Ps 42

Ps 42:1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God.

:2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

:3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, “Where is your God?”

: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.

: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.

:6 O 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.

:7 Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; all Your waves and billows have gone over me.

: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.

: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?”

:10 As with a breaking of my bones, my enemies reproach me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

: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.

This is listed as Yearning for God in the Midst of Distresses.

This is the first psalm to designate someone other than David as the author.

How long has it been since you were thirsty for God? Maybe as you read this you feel far from the Lord. You might be discouraged or depressed. You might be exhausted from pursuing success or financial security. You might realize as you stop for a minute and really think about it, that you are the one who has put so much distance between yourself and God. Let the Holy Spirit use the words of this psalm to stir a longing for God in your heart. Pursue a restored relationship with the Lord as if your spiritual life depended on it, because it does!