If At All
Psalm 42:1-6
As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
David feels like a deer or a hart that is stricken, locked out from the presence of God. Now it should be seen that his mental health was questionable at best and flighty at worst. Could it be that is why some would do well to lean not unto their own understanding of the matter in Proverbs 3:5. It is seen reflected in his desire not to touch the Lord's anointed. But had not King David been anointed from a child with the Lord's blessing and favor. Nor was he alone in that, being chosen at the hands of one Samuel, God's prophet. At such a time, the act would have signified the passage of blessings from King Saul unto himself. 1 Samuel 16 tells how the Spirit of the Lord departed from the fallen king. So, it mattered not then if David touched the former ruler for God already had. More than that, David's lack of faith was now affecting much more than just himself. Yet how faithful is God even when we run away and flee. It seems the promise of his presence yet remains.
How many know that the appointing may change but the anointing never will. Until the end, will he stand as the people's king and their prince as in Ezekiel 34:24. It hardly needs to be said. You already know how God reigns over all. But rather look with me for a minute if you will at what God has to say about it. Oh, my friends, he is the best keeper there is. Psalm 42 is about the goodness of God. Sure, it might not look like it at first. David is in a situation either by his own making or at the hands of the Lord. Regardless, his hart and soul pants after God much as a stray dog does; here the image is of one with no comfort readily available. As we will soon see, David has been through some things. Now, these things through which he has been have caused him to go about crying. The text makes it clear he is laid up continually before the Lord.
My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
So also, he keeps mentioning the soul. Who can keep my soul and suffer not my holy one to see corruption but the God of Psalm 16:10. It should be seen that while David's body might have been on the run, kept out of God's temple continually, his soul was not. The soul is that inner part of him which could not escape God's presence as told in Psalm 139. Though he went down to hell, he was there. Though he made Sheol his bed, there he was also. So then, should he arise with his spirit on the wings of the morning, there also would he find him. Thus, the hart is a creature containing spirit, a spirit creature if you will. We see the record of its' creation contained in Genesis 2:7; God made man from dust of the ground and breathed into his body "the breath of life." Then "man became a living soul." Sure, is that not all just a part of remembering from whence you came. I do not know if you have ever felt that way, but David has. It is almost that hunger and thirst after righteousness spoken of in Matthew 5:6 if you will. Except now is it more than that. This sort of body and soul longing can only come from where he is now, where he should be, and his desire. Notice how his desire is to see the goodness of God reflected in his situation. The first half of the text details the situation.
When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.
The hart did not just go out one day for a run and nearly faint from exhaustion. No, it likely ran with the crowd, went in search of green pastures for a while, and fled for its' life away from the hunters. Now after all this time, David's mess and distress had affected him in more ways than one. See how he expects at any time to "appear before God." So also, the text tells how he used to love running on down to the house of the Lord in better days. Then he went gladly with his fellows. See, God is still God in times of peace and plenty just as he is in the test and the trial. He has hardly changed my friend despite all your trouble, fears, tears, and wasted years. How he is still the God of "yesterday, today, and forever" in Hebrews 13:8; the "before Abraham was, I am" of John 8:58. It might not make sense to you now. But in all this, he is working. Just give him some time, regardless of how you feel. For "better is one day in his courts than a thousand" spent elsewhere as in Psalm 84:10.
Here the situation has changed; now he is unable. Else would he not be holding service within himself. See his body as "the temple of God;" for such is of 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 as it were and himself the minister. My, it seems he needed a good Word indeed. But the people around were of no help. That is why it is so important to keep company carefully lest they also drag you down along with them. Yet such is the way of companions either to their level or worse to destroy you completely. Here they make fun of David as though God had somehow forgotten all about him. It seems whenever someone does something wrong, ten others have ought to say about it. Maybe some have got ahold to your past and will not let it go. Maybe some remind you of all the times you have failed. Maybe some say, 'that is it; this is the end.' So, these told David 'where is your God' when all this time he was right there. How the situation changes once we realize God in not in the habit of playing games with his people. Nor is he the absent Father that some of you have known.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
In the latter part of the text, we see the solution. Now here something strange is about to happen. It seems David has forgotten of his troubles already, so soon. Nor would I not suggest he has drowned his sorrows in wine and mixed drink at the hands of the Lord. Neither does Isaiah 51:22 suggest it as some are wont. How many of you know that such a cup always produces staggering as a result. It is this inability to walk straight if you will, which provokes the Father's response. So, the Lord in his mercy orders the ways of the straight paths to straighten and heal the lame of Hebrews 12:13. For so he delights in showing goodness unto his children, no matter where they have been. You might not see his goodness just yet; but it is there, just as such is his right. From the beginning has he always been this way. Delighting to show mercy upon whom he will and whomsoever refuses finds their hearts hardened. You might not understand it just yet but the God of Exodus 33:19 does. The text uses the words "why are you cast down" and "why are you disquieted" to indicate a provisional state. See, he might not have known where he was going nor yet how to get there. But as he went along, God was providing. As he went, God had him covered. As he went, just as the children of Israel roamed the desert so long ago not knowing where, God had something waiting just up ahead. It was something for which David had long waited and prayed; even so the blessing had his name on it that none would take away.
That crown, King David had, was appointed and even anointed. But first, he had to get his own self right with God along the way. See, entering into the blessings takes some work; it does not just happen all in one day. Never though is the work entirely about you for some things only God can do. Then, one day along the way goodness and mercy meet up, those two hound dogs of Heaven. As in Psalm 23, they followed in his footsteps behind all the way to glory. You might be tempted to think they follow you at first glance. But are not these guiding in a way. Everywhere you turn, they nudge you here, back away from over there, and bark twice to keep you away from some things entirely. So also, there is a progression between being out of the house of God, cast down, and disquieted within. It seems whatever disorder in the house seldom affects just yourself. Remember, we spoke of the body as the temple; yet here is the minister, the inner man thrown down and muttering as one drunken and destroyed. My friends, such things ought not to be. Here, David might not be able to change the situation. Yet he begins with what he can, himself. He starts by looking up and I do not want to say by laying down. But if hearing from God requires being still and knowing him, what then does seeing God take. Now, David starts to focus in on the face of the Father much like a small child does in arms. You know when you pick up the babies, the first thing they want to see is your face. It seems that the children of God are not much different. Then, from his position safe on the Father's lap he begins to tell God all about it as though he did not already know.
O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.
My, how he delights in hearing from his children. Nor does his goodness stop there. For he that knows the end from the beginning so intimately meets with your life and mine. Yet we still tell him all about it, not to waste time or for him to do nothing. Rather, the God that inhabits the praises of his children and their prayers makes himself known unto them. That is how you can have things happen like a healing of the land as promised in Scripture. See, it is possible to be seated with the Father in Heavenly places spiritually and still going through some stuff in this old world below. Speaking of the land, in the absence, King David was far from idle. In all the places he went he saw the hand of God. Even from country Jordan, to the Hermonites, unto hill Mizar and back again there is goodness to be found. So, it can be seen that in all these places God remembers me whether I happen to think of him or not. After all this running, I too would feel slightly exhausted if not overwhelmed by the Lord. From the heights to the far country to the deep places themselves are found the unfathomable goodness of God. Maybe you do not see it right now. Yet rest assured that his goodness will be seen reflected in the situation very soon.