Children long for Christmas. Spouses long for each other. The suffering long for release. We long for things that we want. We long for things we no longer want to end. But do we long for God?
The Psalmist longed for God. It is only in God that we find true satisfaction, peace, and joy. In Psalm 42, the author speaks of his thirst for God as like a thirst for water. That longing was expressed through the disappointment and distance he felt from God. A distance that would come to an end, and so he could still praise God. Like the psalmist, we can feel distant from God, but thankfully God has come near to us through Jesus. So we can praise God.
Psalm 42 is a song of lament by the Sons of Korah. The song begins with phrases familiar to many of us, “as a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God” (v.1).
Longing for God is like the longing of a thirsty animal for flowing streams, where it can satisfy its thirst. The heat bears down as the creature roams the dry hills, looking for somewhere to slake its thirst. A picture of how the psalmist longs for God.
“My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” (v.2). The biggest question for the psalmist is experiencing God’s presence. For him, that was found by attending the Temple. But “my tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, ‘Where is your God?’” (v.3). God’s presence has been elusive, and unbelievers have mocked him, asking where God is.
While he pours out his soul, depressed and saddened at his distance from God, the psalmist remembers “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” (v.4). Oh that those days would return once again!
All this leads to a burning question within himself. “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 and my God” (vv.5-6). Instead of encouragement from his memories, he feels only discouragement. So the psalmist reminds himself to hope in God, his salvation. There is no other source of hope.
The psalmist’s longing for God is then expressed in discouragement. “My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar” (v.6). Since remembering himself at worship does not satisfy, he calls to mind God himself. Doing so takes him to imagery of regions of Israel where water flows abundantly.
But again, this imagery does not satisfy his longings, but only makes things worse, as “deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me” (v.7)
In the past God’s unfailing covenant love poured over him, so that he sang and prayed both day and night “to the God of my life” (v.8).
Now the psalmist asks God “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” (v.9). His enemies oppress by taunting him, saying “where is your God?” (v.10).
That is what made the question so painful; it was the very question that the psalmist asked of God. So again he asked himself “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” (v.11). He is depressed because he longs for God, and cannot find him.
Nevertheless, the psalmist reminds himself to “Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God” (v.11).
The psalmist was in the depths of despair, longing for God. But he knew that he would be in God’s presence again, and so he placed his hope in God despite his present feelings.
We too at times feel that same longing for God. Our devotional life can feel dry. Worship can feel like routine. God feels distant to us and to our struggles. Past days of pleasure in God’s presence can feel depressing rather than encouraging. Yet despite these feelings, we can still hope in God, because God’s goodness to us is based on his nature, not our feelings.
We see God’s goodness expressed in that while we were sinners, longing for anything other than God to satisfy, God sent his son Jesus to die for our sins. We did not need to go to God, because God came to us.
Through God’s dwelling with us, the key to satisfied longing was thrust into the lock and the door opened. The Holy Spirit dwells within us, to reveal God’s presence and make us fit for God’s presence always.
Where is your God? He dwells with you. Hope in God, and satisfy your longing in his presence with you.