Thirsting With Cup Full, Psalms 42:1-11
Introduction
The story is told of two old friends bumped into one another on the street one day. One of them looked forlorn, almost on the verge of tears. His friend asked, "What has the world done to you, my old friend?" The sad fellow said, "Let me tell you. Three weeks ago, an uncle died and left me forty thousand dollars." "That’s a lot of money." "But, two weeks ago, a cousin I never even knew died, and left me eighty-five thousand free and clear." "Sounds like you’ve been blessed...." "You don’t understand!" he interrupted. "Last week my great-aunt passed away. I inherited almost a quarter of a million." Now he was really confused. "Then, why do you look so glum?" “This week... nothing!”
Transition
Even in these difficult economic times, it is still a sure saying, “we live in a land of plenty.” We do have poor among us, but there are few that go without at least what they need and most have a great deal more than they need to sustain them.
When one is starving, it is easy to be thankful for a crust of bread. When one is lost in the desert thirsting, it is perhaps easy to be thankful for even a small sip of cool water. When our cup is full, where are we to find the utility and capacity to be truly thankful? What will fuel this virtue in us?
Exposition
The great beauty of this evening Scripture is that the principals which are woven in and through it, when applied to our lives, have the great potential to bring us to the place of genuine thanksgiving to God regardless of the abundance or lack of abundance present in our lives at any given time.
In examining this passage from a poetic or literary point of view we see that this Psalm, when taken in conjunction with Psalm 43 constitute one poetic lament. When read together, in context, we see that Psalm 42 and Psalm 43 make up one refrain with three thoughts, each of which ends with the phrase, “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” (Psalms 43:5 NIV)
Who wrote this Psalm? It is important to consider this question in the Psalms.
It is often wrongly assumed that David wrote all of the Psalms. He many of the Psalms, this is true, but the Psalms are actually a compilation of songs and prayers which were used by God’s people over many centuries.
When we read ‘the sons of Korah’ at the top of a psalm, it means that it came from their book of psalms. Psalm 42 has "the sons of Korah" at the top. Psalm 43 does not have anything at the top. Almost certainly, because of their stylistic connection, they are really one psalm. Some have suggested that a hostage wrote it. He may have been a Levite, maybe a “son of Korah.” If he was not, he gave the psalm to someone who put it into the book of ‘the sons of Korah.
Korah was the grandson of Kohath. Kohath was the son of Levi. Levi was one of the sons of Jacob. All the Jews that were God’s servants in the temple came from the family of Levi. They were all Levites; the priestly class of Jews.
So, "sons of Korah" is probably the name of a music group. They made music in the temple at Jerusalem until Nebuchadnezzar took the Jews to Babylon. He destroyed the first temple at the same time. When the Jews came back from Babylon 70 years later, they built the temple again. But now the ‘sons of Korah’ did not make music in the temple, though it is uncertain as to why.
Why is this important? This matters precisely because the author of this Psalm is filled with lament and at least a major part of that lament, perhaps the very core of it, is that he is unable to worship God as He once did. For some reason, the sons of Korah are unable, perhaps even disallowed, to sing their songs of adoration to God in the Temple.
How like the sons of Korah are we when our hearts cry to worship God in thanksgiving to His divine provision and mercy is stifled? In With regard to the details of what we are talking about here, our worship, our genuine thanksgiving is often stifled by the very abundance of provision given to us by the very God whom we wish to offer heartfelt gratitude unto.
In other words, does it ever seem like God has given us so much and that He has been so good to us that in our great satisfaction we forget to thank Him? When starved physically it is not difficult to be grateful for even a crust of bread, but when how great is our need when we are starved spiritually?
Throughout their history, the Gideons have received letters from people who found and read a Gideon-placed Bible. Here is one such letter from mid-century. The writer went on to become “First Mate Bob” on the long-time religious radio show “Haven of Rest”: One winter morning in San Diego, after I had wandered many miles along the waterfront, in a daze, I turned my steps wearily toward my hotel room. I had been drinking heavily for weeks. My mind was tortured by the thoughts of the wife and four children whom I had deserted. Just yesterday, it seemed, I had been a radio executive, in charge of two radio stations in Los Angeles—KFVD and KFAC. The home in which we lived, Beverly Hills, the cars, the servants—the things money and social position can provide for a man and his family—were just a memory. I had dragged my family down with me until they were living in a little hovel, and then, I had deserted them.
I had suffered a complete nervous breakdown and, worst of all; I had completely lost my voice. For a year and a half, I had not been able to speak one word aloud; each effort to talk was just a whisper. The future held no promise. I opened the door of my hotel room and flung myself into a chair in utter despair. My gaze fell upon a (Gideon) Bible on the floor. In a distracted sort of way, I picked it up and started to read. Old familiar words I had learned as a child, words of life, quick and powerful, leaped out of those pages and found their way into my heart.
I fell to my knees, and spread the Bible upon the chair, and made a vow that I would not leave that hotel room, if I died of starvation, until there came into my soul a knowledge that my sins had been forgiven, until I knew that I passed from death unto life. With a surge of joy, I realized that God’s promises were even for men like me. In that hotel room, I found Calvary’s Cross; there I laid my burden down; there, the old man died, and a new one was born. From that place I walked in newness of life, a new creature in Christ Jesus, praise His Name!
God straightened things out between my wife and me, and today she and I and our four children are back together again. The “peace that passeth all understanding” has loosed the taut nerves and muscles which had prevented normal speech, and God gave me back my voice. Small wonder that there is in my heart a feeling of undying gratitude to the Gideon’s who have felt the burden to place Bibles in hotel rooms.
This man’s physical starvation brought on by destitution was a serious problem.
In his letter to the Gideon’s, though, it was not his physical destitution of which gave him cause to write or was his greatest concern, but the depth of spiritual starvation which had gripped his soul!
Hear the words of the Psalmist and listen to the desperation with which he longs to worship God: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” (Psalms 42:1-2 NIV)
In the deserts of the Holy Land, their little springs and oasis’s which are the refreshing places for animals to find refuge from the heat and dryness. As the dear pants for water, so our souls thirst for God when we remember all that He has done for us; especially in light of His awesome grace.
“My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?”
(Psalms 42:2 NIV) My soul thirsts for the living God because God is alive in the world, active in the affairs of man, and available, not in theory, but immediately, now, in my circumstance. Thanks to the living God who is alive in me!
“My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, "Where is your God?" These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng. “(Psalms 42:3-4 NIV)
There once was a day when I led the people to the house of God to worship. Now, my soul is downcast and in despair. God, through the remembrance of those days may you restore the joy of my salvation that I might once again run to the house of God in worship, that I might not forsake the assembly of the saints!
“Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon – from Mount Mizar.” (Psalms 42:5-6 NIV)
Mount Hermon is the highest place in the Holy Land. Some believe that this passage indicates that the Psalmist was on this mountain when he wrote this Psalm. He was on the highest place, but his heart longed to atop Mount Zion!
Conclusion
“Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.” (Psalms 42:7 NIV) You and I rightly respond to God in thanksgiving for all that He has given us; all of which stems from His overwhelming, super abundant grace and mercy.
It is from this passage that I was inspired to share the illustration which I share often; we are not merely passive recipients of grace, as a man who receives a ticket to the theatre or a train station attendant who takes a ticket for boarding. You and I are submerged, enraptured, covered in grace. Deep calls unto deep; we stand beneath the immensity of the waterfall of glory as the roar of the sounds of mercy fills and shatters our senses! We stand waste deep in a pool of mercy as the tremendous power of God’s grace consumes us!
Let us, this Thanksgiving Day, praise God for the glory of His provision; for the glory of His grace, may our hearts cry out, thirst for the living God of our salvation! Amen.
