As a deer pants for flowing streams, so my soul pants for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for the God, for the living God.

When shall I come and appear before God?

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

These things I remember as I pour out my soul – how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, with a multitude celebrating a festival.

Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my salvation, and my God.

My soul is cast down within me. Therefore I remember you from the land of Jordon and Hermon, from Mount Mizar.

Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls. All you breakers and your waves have gone over me.

By day the LORD commands His steadfast love. And at night, His song is with me.

I say to God, my Rock: “Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As though I have a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, saying all day long, “Where is your God?”

Why are you cast down, O my soul?

Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him – my salvation, and my God. Psalm 42

 Why cast down?

Because of focus.

Because of where my attention is.

David finds himself parched. He thirsts for that he has tasted before, that which satisfied and refreshed, and quenched. Right now, the only water in sight is his own tears.

When shall I come and appear before God? David feels so distant. He is taunted and mocked. He is far removed from the tabernacle. His geographic distance he translates into spiritual lack.

He remembers worshiping with the throng, indeed, leading them. It was such a party. A festival. Truly – festive.

He remembers worship. Music. Shouts.

But now he is alone. The sounds that surround him are not shouts of praise and community worship, but taunts from his tormentors and mockers. They echo in his head.

Why are you cast down, soul? It is a challenge as much as a question. Why should you be cast down? What you remember is not just a memory – it will happen again. I shall again praise Him.

I am not stuck, here. This is not the end, not the permanent state of affairs.

I will again praise Him. For now, hope in Him. Hope. Use this memory that caused despair and sadness of how it used to be as a source for hope.

David remembers Him from the River Jordon – the main river and source of water and refreshment. From Hermon, a beautiful and prominent mountain peak, lush and verdant. And from its smaller mountain in its shadow, Mount Mizar. Though smaller than Mount Herman, it along with Mount Herman is source of the headwaters of the Jordon.

The imagery here is powerful. David speaks as one that is parched, as a deer searching for a stream.

He thinks of the mighty flood of the river Jordon. Where does all that water come from? From Mount Mizar, and Mount Hermon. These are the source, the snow melt, the streams, full of refreshment, clear and cold, flowing with increasing vigor and quantity to supply the River Jordon itself.

That is the flood that David is parched for in his soul. And so he is moving his focus from his thirst to the source of where that refreshment will come from.

“Deep calls to deep.” The imagery is one water reservoir that should be filled but that is deprived and deficient calling to another one that is full and overflowing to pour its overflow into the first deficient one. The answer: a waterfall. Or as a wave crashing from place to place. In response, there is a flood, a waterfall, a wave, an overwhelming abundance. Transfer. Connection.

David is caught up in this tumult of the transfer – the breakers and waves crash over his head.

Then David knows – the LORD commands His steadfast love.

Now, the night is not lonely and full of tears. “His song is with me.” A new song has replaced the echoes of the taunts of his enemies.

“Soul, why are you cast down?” It started as a question. “What’s a matta you?”

It morphs into a challenge: why should you looka so sad? Hope in God. You shall again praise Him.

Look to the future. Be caught in this cross-wave of a waterfall of transfer of refreshment. What you remember will happen again. Look forward to it. Live in that reality. Don’t let your current circumstances dominate as if they are a final judgment. They are not. They are transitory. Things will change. Be caught up in the change. The dry lake bed will again be filled. Be drenched in the flood that is working that change. And be full of hope, expectation and optimism for that future day.

A deer sipping from a brook?  That is not nearly enough.  A flood is in store, in the best possible way.

Jesus said He is living water, that when one drinks Him, then that one will never thirst again. Drinking Jesus, He will become a spring on the inside, flowing out.

Soul, why should you be downcast? Hope in God. You will again praise Him. Feel it now. Be flooded now. Be caught up in the wave. Let it – Him – crash over your head.

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