Psalm Meditation 1081 Third Sunday in Lent March 7, 2021 Psalm 42 1 As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, “Where is your God?” 4 These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I went with the throng, and led them in procession to the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival. 5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help 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 thunder of your cataracts; all your waves and your billows 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 must I walk about mournfully because the enemy oppresses me?” 10 As with a deadly wound in my body, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me continually, “Where is your God?” 11 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God. (NRSV) For some, God is the direct cause of everything that happens to us and for us in our lives. If you are sad, it is due to something God did to you. If you are happy, it is because of God. If you are really depressed, it is because God abandoned you for the time. It is a convenient way of thinking because it gives all the power for our lives into the hands of God. We may bear some responsibility for our actions, however the final cause is God. The psalmist leans that way, asking why God has walked away leaving the psalmist to the whims of an oppressive enemy. There is a thirst for the presence of God that can only be satisfied if God moves toward us. We have no ability or responsibility to move toward God. We can’t possibly have any power to move closer to God. In the courts of absolute rulers, people risked death if they entered the royal presence without permission. The only exception was the royal children. As children of God we are always allowed to enter the presence of God. We don’t need permission. If we are ‘cast down’ and ‘disquieted’ we can walk in and climb up into the lap of God where we can be lifted up and quieted by a firm, gentle hand. People and circumstances will continue to taunt us with the question, “Where is your God?” There may even be an attempt to block our way. We are children of God and our access is unlimited and unrestricted. “Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.” March 1, 2021 LCM