Psalm 42: The Hart and the Waterbrooks
There is no thirst quite like the thirst of an animal that has run too long without finding water — sides heaving, tongue out, head turning desperately toward any glimmer of a stream. The sons of Korah reach for that image, and they will not let it go: "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." Notice that this is not the prayer of a man enjoying religion. It is the prayer of a man who has lost the meeting place — who remembers leading the festival crowd to the house of God and now hears only mockery, "Where is thy God?" The waves and billows of God himself have passed over him; he is drowning in the very ocean he set out to drink. And yet, three times in this psalm and the next, he turns and addresses his own soul like a friend he must coach back to its feet: "Why art thou cast down? Hope thou in God." Faith here is not the absence of grief. It is the stubborn refusal to let grief have the last word in the conversation.
00:00 As the Hart Panteth
00:20 My Tears Have Been My Meat
00:40 The Multitude That Kept Holy Day
01:00 Why Art Thou Cast Down
01:20 Deep Calleth Unto Deep
01:40 The Lord Will Command His Lovingkindness
02:00 Hope Thou In God