Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

Psalms 42-43. While each of these psalms can be taken separately, Psalms 42-43 go well together as a song with three stanzas: they share a refrain (42:5, 11; 43:5); 43:2 is almost the same as 42:9; and they both express the longing to return to God's presence in the sanctuary (42:2; 43:3-4). In these psalms the singer laments his circumstances (connected with enemies who despise God and oppress his faithful servants), which keep him from attending worship at the central sanctuary. Singing this in corporate worship would especially foster a sense of yearning and expectation in the faithful, so that they would learn to attend worship looking for God's presence, to mourn any circumstances that prevent them from attendance, and to count their attendance at worship as a great gift from God (certainly not a burdensome duty!). Other psalms that express yearning for God include Psalms 63 and 84.

42:1-5 My Soul Pants for God. The song begins with a poignant expression of longing for God himself, using the image of thirst: As a deer pants for flowing streams. For the pious, the answer to this longing comes in public worship; this is clear from the phrase appear before God (i.e., at the sanctuary; cf. Ex. 23:17), and from Ps. 42:4, which recollects the former participation in sanctuary worship. The singer represents himself as separated from this worship and subject to taunts from those who despise his faith. The singer closes the stanza by encouraging himself that God will return him to worship. (Observe that the first words of v. 6, "and my God," belong with the refrain.)