Put your hope in God.

An unknown author wrote Psalms 42–43 during an unknown period. He longs to return to the house of God and believes he will see it again; therefore, it is likely before the exile. Psalms 42 and 43 are psalms of lament that share common features and refrain that make it seem the songs were intended to be read/sung together, though they are different enough to stand alone. The author is experiencing extreme depression, longing to be in the presence of God. Yet, despite his troubling emotions, he puts his hope in God.

vv. 1–5—The psalmist likens (simile) his current struggle to that of a deer panting for water.

—The fragile animal longs to find full streams of water. Water is life. It revives, sustains, and gives life. God is water to the psalmist’s soul.

—The psalmist thirsts for the God who lives and gives life. This expression carries a spiritual intensity that can only be fully satisfied by returning to the presence of God.

—Though the singer’s thirst contrasts with his unending tears (day and night), which have been his food.

—Enemies taunt him, “Where is your God?” See also verse 10.

—The psalmist pours out his soul (like water) as he remembers those special times when he accompanied the mass of faithful worshippers into the presence of God, celebrating with joyful shouts of thanksgiving.

—Verse 5 is a refrain that shapes the entirety of the psalms. It occurs in verses 5, 11, and 43:5.

—The term “depressed” conveys

—The psalmist’s hope is built on the solid ground of expectation. It is not a therapeutic hope of the imagination or something uncertain. It is hope that is based on conviction and personal experience.

vv.—6–11—The psalmist’s situation is no longer pictured as a drought but as a flash flood occurring in a mountain region.

—The psalmist is “Deeply depressed.”

—As in verse four, the psalmist continues to remember God.

—Mount Hermon and Mizar are located at the northern border of Israel and are the source of the Jordan River.

—”Deep calls to deep” perhaps images the echoing, noisy rainfall across the mountain range. They would form waterfalls as the dry land experiences a flash flood. These floods could happen suddenly, sweeping victims away.

—The psalmist weeps day and night (v. 3), but the LORD displays His supernatural love by day and gives the singer a song in the night that serves as a prayer to the God who gives life.

—Verse eight is significant as it is the first and only mention of the personal covenant name, “LORD.”

—The psalmist feels forgotten or ignored, especially because he must go about mourning under the oppression of his enemies who taunt him (See v. 3 and 43:2).

43:1–5—The psalmist makes urgent requests for God to rescue him from his oppression and depression.

—The psalmist pleads that God would both vindicate him and contend his legal case against the godless nation.

—Even though God is likened to a rock (42:9) and is viewed as a place of security (43:2), the singer feels rejected by God because his enemy’s oppression goes unanswered.

—The psalmist makes another appeal. He requests that God would send His true light. If depression is a dry soul caught up in a torrential flood, God’s true light would be the guiding and nurturing warmth that leads the soul out of the dark night.

—The greatest problem the psalmist faces is not his depression. It is his distance from God. But if he could return to God’s presence, standing before the altar of God, he would once again draw near to the source of all His joy.