Ps 42:1-11, Emotions and Intellect are both created by God for our good

• Some Hebrew manuscripts group Ps 42 and 43 together. They both share the same refrain (42:5, 11, and 43:5)
• The Psalm is attributed to the sons of Korah, who were musicians. Their patriarch died in a rebellion in the desert (Num 26:10-11). David later appointed them as musicians (1 Chron 6:31-48 -- specifically 31 and 37). For the latter reason, some think David wrote it and the sons of Korah put it to music (but scripture doesn't say and we won't go beyond scripture)
• Psalms are scripture. But they differ slightly and this affects our rules of interpretation (hermeneutics). What are those differences?
• True: accurate picture of the heart and emotions of the psalmist
• Poetry, so they are heavy in imagery
• => Consequently, the raw honest emotion and the imagery can create some very strong pictures. Psalms are great when you are suffering, because they can relate to your pain


Psalm 42:1–4 (ESV) —
1 As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
a multitude keeping festival.


• We haven't read the rest of the psalm or the sister psalm 43, but what appears to be the situation?
• Exhausted
• Most likely physical enemies (probably not Saul, unless it is a flashback)
• Could be one of the times David was cast out by one of his sons and chased down. Although he wasn't necessarily physically exhausted then, more like emotionally exhausted
• What is the imagery?
• Deer being chased down, running and running, and now thirsty
• Is the exhaustion, physical or emotional and what is the evidence? Emotional
• Tears
• Questioning God's presence
• Remembering the good old days
• The tabernacle rested at Shiloh for many years, and even though David did not build a temple, David relocated the tabernacle to Jerusalem
• Words seem to suggest that the Psalmist is cast out of Jerusalem
• APPLICATION: This is very real and very normal response to suffering. It is not evidence of the lack of faith. In fact, it is the evidence of faith


Psalm 42:5–6a (ESV) —
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation 6 and my God.


• Also, this is the exact same as verse 11
• What does it appear is happening here in the mind of the Psalmist?
• He is questioning his questioning
• He is honest with his pain -- he is in turmoil
• He is reminding himself of truth
• He is reminding himself of his proper response
• What is the proper response? (4 Elements)
1. Hope in God
2. I shall again praise him
3. He is my salvation (probably in the physical sense)
4. He is my God
• Why is this important? And what is really happening here?
• The psalmist is responding to his heart (emotion) with his mind (intellect)
• Both responses are correct and both responses are necessary
• APPLICATION: The stoic response to crisis is not necessarily spiritual. But wallowing in your pain and hurt is not spiritual either. We do need to verbalize and recognize our pain, and then we do need to answer it with truth


Psalm 42:6b–7 (ESV) —
6 … 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 roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
have gone over me.


• After the refrain, The psalmists returns to his suffering. What is his focus?
• Two truths and the reality of the pain
• One) he was hurting down deep
• Two) he needed to remember God (and not just his pain)
• Three) the waves have swamped him
• The psalmist calls them "your waters, … your breakers, … your waves"
• He is acknowledging God's sovereignty
• Not that God caused them
• But God has allowed them
• He is acknowledging that God is still in charge
• (and for the NT believer) God will bring good out of pain
• APPLICATION: Admit the pain, admit the hurt, acknowledge his control, believe that he can bring good


Psalm 42:8–10 (ESV) —
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 do I go mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 As with a deadly wound in my bones,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”


• The psalmist shares his prayer
• It is honest and open with God
• He asks the "why" questions
• He asks the feeling questions -- I feel forgotten
• He asks the fairness questions -- I am mourning because of my enemy
• He asks the bitter questions -- my enemies wounds hurt, and he taunts me, and he taunts my God
• This leads then to the refrain -- the response of emotion and intellect in harmony
• APPLICATION: As Christians we want to go to one extreme or the other. God wants us to be honest in our relationship with him