Lament psalms make up 42 of the 150 Psalms in the Bible. These lament psalms usually reflect the unhappiness or sadness of the psalmist. While he expresses his feelings to God, healing is found. It’s a cry to God; a complaint about the wrongness in his life; he petitions God to intervene in his situation; he confesses his trust that God will come through for him and then finally, he promises to praise God when the answer comes. A lament should be the primary way in which Christians’ process grief in the presence of God.

Psalm 42 is a psalm of lament. So, as you read through the whole psalm, maybe you can identify with the psalmist in your situation. I find his honesty and transparency very refreshing. It is necessary to read the whole psalm through, otherwise a full understanding is not achieved.

Psalm 42 – Longing for God

(For the choir director. A Maskil of the sons of Korah.)

¹ As a deer longs for streams of water,
so I long for You, God.
² I thirst for God, the living God.
When can I come and appear before God?
³ My tears have been my food day and night,
while all day long people say to me,
“Where is your God?”
⁴ I remember this as I pour out my heart:
how I walked with many,
leading the festive procession to the house of God,
with joyful and thankful shouts.

⁵ Why am I so depressed?
Why this turmoil within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him,
my Savior and my God.
⁶ I am deeply depressed;
therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan
and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
⁷ Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls;
all Your breakers and Your billows have swept over me.
⁸ The Lord will send His faithful love by day;
His song will be with me in the night—
a prayer to the God of my life.

⁹ I will say to God, my rock,
“Why have You forgotten me?
Why must I go about in sorrow
because of the enemy’s oppression?”

¹⁰ My adversaries taunt me,
as if crushing my bones,
while all day long they say to me,
“Where is your God?”
¹¹ Why am I so depressed?
Why this turmoil within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him,
my Saviour and my God.

The last two lines encourage us to hope in the God of our salvation. He WILL come through for you every time – maybe not in the way you had hoped or even in your time… BUT He WILL answer in the very best way possible for you in your circumstance. Take heart. Take courage.

Hope is a Person
And His Name is Jesus

This timeless classic is so worth listening to as you reflect on this beautiful Psalm of Lament.

“As the Deer”