1As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So pants my soul for You, O
God.
2My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear
before God?
3My tears have been my food day and night,
While they continually say to
me,
“Where is your God?”
4When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go with the
multitude;
I went with them to the house
of God,
With the voice of joy and
praise,
With a multitude that kept a
pilgrim feast.
5Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted
within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet
praise Him
For the help of His
countenance.
6O my God, my soul is cast down within me;
Therefore I will remember You
from the land of the Jordan,
And from the heights of
Hermon,
From the Hill Mizar.
7Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls;
All Your waves and billows
have gone over me.
8The Lord will command His
lovingkindness in the daytime,
And in the night His song
shall be with me—
A prayer to the God of my
life.
9I will say to God my Rock,
“Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because
of the oppression of the enemy?”
10As with a breaking of my bones,
My enemies reproach me,
While they say to me all day
long,
“Where is your God?”
11Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted
within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and
my God.
Commentary
Vs.
1
“As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So pants my soul for You, O
God.”
The longing of every believer is for God, for fellowship with Him, which is now presented to us as the deer that pants for the water brooks.
Vs. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear
before God?
Thirsting for God, for the living God, and not some dead idol, is what drives us onward and upward. And this is most true during times of severe opposition or troubles. For satisfaction only comes by knowing God, by having His Person and Presence, by His Spirit, within, which is our great and grand privilege in the New Covenant era. And though He is now with us, we still long for Him, to appear before Him and receive the culmination of our salvation in His everlasting Kingdom. For then we shall see, the Lord Jesus Christ face to face (Rev. 22:4). Because down here we have troubles, we have sorrows, but up there we will have none, for neither adversary nor opposition will find us, hurt us, mock us, or trouble us ever again.
Vs. 3 My tears have been my food day and night,
While they continually say to
me,
“Where is your God?”
David knew the mocking of unbelieving man while afflicted, while drinking the cup of sorrows as it were. For they in their pride and unbelief always watch us and are always quick to mock us when things don’t go well for us. For they see our sorrows and troubles as proof that God does not exist, or that He has forsaken us. And so, they foolishly say to us, “Where is your God”, because they don’t understand that our affliction is not our abandonment, that God’s silence during our troubles is not His departure from His Throne! In due time He will save us and make us rejoice again in the sight of the sons of men! Therefore, instead of watching us, they should be concerned about whether He will save them!
Vs. 4 When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go with the
multitude;
I went with them to the house
of God,
With the voice of joy and
praise,
With a multitude that kept a
pilgrim feast.
David now recalls the days of fellowship, when he freely and openly went with the multitude to the house of God, when there was great joy and praise inside and out as pilgrims had come from all across the land to keep God’s sacred feasts. But now David mourns this loss of fellowship. And for the afflicted believer this deeply resonates within our heart. For we also remember when the right hand of fellowship was readily extended to us, when singing the Lord’s praises with His people was readily accessible to us. When prayer in His community was deeply comforting and rewarding. But now in our affliction these things seem unattainable to us, and so we remember the good days with the Lord and His people, so we can endure the bad without them.
Vs. 5 “Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted
within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet
praise Him
For the help of His
countenance.”
In light of these things, of God's faithfulness towards us, we also must ask ourselves, why are you cast down O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? For no one shall ever snatch us out of the Lord’s hand (John 10:28-30), and God’s Holy Spirit will never cease to seal us for the Day of Redemption, (Eph. 1:13-14; 4:30). Therefore, hope in God, in His Son, all you children of God (John 1:13), for you shall yet again praise Him for the help of His countenance. For He shall cause His face to shine again upon you!
Therefore I will remember You
from the land of the Jordan,
And from the heights of
Hermon,
From the Hill Mizar.”
Even though David renews his hope in God, there is still an ongoing struggle that he must face. For depression is not easily beaten. Nonetheless being in a fight does not mean that one has lost the battle! Therefore, David now sees that distance is not separation from God, whether we are near, or seemingly very far away in far off places, we will remember Him, and the Lord Himself will help us overcome our own lives burdens and obstacles so that we may rejoice in Him again!
Vs. 7 “Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls;
All Your waves and billows
have gone over me.”
David new reveals that he is drowning in sorrow but given that this verses profound intensity is being attributed to God Himself, it is not out of place to see it as foretelling the sufferings of Christ at Calvary. Which is something that God choose David to do throughout the Psalms, reveal His own Sons Sufferings through Davids.
Vs. 8 “The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,
And in the night His song
shall be with me—
A prayer to the God of my
life.”
Even though David knew the darkness of sorrow and sadness, he could see the light beyond it, to the time when the Lord would once again command His lovingkindnesses to overtake him in daytime, when He would fill his heart with songs to Him in the night. All which would be as a prayer to the God of our lives.
Vs. 9 “I will say to God my Rock,
“Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because
of the oppression of the enemy?”
Even though there is a future and a hope for us, there is always the here and now, when the immediate intense and foreboding sorrow seeks to dash away our hope away. David knew this dilemma, of knowing God’s goodness on the one hand, and yet was experiencing something far from it on the other. Therefore, it caused him to ask Him, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
Vs. 10 As with a breaking of my bones,
My enemies reproach me,
While they say to me all day
long,
“Where is your God?”
David continues his soliloquize describing how he suffers on the one hand while his enemies taunt him all day long on the other, saying, “Where is your God?”
Vs.
11
“Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted
within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and
my God.”
David now concludes his introspection with a final word of encouragement. For he knows that being oppressed, even severely, is not being overcome by the enemy! And it is this inner truth that we who know God all have deep within us; sometimes though we just have to dig it out and lay before our eyes. Therefore, during these most difficult times we also we must fight the good fight and remind ourselves to continue to hope in God, “For we shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.”
Scripture Quotations
New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.
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