1 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” 4 These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. 5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation 6 and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. 7 Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. 8 By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and 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 do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” 10 As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” 11 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. (Psalm 42; ESV)
Outline:
- We find hope in God’s word by seeking to know him (v 1-2)
- We find hope in God’s word by pouring out our hearts to him (v 3, 4, 9)
- We find hope in God’s word by using it to speak truth to ourselves (v 5, 11)
- The truth of how God has worked in the past (v 4, 6)
- The truth of how God is with us presently (v 7, 8)
- The truth of how God has promised us in the future (v 5, 11)
Discussion Questions:
- How does remembering God’s work in the past, present, and future help us fight for hope?
- Why should we remember the Gospel of Jesus when we feel like God has forgotten us?
- How does reading the bible affect the way we think about what’s going on in our lives?
- Psalm 42 and other passages give us examples of people feeling forgotten by God, why do you think God includes these experiences in his Word?
- In what ways do you talk to yourself? Do you ever tell yourself partial truths or even lies? How does the Bible (and Psalm 42 specifically) teach us to “talk to ourselves”?
Shore Community Church 