Many of us have sung the words: “As the deer pants for the water so my song longs after You. You alone are my heart’s desire, and I long to worship You.” It sounds really sweet, but the situation of the psalmist in Psalms 42 & 43 (almost certainly one psalm) is anything but sweet. This picture of the deer panting for water - it is desperation. There is no water in sight. The psalmist uses that to describe his longing; and it is a longing that can only be satisfied with the presence of God.
And it is this image that the psalmist uses to express his longing for God. He is away from the presence of God. He has been mocked by foes (42:3, 10). HIs heart breaks at the thought of what he no longer enjoys. And it leads to the refrain we come to three times in these verses:
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. (cf. 42:11; 43:5)
But that refrain is not one of total despair; it is the psalmist talking to himself and encouraging his own soul to hope in God. These words show us that the psalmist is not actually far from God - or more truly - God is not far from him. God is his salvation and his God. God will not leave his children (John 10:28,29; Hebrews 13:5).
Yet in verse 6 we see those feelings turn from this hope again. His soul is cast down. But he remembers God is his rock (42:9), his only refuge. Even in that language we see hope. Then we come to verse 8:
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.
The Lord directs, sends out his steadfast love and his song is with the psalmist. That may well be that because the psalmist remembers God’s steadfast love he sings, or it could well be that the song of the Lord (God’s singing) is with him. What a thought! God singing over his children and showing forth his steadfast love! Oh to hear that song!
Then in the next stanza (Psalm 43) the psalmist prays. He is not just remembering his circumstances and God, but he prays to his rock.
3 Send out your light and your truth;
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
and to your dwelling!
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy,
and I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.
The psalmist needed the light and truth of God to lead him to the dwelling of God - to the Temple. But the Temple was just a shadow of the true presence of God. Now, in Christ Jesus, who is the only way to the Father, we have been brought into the presence of God (John 14:6; Hebrews 10:19; 1 Peter 3:18). God has sent out his light and his truth in Christ.
No matter our circumstance…God is always with us. We need reminded of that, because it doesn’t always seem to be the case. Thankfully we have his truth before us in his holy Word. Let that Word, the Word of Christ, lead us daily into the presence of the God who sings and rejoices over his children! Be not cast down O my soul.