Psalm 42: Thirsting for God in the Midst of Suffering
In Psalm 42, the writer paints a picture of a deer, tongue hanging out and panting for water, using this imagery to describe his longing for God.
“As the deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?”
This thirst for God is a fundamental reality that we don’t always recognize. In a world that constantly tries to convince us that we thirst for anything but God—ease, pleasure, more stuff—we can easily lose sight of our deepest connection to God. It often takes difficult circumstances to bring us to the point where we realize our soul truly thirsts for the living God.
Life sucks for the psalmist. Friends and foes mock him, “Where is your God now?” Apparently, God’s failure to miraculously rescue us proves God’s nonexistence. Ha. We must grasp an awesome truth: God is close to the brokenhearted. Jesus showed us “God with us” in our suffering; in fact, God is perhaps most present and active not just when He miraculously intervenes but when we suffer, weep, and feel all alone.
God is close to the brokenhearted. Jesus showed us God with us in our suffering. Learning from Him, God is perhaps most present and active not just when He miraculously intervenes but when we suffer, when we weep, and when we feel all alone.
God entered our world through suffering, lived a life endangered from infancy, wept at funerals, and ultimately suffered and died on the cross to address the very thing (sin!) that causes our suffering. Rather than miracles, God may do His greatest work through suffering.
The psalmist models for us a healthy way to process our pain:
1. Acknowledge your feelings. Don’t deny your emotions or try to push them aside. Be honest about your pain and doubts.
2. Confront your despair with truth. The psalmist asks himself, “Why are you in despair, O my soul? Why have you become disturbed within me?” Then he reminds himself of what he knows to be true: “Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His presence.”
3. Choose to trust God. This doesn’t mean pretending everything is okay. It means saying, “Yes, I’m struggling, Lord. Yes, I feel overwhelmed. But I won’t give up hope because my hope is in You.”
This process isn’t a one-time fix. The psalmist cycles through these steps multiple times in the psalm, showing us that faith in hard times is often a back-and-forth journey between despair and trust. But each time he returns to hope, his conviction grows stronger.
The psalmist cycles through these steps multiple times in the psalm, showing us that faith in hard times is often a back-and-forth journey between despair and trust.
One particularly striking aspect of the psalm is how the writer recognizes God’s sovereignty even in his suffering. He says, “Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me.” He’s not blaming God for his suffering, but he’s acknowledging that God is in control even of the circumstances that feel so overwhelming.
This perspective doesn’t diminish the pain but provides a framework for finding meaning in it. When we see our suffering as something God is sovereign over rather than something that’s happened outside of His control, it can help us trust that He’s working even in our pain.
The psalm ends with a powerful declaration: “Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.” The word translated as “help” here is actually “Yeshua” in Hebrew—the name we translate as “Jesus.” And “countenance” refers to the face, suggesting that God is the one who will lift the psalmist’s face, restore his joy, and bring life back to his soul.
The word translated as “help” here is actually “Yeshua” in Hebrew—the name we translate as “Jesus.”
This brings us back to the central theme: our soul’s thirst for God. Suffering, as painful as it is, often heightens this thirst. It makes us more receptive to calling out to God, leaning on His power, His love, and His presence. Sometimes, in our deepest pain, we cry out to God not to change our circumstances but because we need Him.
So where is God in our suffering? He’s right there with us. He’s the God who walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death, whose love never fails, and who promises that He will never leave us or forsake us. He’s working all things for our good, even when we cannot see it.