Have you ever experienced a season that felt spiritually dry? We all experience seasons of dryness, times when we feel abandoned by God and isolated from his blessings. There is no shame in feeling that God isn’t hearing your distress or answering your prayers. Today’s psalm teaches us that everyone feels that way at one point or another. Situations like illness, death of a loved one, betrayal, financial insecurity, divorce, addiction, rebellious children … life is full of times when we look to God for an easy out and are met with silence. The question that our Scripture asks today is how can we get through those periods of dryness when they occur? How can we survive when our extreme thirst for God’s presence is not being satisfied?

Psalm 42 (New International Version)

As the deer pants for streams of water,
    so my soul pants for you, my God.
² My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
    When can I go and meet with God?
³ My tears have been my food
    day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
    “Where is your God?”
⁴ These things I remember
    as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
    under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
    among the festive throng.

⁵ Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

⁶ My soul is downcast within me;
    therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
    the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
⁷ Deep calls to deep
    in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
    have swept over me.

⁸ By day the Lord directs his love,
    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 go about mourning,
    oppressed by the enemy?”
¹⁰ My bones suffer mortal agony
    as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
    “Where is your God?”

¹¹ Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

Let’s start by talking about hydration, a necessary part of living, especially in the hot summer months. We know from science that the body is made up of about 60% water. Water is essential for health and is necessary for keeping the body running smoothly. It regulates temperature, assists cellular function, and is the primary source of waste removal. Your brain and your heart are about 73% water, your lungs are 83% water, your skin is about 64% water, and your muscles and kidneys are about 79% water. All parts of the body need water to work properly, and so drinking water is necessary for life.

I am a fan of shows like the History Channel’s Alone, where survivalists are dropped into wilderness areas and have to survive extreme conditions like below zero temperatures, lack of food and shelter, and loneliness. One of the first things they do when they are dropped off is to seek clean, drinkable water. Did you know that the body can survive for one to two months without food (except teenage boys … for them it’s much shorter) but can only survive for 3 days without water? The contestants immediately construct a temporary shelter and then go out to collect and boil water from streams, snow, and rainfall. Water is essential for life.

I think the teaching points from this passage boil down to three important concepts. First, this is a gut-wrenchingly honest lament. The psalmist pulled no punches here in his deep despair over his circumstance. I wrote a devotional about this last month when we read from the Book of Ruth. Naomi found herself without a husband or sons and returned to Bethlehem with a new name. She called herself Mara because of the bitterness of her situation. Both Naomi and the writer of Psalm 42 are great examples of people who handled their tragic situation with raw honesty. You will never get better unless you are honest about your situation.

The second teaching point from this passage is an encouragement to do some self-care by doing some self-talk. “Why are you so downcast?” the psalmist asks himself three times in this passage. Admitting the truth to yourself is essential for moving out of any state of being downcast. We call this “preaching to your own soul” and pretty much every Sunday, you can get an idea of the elements of preaching. A good preacher will ask you questions and then use Scripture to answer those questions. Those Scriptures help you reframe your focus and return to what God is saying to you. Preaching to your soul helps you come back to a ground zero of God’s unconditional love for you and his abiding presence in your situation, even when you can’t feel it. It’s very important to remember who you are, and whose you are.

And finally, the psalmist encourages us to choose hope. 

¹¹ Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

Hope is a choice, my brothers and sisters. Hope is when we look up from being downcast and stand solidly on God’s promises. Hope is when we sit in an ash heap and count our blessings. The psalmist gives us permission to say, “This is the worst thing ever! And yet I will praise him!” No matter how hopeless and dark things can seem, there is always an “And yet” choice to make. We can refocus on God’s goodness instead of our despair in any dry season. 

Jesus invites all who thirst to come to him. He is the Living Water flowing freely from the heart of God. Come, and drink.

As the Zebra Pants for Streams of Water