?Psalm 42 Song (As the Deer)

Please check out these links: Sheet Music - https://www.jasonsilver.com/static/music/231-psalm-42 Patreon - support me? https://patreon.com/JasonSilver Instagram - https://instagram.com/Jason_Silver Facebook - follow me? https://facebook.com/JasonSilverMusic Twitter - follow me? https://twitter.com/JasonSilver iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/psalm-42/1442751052?i=1442751065 ----- "As the Deer" is a popular English worship song I sang as a teenager. It was also based on Psalm 42. I think it's a pretty little tune, and it really helps me express my longing for God. However, it doesn't communicate the distress that Psalm 42 contains. Look at verses 3, 5, 6, 9, and 10! We see phrases like, "My tears have been my food day and night," "Why are you cast down, O my soul," "[God,] Why have you forgotten me," and "Why must I walk about mournfully?" Don't let the image of a majestic and solemn deer throw you off. This Psalm is the cry of someone desperately thirsty, perhaps even DEHYDRATED for God! Unfortunately, many of us know exactly what it's like to drown in one's own tears, and to hear the voices of mockers saying, "Where is your God now?" It's the plight of being human, actually! Suffering is at the core of the meaning of life! Scripture is our guidebook, and so we can see hope in these verses! We must tell ourselves the same thing this writer said in verse 5 and 12: "Hope in God; for I shall again praise him... [he is] my help and my God." You see? The waters of life, those rivers of satisfaction, are found in God. They're found in praise! They're found in fellowship with other believers! It's true: the Psalmist says in verse 4, when he's in the throng of worshippers, making their way to the house of God, shouting in joy and thanksgiving, then the distress becomes just a memory. We may not forget, but we can find help in God. So don't push your pain away. Don't think that Christians mustn't suffer! Rather, find hope in Him as you worship Him! HE is your help, and your God! Amen ----- Psalm 42 Longing for God and His Help in Distress To the leader. A Maskil of the Korahites. 1 As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, ‘Where is your God?’ 4 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. 5 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 (6) 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. 7 Deep calls to deep at the thunder of your cataracts; all your waves and your billows have gone over me. 8 By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. 9 I say to God, my rock, ‘Why have you forgotten me? Why must I walk about mournfully because the enemy oppresses me?’ 10 As with a deadly wound in my body, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me continually, ‘Where is your God?’ 11 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. New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. #scripturesongs #psalm42 #asthedeer