Show Don't Tell: Psalms 42-43

Instead of saying "The psalmist longed for God's presence," feel the thirst. These two psalms form one poem with a repeated refrain. "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" Physical craving for the spiritual. Panting—not casual interest but desperate need. "My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, 'Where is your God?'" Tears for breakfast, lunch, dinner. Mocking questions as constant companion. "These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng." Memory of better days—procession to the temple. "Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God." The psalmist preaches to himself—three times this refrain appears. "My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me." Exile far from Jerusalem, overwhelmed like drowning. "By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life." Psalm 43: "Vindicate me, my God, and plead my cause... Send me your light and your truth, let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight."