and night I have only tears for food, while my enemies continually taunt me, saying, ‘Where is this God of yours?’ My heart is breaking as I remember how it used to be: I walked among the crowds of worshipers, leading a great procession to the house of God, singing for joy and giving thanks amid the sound of a great celebration!” Psalm 42:3-4 (NLT). Relentless tears. David tells God that happiness is just a memory to him.
“Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior…” Psalm 42:5 (NLT). David asks himself two key questions. They are questions of pain. Nobody likes pain and sometimes we try to avoid the pain without finding our the source of our pain. We ignore it, numb it, we sweep it under the rug instead of bringing it to God and asking ourselves: Why is this happening?
Years ago in college, my car’s check engine light kept staying on. Instead of taking the car in to be checked–I simply put a piece of duct tape over it to cover so I didn’t see it. But the problem wasn’t the light, the problem was under the hood. David asks: Why? It is important for us to do the same thing in the presence of God.
Bring your struggles to God
“‘O God my rock,’ I cry, ‘Why have you forgotten me? Why must I wander around in grief, oppressed by my enemies?’” Psalm 42:9 (NLT). Did God really forget David? No. Was God going: Who is David? I totally overlooked him the past few weeks. No. But that’s what it felt like to David. David is being honest and raw–in the presence of God. He is bringing his heart to God just as he is.
Prayer is not a performance. Psalms are filled with raw, emotional prayers that are prayed through in God’s presence. Express your heart to God through honest prayer and struggle. The key is not to struggle in isolation but to bring the struggle into God’s presence.
Remember God’s faithfulness in the past
“Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise Him again—my Savior and my God!” Psalm 42:11 (NLT). David realizes he can have hope in the future through help given to him by God.
Here is the Gospel that gives us hope today in our struggle: We can look back to the cross and Christ’s sacrifice for us. The cross proves Jesus’ love for us. Our future is not bleak–the resurrection declares that. We follow a risen Lord. As we are reminded of God’s glory and His truth, and His presence and His grace–we remember all that because we need to hold on to the truth and reality of the Lord. God says: I have sent my Son for you. Trust Him completely.
