Psalms 42:2

_MY SOUL THIRSTETH FOR GOD, FOR THE LIVING GOD: WHEN SHALL I COME AND APPEAR BEFORE GOD?_ My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God. It is not a mere dead idol I thirst for, but the God who has life in Himself, and imparts life to His people (Psalms 42:8), "the God of my life." WHEN SHALL I COME. To be separated from such a God, even for a time, seems the height of misery. Oh when shall this terrible separation come to an end? AND APPEAR BEFORE GOD? - namely, in His sanctuary (cf. Psalms 42:4; Psalms 43:3); literally, 'appear before the faces of God:' the regular phrase (Exodus 23:15;...

The second verse illustrates more clearly what I have already said, that David does not simply speak of the presence of God, but of the presence of God in connection with certain symbols; for he sets before himself the tabernacle, the altar, the sacrifices, and other ceremonies by which God had testified that he would be near his people; and that it behoved the faithful, in seeking to approach God, to begin by those things. Not that they should continue attached to them, but that they should, by the help of these signs and outward means, seek to behold the glory of God, which of itself is hidden from the sight. Accordingly, when we see the marks of the divine presence engraven on the word, or on external symbols, we can say with David that there _is the face of God, _provided we come with pure hearts to seek him in a spiritual manner. But when we imagine God to be present otherwise than...

1-5 The psalmist looked to the Lord as his chief good, and set his heart upon him accordingly; casting anchor thus at first, he rides out the storm. A gracious soul can take little satisfaction in God's courts, if it do not meet with God himself there. Living souls never can take up their rest any where short of a living God. To appear before the Lord is the desire of the upright, as it is the dread of the hypocrite. Nothing is more grievous to a gracious soul, than what is intended to shake its confidence in the Lord. It was not the remembrance of the pleasures of his court that afflicted David; but the remembrance of the free access he formerly had to God's house, and his pleasure in attending there. Those that commune much with their own hearts, will often have to chide them. See the cure of sorrow. When the soul rests on itself, it sinks; if it catches hold on the power and promise...

Verse Psalms 42:2. _WHEN SHALL I COME_] When, when shall I have the privilege of appearing in his courts _before God_? In the mouth of a _Christian_ these words would import: "_When_ shall I see my heavenly country? _When_ shall I come to God, the Judge of all, and to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant?" He who is a _stranger_ and a _pilgrim_ here below, and feels a heart full of piety to God, may use these words in this sense; but he who feels himself here at home, whose soul is not spiritual, wishes the earth to be eternal, and himself eternal on it-feels no panting after the _living God_....

MY SOUL THIRSTETH FOR GOD - That is, as the hind thirsts for the running stream. FOR THE LIVING GOD - God, not merely as God, without anything more definitely specified, but God considered as living, as himself possessing life, and as having the power of imparting that life to the soul. WHEN SHALL I COME AND APPEAR BEFORE GOD? - That is, as I have been accustomed to do in the sanctuary. When shall I be restored to the privilege of again uniting with his people in public prayer and praise? The psalmist evidently expected that this would be; but to one who loves public worship the time seems long when he is prevented from enjoying that privilege....

EXPOSITION THIS psalm, committed (like so many others) to the precentor, or. chief musician, for its musical setting, is entitled "Maschil of the sous of Korah"—_i.e._ an "instruction," or didactic psalm, composed by the Korahite Levites—a Levitical family of singers (1 Chronicles 26:1, 1 Chronicles 26:2; 2 Chronicles 20:19). To the same family are assigned Psalm 45-49; in the present book, and Psalms 84:1; Psalms 85:1;...

MY SOUL THIRSTETH FOR GOD, FOR THE LIVING GOD,.... Who is so called, in opposition to the idols of the Gentiles, which were lifeless statues; and who is the author, giver, and maintainer of natural life; and who has promised and provided eternal life in his Son; and is himself the fountain of life, and the fountain of living waters, and a place of broad rivers and streams: particularly his lovingkindness, which is better than life, is a pure river of water of life, the streams where make glad the saints; and hence it is that the psalmist thirsted after God, and the discoveries of his love: saying, WHEN SHALL I COME AND APPEAR BEFORE GOD? meaning, not in heaven, as desiring the beatific vision; but in the tabernacle, where were the worship of God, and the ark, the symbol of the divine Presence, and where the Israelites appeared before him, even in Zion; see Psalms 84:7....

We often read this Psalm, because we are very often in the same state that the psalmist was in when he wrote it, and the language seems to suit us at many periods of our life. Psalms 42:1. _As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God._ It is the «hart» that panteth; and, in the Hebrew, the word is in the feminine. The old naturalists say that the female has greater thirst than the male, and that it shows it more, having more feebleness of body, and less power of endurance. The hart is said to be, naturally, a thirsty creature, and when it has been long hunted, its thirst seems to be insatiable. The psalmist does not say, «thy soul hungereth,» but, «My soul thirsteth.» As man can bear hunger much longer than he can bear thirst; he may continue without food for days, but not without drink; so the psalmist mentions the most thirsty creat

II. THE EXODUS SECTION: BOOK TWO:PSALM 42-72 The second division of the book of Psalms corresponds to the book of Exodus, the second book of the Pentateuch. That book begins with the groans and moans of a suffering people in Egypt and after redemption by blood and by power, ends with the glory of the Lord filling the tabernacle when the work was finished. Ruin, oppression, suffering and sorrow, ending in deliverance and redemption, is the order in which the Psalms in this section are arranged. It is a most interesting study and we regret that we cannot enter into all the details, to explore these mines of prophecy. The oppressed, persecuted people, who suffer surrounded by the ungodly, is that same godly remnant of Israelites. Their deliverance comes by the visible manifestation of the Lord, the second coming of our Lord. The Psalm which concludes this Exodus of the Psalms is 72, the gre...

PSALMS 42, 43. Originally these two Pss. were one. This is proved by the long refrain common to each, Why art thou cast down, O my soul, etc. It recurs in Psalms 42:5; Psalms 42:11 and Psalms 43:5, and thus divides the Ps. into fairly equal portions. The theme, moreover, is the same in both, and Psalms 43 is an orphan Ps. (p. 366), _i.e._ it has no title, because it did not originally rank as an independent poem. PSALMS 42:1. The misery of exile from the Temple and the memory of happy worship there. PSALMS 42:1. For hart read with many sc