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Day 42 Psalm 42 Psalm 42:1 < As the hart pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after thee, 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 meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? 4 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. 5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. 6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar. 7 Deep calls unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. 8 Yet the LORD will command his loving kindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. 9 I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? 10 As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God? 11 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. You might recall when I started this study in Psalms that it is divided into five books. Yesterday I finished the first book of Psalms, which were written completely by David. Today’s Psalm is written for the sons of Korah. Korah was a priest who dishonored the tabernacle in the wilderness and was one of three men who led a rebellion against Moses and God swallowed Korah, Dathan, and Abiram along with two hundred fifty people, whole into the earth, but spared the sons of Korah. Numbers 26:11 Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not. (KJV) It is these descendents of Korah to whom this psalm is written. Exactly who wrote the psalm, is unclear. Some have credited it to David and others to the exile. The sons of Korah were among the singers Solomon appointed in the temple. What we do know is the preface states it is to the chief musician for the sons of Korah. Whoever wrote this psalm was a man in great distress. Whether he was away from God’s temple because he was in the middle of a war with his enemies, or whether he was among the Babylonian exiles, his one thought was to be in God’s temple, worshiping him and being in his presence. How many of you long to be in God’s presence, worshiping with God’s people, feeling him all around you, but for some reason, are unable to do so? Illness is one reason that keeps us away from church. I know this past year when I broke my leg the one place I wanted to be on Sunday and the one place I could not go was to church. Two months went by for me before I found myself in church again. I felt like the psalmist, thirsty for God’s presence. Longing to feel God so close I could see and taste his presence all around me. I never want to experience that drought again in my life. Will I? It’s possible because we don’t know what life is going to give us. You can hear the psalmist’s longing to be wherever God’s presence was, and for the Jews, that meant in Jerusalem, in the temple. It was the most sacred place to be for God’s people. Today we can all experience God’s presence, the closeness of his glory anytime we come together in worship and praise. We can hear his heart beating with pleasure as we come before him, because our pleasure in his presence is nothing to compare with his pleasure in our presence. In order to get close to us, God tore the veil in the temple when Jesus died on the cross for our sin, making it possible to be closer than we had ever had the opportunity before. Mark 15:37 And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. 38 And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. (KJV) The psalmist praised God for his loving kindness to him and for hearing him even though he felt down cast. He could still praise God, and he knew that one day he would be back in God’s temple praising him. Our cry, our praise, our prayer, should be the same as the psalmist’s, who longed to be where God and God’s people are. We should have the same thirst for God, so that whenever we are away from him we are in a state of mourning and despair until that moment when we can gather together again with all God’s people in praise and worship. Solitary Bible study is good, and you can get a measure of God’s presence from it, but there is nothing to compare with joining your faith to other believers and coming together in full worship of him. Let’s pray: Father, thank you for your presence in my life. Help me join together with other believers in full praise and worship of you as often as I can. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen. Copyright © 30 April 2016 by Valerie Jean Routhieaux Image courtesy of Pixabay