Pursuing Christ with Passion – Psalm 42
Two hundred years ago, in the fall of the year, two friends ran into each other on the street in Boston. These two men were Ray Palmer and Lowell Mason. Mason collected and published Gospel hymns. On this occasion, he asked Palmer if he had seen any new religious poems lately.
Yes, in fact, Palmer had carried around a poem in a little book in which he jotted down his thoughts. Two years previously, on an early winter’s evening, he had put some thoughts down on paper and cried as he did so. To him, these thoughts were sacred, portraying the desire of his heart, his life, uttering the deepest thoughts of his heart to the Lord.
Palmer showed Mason these words he had written in his little book. Mason liked the words and they stepped inside a store so that Mason could copy the words down. Mason went home and set the words to music.
Two days later, the men met again and Mason proclaimed, “Mr. Palmer, you may leave many years and do many good things, but I think you will be best known to posterity as the author of ‘My Faith Looks Up to Thee.’” Mason was right.
I want to draw your attention to this particular verse (will be on slide):
May Thy rich grace impart
Strength to my fainting heart
My zeal inspire
As Thou has died for me,
O may my love for Thee,
Pure, warm, and changeless be,
A living fire!
You put your heart into what you love. What do you want more than anything else in life?
Let’s study this psalm (42) and let the love of Christ inspire our zeal to pursue Christ with passion…
The psalm has four stanzas…
THE DESIRE TO BE WITH GOD – 42:1-3:
This first strophe (verses 1-2) shows the strong desire the psalmist has to be with God. He thirsts for God, for the “living” God and desires to come into His presence. He calls God the “living” God here; in verse 8, he’ll say that God is the God of “his life.”
The drug is believed to fight against all the buy cialis generic causes of weak erections range from lifestyle choices to serious underlying health conditions. order cheap levitra Also it is not good for the health to take it with other medicines as well. ED is very common and experienced by every man even viagra on line australia more often. Along with healing mineral water, there are natural, alternative medicine treatments that can also help regain good health. purchase female viagra The second strophe (verse 3) shows while the psalmist has such a strong desire to be with God. First, his meal has been solely tears. He has wept as the people around him have become more irreligious, more atheistic, more immoral.
FOR THE HELP THAT COMES FROM GOD – 42:4-5:
In the first strophe (vs 4), the psalmist remembers what life was like at one time. Sometimes we find comfort in our memories but the psalmist realizes that he can’t live in the past. He must worship God in the present.
The second strophe (vs 5) has the psalmist talking to himself and asking, “Why am I in despair?” Well, what am I going to do about it? The psalmist says, he will hope in God. This phrase is so important that the psalmist repeats it again (vs 11 and in 43:5).
At some point, grief needs to yield to a positive faith in the nature of the God we serve.
BECAUSE OF HIS WONDERFUL NATURE – 42:6-9:
In this first strophe (vs 6), the psalmist meditates on the omnipresence of God. He is available, accessible, from everywhere.
In the second strophe (vs 7), the psalmist meditates on God’s omnipotence.
In the third strophe (verses 8-9), the psalmist meditates on God’s omnibenevolence.
Verse 9 continues with the portrayal of God as solid, dependable, unchanging – a rock.
SO HE TRUSTS GOD – 42:10-11:
This stanza is also divided into two strophes. In the first (vs 10), the psalmist reflects again on the enemies that surround him. Again, they mock him for believing that God can and will come to his aid.
Yet, again, the psalmist speaks to himself and asks why he is in despair? Why is he disturbed? For peace of mind and peace of heart, let the soul “hope in God.” He will worship / praise God because God is the “help of my countenance and my God.”
Despite the direction of our country and the problems going on in the world, we can know God personally. We know God by having a relationship with Christ (cf. John 3:13-14). How strongly do you desire that relationship? Do you desire to know Christ as a deer pants for the water?
We desire to be with God, for the help that comes from God. Because of His nature, we trust God.
–Paul Holland
