AS THE DEER PANTS
Psalm 42
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: DON’T YOU LOVE MODERN TECHNOLOGY?
1. Have you ever sent a text to someone and it came out very different – usually because spellcheck rewrites it.
2. Phillis Howard told how her granddaughter’s husband, an Air Force officer, complained about how spellcheck changed his e-mails.
3. He said, “I sent a message to 300 of my personnel addressed to “Dear Sirs and Ma’ams.” It was received as “Dear Sirs and Mamas.”
B. TEXT
1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 4 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. 5 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. 6 My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. 7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. 8 By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life. 9 I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?” 10 My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 11 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. NIV1984
C. THESIS
1. The writer of this psalm is most probably David. It’s very similar to Ps. 63, which IS written by David.
2. It’s a conflict between faith and reason. Reason points out the contradictions, and faith answers them. Faith begins, longing with holy desire towards God and communion with him. Reason interrupts to point out the darkness and dire circumstances of David’s life. Faith and reason battle each other, but in the end, faith gets the last word.
3. The title of this message is “As the Deer Pants.”
I. LOSS AMPLIFIES THIRST FOR GOD (1-3)
A. DAVID’S GREAT DESIRE FOR GOD
1. Here we see David’s holy love thirsting, soaring upwards in holy desires toward the Lord. "My soul pants for You, O God,” (vs. 1b); for nothing more than God, but certainly nothing less. David compares himself to the panting of a deer, which is hot and dry, and only comes to water when it is driven there by its raging thirst.
2. Blessed is the person whom God so favors, that He denies them all other satisfactions, until they find that He alone is the only true satisfaction of their soul! Like a baby that refuses to drink anything else but its mother’s pure milk – the very best thing to nourish it and help it grow. So is the nectar of God’s pure Spirit to those who drink of it!
B. THIS GAIN RESULTED FROM LOSS
1. David had lost his wife Michal, his place at the royal table, his position in the army, even his freedom as a common citizen. Most of all he’d lost his access to the Temple of God and its festivities.
2. He’d become a fugitive from justice, an enemy of the state. He was bereft of family, job, money, home, and nationality. In this impasse, David discovered that the greatest deficit of his life wasn’t material, but the presence of his God!
3. Sometimes God teaches us the worth of things by the loss of them, and stirs up our appetite for Himself by the loss of the means of attaining Him.
4. Now an outcast, He went about mourning, deprived to the point of panting. He pants after God, he thirsts for God. It wasn’t just the Temple he missed, but the God of the Temple. "O that I knew where I might find Him! That I might revel in His favor, enjoy His graces, and receive the comforts of his Spirit!’’
5. God as the living God, has life in Himself; He is the fountain of living waters. Only He can slake our thirst! David longs to come and appear before God —to make himself known to Him.
6. "My tears have been my meat day and night during this forced absence from God’s house.’’ His enemies reproached him, “Where is your God?” Since God hadn’t immediately delivered David, his enemies said God had abandoned him. Nothing is more grievous to a dependent soul than to lose its source of comfort. This thought tried to shake David’s hope and confidence in God.
C. ILLUSTRATION
1. Tim Vanderveen was in the hospital when a friend, Dr. Brown, came to visit. Tim had Leukemia. Dr. Brown asked how he was doing.
2. Tim said, “I’ve learned that life is not like a VCR.” Brown said, “I don’t get it. What do you mean?” Tim said, “It’s not like a VCR; you can’t fast forward through the bad parts." That’s true; like David, we have to persevere through them.
II. REMEMBERING THE GOOD THINGS OF GOD (4-8)
A. THE TEMPLE & FESTIVALS
1. Verse 4, “I remember...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.”
2. There was a pastor who had a sermon titled, “What Sports Fans Can Teach Christians.” One thing is enthusiasm. It’s awesome when Christians have that degree of excitement – ABOUT GOD – that lost people have about a game. David remembered the enthusiasm of the multitude and really missed that.
B. HE REMEMBERED GOD’S FAITHFULNESS
David was driven, by his persecutors, to the very borders of the land of Canaan. But everywhere he went, he was reminded of God & His faithfulness
1. IN THE AREA OF THE JORDAN (VS. 6). As he surveyed the land that God loves, he remembered how God helped Israel defeat the nations on both sides of that river. He remembered how the Jordan dried up before Israel and before Elijah & Elisha. The pile of stones still stood there in confirmation of the miracles of God.
2. AS FAR NORTH AS MT. HERMON (VSS. 6-7a). Mt Hermon is the highest mountain in Israel, being 9,101 feet above sea level. It’s melting glaciers form the main source of the Jordan. From its summit, the Dead Sea basin, 120 miles away, can be seen. (The Dead Sea is actually 1,412 feet below sea level, so that the drop from Mt. Hermon is over 10,500 feet!) The dew on Hermon is heavy all year round, though much of Israel gets no rain May to October, so it keeps the land moist and fertile. It is to Israel, physically, what the anointing on Aaron is spiritually (Ps. 133:1-3). Two giant waterfalls cascade down from Mt. Hermon – Banias & Sa’ar Falls – so that “deep calls unto deep at the noise of your waterfalls.”
3. ALONG THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA (vs. 7b), with its waves crashing. Everywhere David went, he experienced the power of God in nature and he was reminded of God’s faithfulness.
4. GOD’S DAILY CARE. In verse 8, David says, “By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life.” It’s wonderful how the communion of the Holy Spirit is with us day and night, instructing us in God’s love and care!
III. REASON’S DOUBT, YET FAITH’S ANSWER (9-11)
A. REBUKE TO HIS SOUL
1. Yet David wondered why God had allowed such trials in his life (vss. 9-11). His faith answers his reason, "Soul, you and I need to have a talk!” There are times you need to have a pep-talk with your soul; the spirit man needs be in control of the natural man.
2. Have you ever had to encourage yourself when circumstances looked bad? It’s important we encourage ourselves. Why? We don’t want to dishonor God by my melancholy dejections, to discourage others, or damage our own health.
3. We have to be careful that we don’t get A SPIRIT OF COMPLAINT.” It’s a spirit that focuses on offenses instead of on the blessings we have.
B. THE CURE? TRUST IN GOD!
1. David concluded, “Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God!” Verse 11.
2. A trusting confidence in God and His Word is the antidote to the poison of despondency. When the soul sinks; faith causes it to catch hold of a promise of God, and that keeps our spiritual head above water! Hope in God!
3. Keep your hope in God, for you will live to see good days again, days in which you will praise the Lord in joy! Praise God!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION OF HELEN KELLER
1. Many of you know the story of Helen Keller. She was born in 1882, and when she was 19 months old – a beautiful, precocious little girl – she caught a fever that so ravaged her and that left her without sight and without the ability to hear.
2. She was locked into a world of darkness and silence; but she was determined to communicate with others. When she wanted a piece of bread she would make a hand motion as if she were cutting a piece of bread. Eventually she developed 60 different motions to communicate, but it took years of feeling in the dark before she could communicate and find God.
3. Helen Keller once said, “For three things I thank God every day of my life. Thanks that He has vouchsafed me knowledge of His works; deep thanks that He has set in my darkness the light of faith; deepest thanks that I have another life to look forward to—a life joyous with light and flowers and heavenly song.”
4. Helen Keller may not have been thankful FOR the circumstance that God had dealt to her, but she was thankful IN that circumstance. IF SHE CAN BE THANKFUL, WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO BE THANKFUL TOO!
B. THE CALL
1. How many of you are going through a difficult time right now? We’re going to pray for God to make things better for you.
2. In the meantime, maybe God wants to turn this time into an opportunity for you to draw closer to Him. How many need that?
3. How many want to pray for a spirit of thankfulness in the midst of your troubles? Let’s let God take over and do something special! PRAYER.
