These next two psalms were sung together by the temple priests. Like most of the psalms, they are a desperate prayer to God for hope and salvation. Consequently, the psalmist convinces himself that all hope is only found in God. Let’s dig in…
Psalm 42
For the choir director: A psalm (maskill) of the sons of Korah.
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?”4 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!5 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 6 my God!Now I am deeply discouraged,
but I will remember you—
even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan,
from the land of Mount Mizar.
7 I hear the tumult of the raging seas
as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.
8 But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me,
and through each night I sing his songs,
praying to God who gives me life.9 “O God my rock,” I cry,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I wander around in grief,
oppressed by my enemies?”
10 Their taunts break my bones.
They scoff, “Where is this God of yours?”11 Why am I discouraged?
Psalm 42 NLT
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Savior and my God!
Psalm 43
1 Declare me innocent, O God!
Defend me against these ungodly people.
Rescue me from these unjust liars.
2 For you are God, my only safe haven.
Why have you tossed me aside?
Why must I wander around in grief,
oppressed by my enemies?
3 Send out your light and your truth;
let them guide me.
Let them lead me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you live.
4 There I will go to the altar of God,
to God—the source of all my joy.
I will praise you with my harp,
O God, my God!5 Why am I discouraged?
Psalm 43 NLT
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Savior and my God!
Who is Korah and his sons?
Korah was a Levite — the tribe designated by God to help with the Tabernacle worship. In Numbers 16, Korah questioned Moses’ authority and leadership. Korah, his cohorts, and their families all perished in God’s judgment. Yet, God spared his sons. Why? We don’t know. Nevertheless, they were very grateful and vowed to remain faithful to God.
Pastor Sandy Adams adds some insight…
Notice too, these psalms are called “Maskills” or contemplations.
How ironic that some of the Bible’s most insightful psalms were written by the descendants of one of the Bible’s most blatant blasphemers.
Psalms 42-49, along with four other Psalms, 84, 85 and 87, 88 – were written either “by” or “to” the “sons of Korah.” To me it’s proof that no one is a slave to a sinful heritage. In Christ, we all can change our destiny.
Apparently, the author was a Levite far from home and away from the Temple. From clues in the psalm we glean he was in the Golan Heights – the remote, mountain region in northern Israel – near the headwaters of the Jordan. There, he desperately missed the Temple worship, and the presence of God. Nothing satisfied him apart from the Lord alone.
Sandy Adams
Finding Hope
In reality, every human soul thirsts for God! Unfortunately, until you find God, you don’t realize it was for God that you hungered for. I know. Undeniably, it took me 33 years of looking for love in all the wrong places to find out that what I needed was Jesus.
As Jesus told the Samaritan Woman…
“Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. 14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”
John 4:13-14 NLT
Far From Home
Imagine that your hometown is attacked and you’re dragged off to an unknown location as a prisoner. Actually, that happens today in many African and Asian countries to Christians. Consequently, you’re not allowed to meet with your fellow believers. You can’t worship like you are used to. Likewise, that’s how this psalmist felt.
Imagine now, your home in Heaven and Jesus welcoming you. See, each true, born-again believer knows that this world is not all there is! Thank God! We yearn for our eternal Home in Paradise with Jesus. Happily, we endure the time we have to spend here on earth because Jesus lives in us. We have that Living Water in our souls. We no longer thirst.
Where is the Gospel?
I turn now to the folks at Spoken Gospel...
Like the exiled priest crying out in a foreign land, often we feel like exiles. We feel far from God’s presence. No one experienced that more acutely than Jesus. Like the priest in the temple, Jesus left God’s house in heaven where joy and worship once surrounded him. He was an exile in a world that neither recognized him nor accepted him. Even though he came to the people he created, he was surrounded by strangers and enemies (John 1:10-11). Jesus was the ultimate homeless priest in exile.
But Jesus was an exiled priest for a purpose. He came to carry the exile of the very same people who treated him as a stranger. Jesus’ enemies dragged him outside of Jerusalem to suffer and die on a cross (Hebrews 13:12). Jesus’ enemies mocked his suffering, as if to prove he’d been forgotten by his Father (Isaiah 52:14; Matthew 27:39-43). Jesus was abandoned by all comforts, all friends and for a time, by God. He was stripped to nothingness in his exile. He panted for water and cried out to God who had rejected him (Luke 22:47-53; John 19:28). But in the violent storm of his darkest hours, Jesus clung to God, trusting that God would bring him out of death and restore him (1 Peter 2:23).
And God heard the cry of his exiled priest. After three days in the grave Jesus rose from death and ended the exile of his people. Never again can enemies, people, time, or even sin separate us from God’s presence (Romans 8:38-39). His parched words on the cross, “It is finished,” meant that separation from God was over for anyone who clings to Jesus as their rock of salvation. He is their end of our exile (John 19:30). Jesus was surrounded by enemies and cast out of God’s presence so that he can bring all who cling to him to their eternal and joyful home (John 14:6).
Spoken Gospel
Jesus is the Living God of Hope
By the way, growing up Catholic, I always saw Jesus as dead, hanging on the cross. Moreover, the Holy Spirit was something in the Heavens that only priests, bishops, and popes had access to or knowledge of.
The truth is, Jesus will give you the Holy Spirit freely, as a gift, when you repent and give your life to Him and Him only!
As the psalmist sang 3 times in these psalms…
Why am I discouraged?
Psalm 42: 5, 11 and 43:5 NLT
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Savior and my God!
That is our Prayer of Hope today!
Isn’t it about time you let Him in?
