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?
Psalm 42:1-2
Psalm 42 is instructed to be given to the choir leader. In most Bibles there is a caption beneath the chapter heading that reads, “To the choirmaster. A Maskil for the sons of Korah.”
The ESV Bible notes a “Maskil” is “probably a musical or liturgical term.” A Maskil is something for the choir director to lead the people of God in singing. It is to be a part of their corporate expression of worship.
I find Psalm 42 intriguing because it is given to the choir director by the sons of Korah for the purpose of leading the people of God in corporate worship. And who were these sons of Korah?
The sons of Korah were special Levites; they were Levites who had responsibilities as temple servants and musicians (1 Chronicles 9). We see “Sons of Korah” every Sunday at CrossPoint. Each weekend CrossPoint’s Worship Leader, Bryan Haskins, has temple servants and musicians working along with him, playing instruments, singing songs and administering the media in worship.
One writer speculates that this Psalm is the lament of one of these temple Levites who was way off in the north of Israel, separated from the temple and from the people of God and from the worship which he has had the glorious privilege of leading in. And he is longing to be back at God’s house, and he is turning his longing into a prayer and a song of faith and hope in God Himself. But whatever the case it is, whoever this is, this believer has been kept from the house of God and from the worship of God, and he is in spiritual torture over it.
When was the last time you longed to see the face of God?
Look at verse 2: “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?”
Longing to see the face of God, this is the desire of his heart. The writer of this psalm yearns to see the face of God, to appear before God in the worship of the sanctuary. This believer, whoever he is, has a right estimation of the value of corporate worship. He seeks through the corporate worship of the people of God, to encounter the living God, to appear before the living God, to see the face of the living God. And he also understands that the focus of the ordinance of worship is God Himself.
Make note: worship is all about God! The centerpiece of worship is always God. If it is ever about anything else, then it is not worship; it is idolatry.
Notice verse 1: “As the deer pants for flowing streams, so my soul pants for You, O God.”
It is not just the outward glory of Old Testament temple worship that he misses. What he misses is God. And not being in the presence of the living God is spiritual torture to him. He longs for the presence and the person of God. He is a worshipper who, for whatever reason, cannot worship; he cannot be in the house of God, and it’s absolutely killing him.
As we meditate on Psalm 42 today, surely we should ask ourselves whether God Himself is our greatest desire. Do we long for Him above all things else? Do we desire to be in the worship of the living God?
And if we do not, we need to ask ourselves, “What is wrong with us?”
Great thoughts Dr. Whitley. Do you remember two-a-days in August before they would just let you get water anytime you wanted it…remember how much you craved a drink? Remember how good it was even though it came out of a water hose? Can you imagine craving for God like that?
I do not know that I have ever craved God like that, John. If I have, I do not remember it. I wonder what it would take to crave God in that way?
This reminds me of a great book I once read… “A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23″ by Philip Keller. It sure gave me a different perspective on the love the Father (and Son) have for us and how we are to respond in like kind. Thanks for the inspiration.