Psalms 42:1

 Psalms 42:1 says, To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah.  Once more we have the introduction, then verse one says, As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.  Like David, we must need and seek after God's will as much as a deer needs and seeks water.  A deer cannot go long without needing and hunting water, and we should never go any time without needing and seeking God and His will for our life.  Verse two adds, My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?  David said that since his soul thirsted for God, when would he come and appear before God.  As Christians, the answer to this question should be that we are continually before God.  Verse three continues, My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where  is thy God?  David said his tears feed him day and night as his enemies asked him where his God was.  Though we may at times cry feeling that the world is too much to handle, if we have put our faith in Jesus Christ, we don't have to wonder where God is.  Verse four declares, 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.  David said that he had gone with the multitude to the house of God and kept His holy days.  Though we go to the house of God, or the church building, to worship weekly, we need to remember that as Christians wherever we are is God's house all the time.  We cannot have a Sunday faith and a weekday faith.  Verse five asks, 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.  David asked why he had let the things of the world to cast him down.  We have no reason to let the things of the world get us down, because through Christ we already have the everlasting victory.  Verse six adds, 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.  David said that since his soul was cast down, he would remember God and His past works in the world.  If we begin to feel cast down in spirit,  we need to simply remember what God has done in the past, especially when He sent His only begotten Son to die in our place.  Verse seven says, Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.  David said that the waves and billows of God had gone over him.  We need to allow the love of God to wash over us at all times, but especially in times of trouble.  Verse eight adds, Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.  David said that since God was with him day and night, or at all times, that he would pray to the God of his life.  Since God is with us as followers of Christ at all times, we need to pray to Him, the only true God that there is.  Verse nine declares, I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?  David asked a rhetorical question I believe when he asked why God had forgotten him and why he was mourning in the presence of his enemies.   Since we know that God will never forsake us as Christians, we have no need to mourn if the people of the world seem to be multiplying against us.  Verse ten states, As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?  David said that his enemies daily reproached him and asked where his God was.  The people of the world may look at Christians when they suffer and ask where their God is at these times of suffering, but we never should.  We know that no matter what happens, God is always with us as long as we put our faith in Him.  Verse eleven adds, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.  David then asked why he was cast down in His soul when he knew that God was his God and the One Who sustained his life.  As followers of Christ, if we begin to allow our situation to get us down, we need to ask why, because God is always with us.  Like David, we need to continue to praise God, no matter what.