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Commentary on Psalms 42 verses 1–5
Holy love to God as the chief good and our felicity is the power of godliness, the very life and soul of religion, without which all external professions and performances are but a shell and carcase: now here we have some of the expressions of that love. Here is,
I. Holy love thirsting, love upon the wing, soaring upwards in holy desires towards the Lord and towards the remembrance of his name (Psa 42:1, Psa 42:2): "My soul panteth, thirsteth, for God, for nothing more than God, but still for more and more of him." Now observe,
1.When it was that David thus expressed his vehement desire towards God. It was, (1.) When he was debarred from his outward opportunities of waiting on God, when he was banished to the land of Jordan, a great way off from the courts of God's house. Note, Sometimes God teaches us effectually to know the worth of mercies by the want of them, and whets our appetite for the means of grace by cutting us short in those means. We are apt to loathe that manna, when we have plenty of it, which will be very precious to us if ever we come to know the scarcity of it. (2.) When he was deprived, in a great measure, of the inward comfort he used to have in God. He now went mourning, but he went on panting. Note, If God, by his grace, has wrought in us sincere and earnest desires towards him, we may take comfort from these when we want those ravishing delights we have sometimes had in God, because lamenting after God is as sure an evidence that we love him as rejoicing in God. Before the psalmist records his doubts, and fears, and griefs, which had sorely shaken him, he premises this, That he looked upon the living God as his chief good, and had set his heart upon him accordingly, and was resolved to live and die by him; and, casting anchor thus at first, he rides out the storm.
2.What is the object of his desire and what it is he thus thirsts after. (1.) He pants after God, he thirsts for God, not the ordinances themselves, but the God of the ordinances. A gracious soul can take little satisfaction in God's courts if it do not meet with God himself there: "O that I knew where I might find him! that I might have more of the tokens of his favour, the graces and comforts of his Spirit, and the earnests of his glory." (2.) He has, herein, an eye to God as the living God, that has life in himself, and is the fountain of life and all happiness to those that are his, the living God, not only in opposition to dead idols, the works of men's hands, but to all the dying comforts of this world, which perish in the using. Living souls can never take up their rest any where short of a living God. (3.) He longs to come and appear before God, - to make himself known to him, as being conscious to himself of his own sincerity, - to attend on him, as a servant appears before his master, to pay his respects to him and receive his commands, - to give an account to him, as one from whom our judgment proceeds. To appear before God is as much the desire of the upright as it is the dread of the hypocrite. The psalmist knew he could not come into God's courts without incurring expense, for so was the law, that none should appear before God empty; yet he longs to come, and will not grudge the charges.
3.What is the degree of this desire. It is very importunate; it is his soul that pants, his soul that thirsts, which denotes not only the sincerity, but the strength, of his desire. His longing for the water of the well of Bethlehem was nothing to this. He compares it to the panting of a hart, or deer, which is naturally hot and dry, especially of a hunted buck, after the water-brooks. Thus earnestly does a gracious soul desire communion with God, thus impatient is it in the want of that communion, so impossible does it find it to be satisfied with any thing short of that communion, and so insatiable is it in taking the pleasures of that communion when the opportunity of it returns, still thirsting after the full enjoyment of him in the heavenly kingdom.
II. Holy love mourning for God's present withdrawings and the want of the benefit of solemn ordinances (Psa 42:3): "My tears have been my meat day and night during this forced absence from God's house." His circumstances were sorrowful, and he accommodated himself to them, received the impressions and returned the signs of sorrow. Even the royal prophet was a weeping prophet when he wanted the comforts of God's house. His tears were mingled with his meat; nay, they were his meat day and night; he fed, he feasted, upon his own tears, when there was such just cause for them; and it was a satisfaction to him that he found his heart so much affected with a grievance of this nature. Observe, He did not think it enough to shed a tear or two at parting from the sanctuary, to weep a farewell-prayer when he took his leave, but, as long as he continued under a forced absence from that place of his delight, he never looked up, but wept day and night. Note, Those that are deprived of the benefit of public ordinances constantly miss them, and therefore should constantly mourn for the want of them, till they are restored to them again. Two things aggravated his grief: -
1.The reproaches with which his enemies teased him: They continually say unto me, Where is thy God? (1.) Because he was absent from the ark, the token of God's presence. Judging of the God of Israel by the gods of the heathen, they concluded he had lost his God. Note, Those are mistaken who think that when they have robbed us of our Bibles, and our ministers, and our solemn assemblies, they have robbed us of our God; for, though God has tied us to them when they are to be had, he has not tied himself to them. We know where our God is, and where to find him, when we know not where his ark is, nor where to find that. Wherever we are there is a way open heaven-ward. (2.) Because God did not immediately appear for his deliverance they concluded that he had abandoned him; but herein also they were deceived: it does not follow that the saints have lost their God because they have lost all their other friends. However, by this base reflection on God and his people, they added affliction to the afflicted, and that was what they aimed at. Nothing is more grievous to a gracious soul than that which is intended to shake its hope and confidence in God.
2.The remembrance of his former liberties and enjoyments, Psa 42:4. Son, remember thy good things, is a great aggravation of evil things, so much do our powers of reflection and anticipation add to the grievance of this present time. David remembered the days of old, and then his soul was poured out in him; he melted away, and the thought almost broke his heart. he poured out his soul within him in sorrow, and then poured out his soul before God in prayer. But what was it that occasioned this painful melting of spirit? It was not the remembrance of the pleasures at court, or the entertainments of his own house, from which he was now banished, that afflicted him, but the remembrance of the free access he had formerly had to God's house and the pleasure he had in attending the sacred solemnities there. (1.) He went to the house of God, though in his time it was but a tent; nay, if this psalm was penned, as many think it was, at the time of his being persecuted by Saul, the ark was then in a private house, Sa2 6:3. But the meanness, obscurity, and inconveniency of the place did not lessen his esteem of that sacred symbol of the divine presence. David was a courtier, a prince, a man of honour, a man of business, and yet very diligent in attending God's house and joining in public ordinances, even in the days of Saul, when he and his great men enquired not at it, Ch1 13:3. Whatever others did, David and his house would serve the Lord. (2.) He went with the multitude, and thought it no disparagement to his dignity to be at the head of a crowd in attending upon God. Nay, this added to the pleasure of it, that he was accompanied with a multitude, and therefore it is twice mentioned, as that which he greatly lamented the want of now. The more the better in the service of God; it is the more like heaven, and a sensible help to our comfort in the communion of saints. (3.) He went with the voice of joy and praise, not only with joy and praise in his heart, but with the outward expressions of it, proclaiming his joy and speaking forth the high praises of his God. Note, When we wait upon God in public ordinances we have reason to do it both with cheerfulness and thankfulness, to take to ourselves the comfort and give to God the glory of our liberty of access to him. (4.) He went to keep holy-days, not to keep them in vain mirth and recreation, but in religious exercises. Solemn days are spent most comfortably in solemn assemblies.
III. Holy love hoping (Psa 42:5): Why art thou cast down, O my soul? His sorrow was upon a very good account, and yet it must not exceed its due limits, nor prevail to depress his spirits; he therefore communes with his own heart, for his relief. "Come, my soul, I have something to say to thee in thy heaviness." Let us consider, 1. The cause of it. "Thou art cast down, as one stooping and sinking under a burden, Pro 12:25. Thou art disquieted, in confusion and disorder; now why are thou so?" This may be taken as an enquiring question: "Let the cause of this uneasiness be duly weighed, and see whether it be a just cause." Our disquietudes would in many cases vanish before a strict scrutiny into the grounds and reasons of them. "Why am I cast down? Is there a cause, a real cause? Have not others more cause, that do not make so much ado? Have not we, at the same time, cause to be encouraged?" Or it may be taken as an expostulating question; those that commune much with their own hearts will often have occasion to chide them, as David here. "Why do I thus dishonour God by my melancholy dejections? Why do I discourage others and do so much injury to myself? Can I give a good account of this tumult?" 2. The cure of it: Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him. A believing confidence in God is a sovereign antidote against prevailing despondency and disquietude of spirit. And therefore, when we chide ourselves to hope in God; when the soul embraces itself it sinks; if it catch hold on the power and promise of God, it keeps the head above water. Hope in God, (1.) That he shall have glory from us: "I shall yet praise him; I shall experience such a change in my state that I shall not want matter for praise, and such a change in my spirit that I shall not want a heart for praise." It is the greatest honour and happiness of a man, and the greatest desire and hope of every good man, to be unto God for a name and a praise. What is the crown of heaven's bliss but this, that there we shall be for ever praising God? And what is our support under our present woes but this, that we shall yet praise God, that they shall not prevent nor abate our endless hallelujahs? (2.) That we shall have comfort in him. We shall praise him for the help of his countenance, for his favour, the support we have by it and the satisfaction we have in it. Those that know how to value and improve the light of God's countenance will find in that a suitable, seasonable, and sufficient help, in the worst of times, and that which will furnish them with constant matter for praise. David's believing expectation of this kept him from sinking, nay, it kept him from drooping; his harp was a palliative cure of Saul's melancholy, but his hope was an effectual cure of his own.
The person, however, who has once tasted virtue and has come to understand its nature by his own experience of the good is no longer the kind of person who must be dragged away from his passionate attachment to evil by necessity and warning and compelled to look to virtue. On the contrary, he has an excessive thirst for what is superior.… [He] “thirsts” for participation in God more than “the hart” longs for “the fountains of water.” And it follows that the person who finds the fountain after this excessive thirst draws in as much water as the abundance of his desire draws off. But he who has received what he desired in himself is full of what he desired. For that which has become full is not again emptied on the model of physical satiety, nor does that which was drunk remain inactive in itself. In whomever the divine fountain has come into existence, it transforms the one who has embraced it to itself and imparts to this person a portion of its own power.
"My soul is thirsty for the living God" [Psalm 42:2]. What I am saying, that "as the hart pants after the water-brooks, so longs my soul after You, O God," means this, "My soul is thirsty for the living God." For what is it thirsty? "When shall I come and appear before God?" This it is for which I am thirsty, to "come and to appear before Him." I am thirsty in my pilgrimage, in my running; I shall be filled on my arrival. But "When shall I come?" And this, which is soon in the sight of God, is late to our "longing." "When shall I come and appear before God?" This too proceeds from that "longing," of which in another place comes that cry, "One thing have I desired of the Lord; that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life." Wherefore so? "That I may behold" (he says) "the beauty of the Lord." "When shall I come and appear before the Lord?"...
Poemen said, ‘It is written, “Like as the hart longs for the waterbrooks, so longs my soul for you, O my God” (Ps. 42:1). Indeed, the harts in the desert eat many snakes and when their venom makes them burn with thirst they come to the waters to assuage their burning thirst. It is the same for monks: in the desert, they are burned by the poison of the demons and they long for Saturday and Sunday to come so that they can go to the springs of water, that is, to the Body and Blood of the Lord, to be purified from the poison of the evil ones.’
Christ the Lord is the fountain of waters from which flows everything that restores us. Flowing streams can often run dry, but a fountain is always supplied with water. So we are rightly invited to hurry to the liquid of the sacred source; there our desire is never able to experience thirst.
First, therefore, he is sought without being found, so that afterward, when found, he may be held more tightly. For holy desires, as we have said, grow by delay. But if they fail by delay, they were not desires. With this love burned whoever was able to reach the truth. Hence David says: "My soul has thirsted for the living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God?"
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SUMMARY
Psalms 42:2 articulates the psalmist's profound and desperate spiritual yearning for God's manifest presence, likening this intense longing to an unquenchable physical thirst. It expresses a deep, existential desire for intimate communion with "the living God," emphasizing His active, personal, and life-giving nature, and conveys a heartfelt cry for renewed access to divine fellowship, likely in the context of Temple worship from which the psalmist is painfully separated.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
The psalmist employs several potent literary devices to convey the depth of his spiritual anguish and longing. The most prominent is metaphor, where the intense physical sensation of "thirst" (H6770, tsâmêʼ) is used to describe a profound spiritual craving. This vivid imagery immediately communicates the urgency and essential nature of the psalmist's need for God, making it universally relatable to human experience. The phrase "My soul thirsteth" further utilizes personification, attributing to the soul (H5315, nephesh) a bodily sensation, thereby emphasizing the all-encompassing nature of this spiritual hunger that pervades the psalmist's entire being. Furthermore, the final clause, "when shall I come and appear before God?", functions as a powerful rhetorical question. This question is not posed to elicit information but to express the psalmist's deep distress, impatience, and fervent yearning for a reunion with God that seems distant or impossible in his current circumstances. The repetition of "for God" and "before God" within the short verse serves as a form of anaphora (though not at the very beginning of clauses, it is a strong recurring phrase), reinforcing the singular and unwavering focus of the psalmist's desire on the divine, underscoring that God alone is the object of his deepest longing.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Psalms 42:2 speaks to a fundamental human spiritual reality: the innate longing for connection with the divine, a longing that finds its ultimate satisfaction only in God. This "thirst" is not a weakness but a sign of spiritual health, indicating a soul attuned to its Creator and recognizing its dependence on Him for true life and sustenance. The psalmist's yearning for God's presence, particularly in the context of worship, underscores the biblical truth that humanity was created for fellowship with God, and true flourishing is found in His presence. This verse reminds us that God is not a distant, abstract concept but "the living God," actively involved and accessible to those who seek Him with a sincere heart. It highlights the profound need for divine communion that transcends mere ritual, pointing to a personal relationship with the vibrant, active God of all creation.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Psalms 42:2 serves as a timeless mirror for the believer's soul, inviting us to honestly assess the depth of our own spiritual desire. Do we genuinely "thirst" for God with the same intensity as the psalmist, or has our spiritual life become routine, our longing dulled by the distractions and comforts of the world? This verse challenges us to cultivate an active, passionate yearning for God's presence, recognizing that He is not confined to sacred spaces but is "the living God," ever-present and accessible. It calls us to pursue Him earnestly through consistent prayer, diligent engagement with Scripture, and active participation in the community of faith, understanding that our deepest satisfaction and peace are found in intimate communion with Him. Even in seasons of spiritual dryness or perceived distance, this psalm provides a voice for our deepest yearnings, reminding us that God is always near to those who seek Him with a whole heart, ready to satisfy the soul's deepest thirst and restore the joy of His presence.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why does the psalmist use the imagery of "thirst" to describe his spiritual longing?
Answer: The imagery of "thirst" (צָמֵא, tsâmêʼ, H6770) is used because it powerfully conveys an essential, urgent, and all-consuming need. Just as the physical body cannot survive without water, the psalmist's soul feels it cannot truly live or thrive apart from God's presence. It highlights a deep, visceral craving that goes beyond mere intellectual desire, emphasizing the life-sustaining nature of communion with God. This metaphor is common in Scripture to describe spiritual longing, as seen in Psalm 63:1 where the psalmist expresses a similar longing in a parched land, and in Isaiah 55:1 where God invites all who thirst to come to Him.
What is the significance of calling God "the living God" in this verse?
Answer: Calling God "the living God" (אֵל חַי, ʼêl chay, H410 and H2416) is a crucial theological statement. In a world filled with pagan deities that were often represented by lifeless idols, this title emphatically distinguishes Yahweh as the true, active, and dynamic God. It emphasizes His vitality, sovereignty, and ongoing involvement in creation and human affairs. He is not a distant, passive, or dead deity but one who hears, sees, acts, and sustains all life. This attribute assures the psalmist that his cries are directed to a God who is capable of responding and who is personally present, unlike the inert gods of the nations (Jeremiah 10:10). This declaration provides comfort and hope in a time of spiritual distress.
Does "appear before God" imply a physical sighting of God?
Answer: No, "appear before God" (לִרְאוֹת פְּנֵי אֱלֹהִים, lir'ot p'ney Elohim, H7200 and H6440) does not imply a literal physical sighting of God's essence, which is impossible for humans in their mortal state (Exodus 33:20). Instead, it refers to presenting oneself for worship in God's designated sanctuary, typically the Temple in Jerusalem. For ancient Israelites, "appearing before God" was a requirement for pilgrimage festivals (e.g., Deuteronomy 16:16), signifying participation in communal worship, offering sacrifices, and experiencing God's manifest presence in that sacred space. The psalmist's longing is for renewed access to this tangible experience of divine fellowship and corporate worship, which was a central part of Israelite religious life.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
The profound spiritual thirst expressed in Psalms 42:2 finds its ultimate and complete fulfillment in Jesus Christ. The psalmist's yearning for "the living God" and to "appear before God" foreshadows humanity's deepest need for reconciliation and intimate communion with the Father, a communion made possible only through the Son. Jesus Himself declares, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink" (John 7:37), identifying Himself as the true source of "living water" that satisfies eternally, so that those who believe in Him will never thirst again (John 4:10 and John 4:14). Furthermore, while the psalmist longed to appear before God in a physical temple, Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross tore the veil, providing direct access to the Father's presence. Through Jesus, we now have boldness to "draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith" to the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16) and have "access in one Spirit to the Father" (Ephesians 2:18). The physical Temple, where God's presence was localized, is replaced by Christ's body, and believers themselves become the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16), meaning God's presence dwells within us. Thus, the psalmist's cry is answered not by a return to a physical sanctuary, but by the indwelling Spirit and the promise of ultimately seeing God's face in the new heavens and new earth through Christ (Revelation 22:4). Jesus is the living water that quenches the soul's deepest thirst and the way to truly appear before God.