Thoughts for the Day

BOOK II (Psalms 42–72).
Psalm 42. Longing for God and His Help in Distress. To the leader. A Maskil of the Korahites.

As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
the face of God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me continually,
‘Where is your God?’

These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I went with the throng,
and led them in procession to the house of God,
with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
a multitude keeping festival.
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep
at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows
have gone over me.
By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.

I say to God, my rock,
‘Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mournfully
because the enemy oppresses me?’
As with a deadly wound in my body,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me continually,
‘Where is your God?’

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Psalm 42 starts the second book of Psalms and has a different feel to the first section. It has less attributes to King David, and other names appear, for example, Solomon and Asaph. This Psalm is attributed to the sons of Korah, who seemed to have been Levites and musical leaders in the Temple. Psalms 42 and 43 are in fact one psalm, but usually sung separately. They are two of the saddest but most beautiful of psalms.

The writer is seemingly exiled away from the Temple and the hills of Jerusalem. The country around him is alien, for he is near the source of the river Jordan on Mount Hermon where the water rushes over boulders and the noise of it is overwhelming. He remembers the times he climbed the hill to the Temple in Jerusalem with the crowds of worshippers. He longs to be back there because in his exile among his enemies he feels separated from God.

In March 1920 we were all in lockdown because of the pandemic, and I was in Staffordshire away from my parish in Pembrokeshire. I wrote the first 'Thoughts for the Day' on 24th March 2020, for those who like me were pining for church worship. Our souls were longing for God, and we needed to listen to the words of hope as in Psalm 42, which remind us not to give in to despair.

↠ This day spend a moment thinking of your difficulties and the world's troubles. Ask the question: "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me?" As you remember the response, "Hope in God", turn to Him and ask for help.

Lord God,
when You feel far away from me;
when life seems to get on top of me;
and when I don't know where to turn,
may I remember to turn to You,
for You alone have the answers,
and in You I know I can trust.
May I feel hope even in despair,
and complete confidence in You.
Amen.