Various worship songs with different melodies use for lyrics portions of Psalm 42:1-4, which reads:
As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So pants my soul for You, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food day and night,
While they continually say to me,
“Where is your God?”
When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go with the multitude;
I went with them to the house of God,
With the voice of joy and praise,
With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.
These words express longing for God when He seems to be absent. The psalmist remembers past days when the whole community would go up to Jerusalem with joyful praise to celebrate one of the festivals Israel was commanded to keep (cf. Leviticus 23). The joy of former days stands in stark contrast to his present depression where the psalmist seems to be living on a diet of his own tears, harassed by his enemies. Instead of being in the temple in Jerusalem, the author of this psalm is far to the north of Israel in the heights of Hermon (Psalm 42:6). This great physical distance communicates the great spiritual distance he feels separates him from God.
In this low state, he speaks to his own soul, telling himself to hope in God (Psalm 42:5, 11). When you are low, remember to hope in God. God no longer dwells in a temple in Jerusalem, but in Christians, His church (1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 2:19-22). When you long for God like a deer longs for water, remember the promises of Jesus, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37-38), and, “whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). Jesus shed His blood to cleanse the sins that separate us from God. This brings a better hope than the psalmist knew under the law; by this better hope we can draw near to God (Hebrews 7:19). The most important thing for you to do today spiritually is to commune with God, to draw near to Him who gave His own Son to have fellowship with you (James 4:8).
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