Psalm 42:1–4
1 As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
4 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.
The psalmist begins this psalm with beautiful imagery of how his inner being desires God. His soul pants for God like a deer pants for streams of water. In verse 2 he indicates that this longing for God can only be partially met at the present time because he doesn't have a location or time to meet with God. In verse 4 he carries this idea further by pointing out that he used to go to the house of God in a festive procession of worship with the people of Israel as described in 2 Chronicles 29:20-36. The implication is obviously that he can no longer do that. It's this verse that leads many scholars to conclude that this psalm was written in the period of Israel's exile in Babylon.
It's difficult for us to imagine the significance of the exile. If you didn't watch the video from yesterday be sure to check it out. Not only were they uprooted from their home and their homeland but their exile from the land meant God's punishment was being dealt out against them since he had promised them the land and preserved them in the land for generations. It meant that they no longer had a place to worship God. The temple was destroyed. Their whole culture and yearly calendar was built around festivals and a weekly rhythm that they could no longer keep.
So the psalmist thirsts for God, but that thirst cannot be satisfied because he no longer has access to the temple or the community to participate in the worship ceremonies with.
When we read this Psalm we ought to put ourselves in the place of the exiled Jews, experiencing this longing for God and never being fully satisfied this side of heaven.
Yet, for the Christian today, we can experience spiritual satisfaction in a way the psalmist never could. Jesus has already won our salvation for us. When we drink from the water he gives us we will never go thirsty again (John 4:13-14...I wonder if he had this Psalm in mind when he said this). Nor is our worship dependent on a location. Jesus tells the Samaritan woman we now worship neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem, but we worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:21-24). So, as our soul pants for God we should look to Jesus to satisfy the desires of our inner most being.