For the Chief Musician. A contemplation by the sons of Korah.
1As the deer pants for the water brooks,so my soul pants after you, God.2My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.When shall I come and appear before God?3My tears have been my food day and night,while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”4These things I remember, and pour out my soul within me,how I used to go with the crowd, and led them to God’s house,with the voice of joy and praise, a multitude keeping a holy day.5Why are you in despair, my soul?Why are you disturbed within me?Hope in God!For I shall still praise him for the saving help of his presence.6My God, my soul is in despair within me.Therefore I remember you from the land of the Jordan,the heights of Hermon, from the hill Mizar.7Deep calls to deep at the noise of your waterfalls.All your waves and your billows have swept over me.
8Yahweh will command his loving kindness in the daytime.In the night his song shall be with me:a prayer to the God of my life.9I will ask God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me?Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”10As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me,while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”11Why are you in despair, my soul?Why are you disturbed within me?Hope in God! For I shall still praise him,the saving help of my countenance, and my God.
What’s happening. Written by the sons of Korah, temple musicians. The writer is far from Jerusalem and the temple, feeling cut off from worship and taunted by others.
What it means. The psalmist’s longing for God is like a deer desperate for water in dry country. It is an honest prayer from a time when God feels far away. The psalm keeps repeating, “Why are you downcast, my soul? Hope in God,” showing how to speak truth to your own heart in a low season.