Psalm 42

This summer I've decided to paraphrase the lectionary Psalms as a prayer practice and then read prayerfully (lectio divina) with my own paraphrase.  Finally, I'll develop a breath prayer to take the transformed psalm with me into my week.  You are invited to join me and paraphrase the summer psalms for yourself.   As we work with the psalms and rewrite the text in our own words/using our own vocabulary, we will find deeper meaning as the week unfolds.  The psalms are prayers of dearly faithful people.  We can pray them into a personal prayer language that lives and breathes our own faith.  

Paraphrasing the Psalm ...  
Step 1:  Read the Psalm from a translated version, this week we read from the NIV.  Read it several times and out loud if you dare!    Psalm 42 is a song sung by the exiled Israelites remembering what it was like to go to the temple to worship God.  Now they are separated from the temple and they are expressing a sense of the felt absence of God.  Have you ever felt the absence of God more than the presence?   As you consider the overall message the Psalm writer was trying to convey with this psalm, what message are you hearing for your own life?

Psalm 42 (NIV)
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
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.

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.

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

By day the Lord directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.

I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?”
My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”

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.

Step 2:  Explore the images you find in the psalm and seek new ways of proclaiming the message of in words and phrases that translate to the situation we find in our world today.  Be creative and think not in words but in ideas and give your psalm a sweeping form.

Step 3:  Take up a journal OR pull up a blank document on the computer ... begin writing in a stream of consciousness with new images, words, and phrases.  Let the images grow and become.  Let the words and phrases emerge to translate the psalm anew in your own prayer language, a new song!

Step 4:  Paraphrase the Psalm with your own images in your own words and phrases ... here is mine and feel free to share yours in the comments

Cindy's Paraphrase of Psalm 42 ... As the deer listens and longs for babbling brooks,
desire for your presence bubbles up in my consciousness,
my deepest love, God of my Life
Deep within me, I am parched and dry as a desert
Tell me where you are and I will come to you, O God!
Only my salty tears feed me all day and into the night while everyone taunts me,
"Your God has abandoned you!"
Memories emerge like living water from deep within me
O how I remember the sanctuary with its beautiful altar, 
God’s presence filling the space with comfort and peace
Singing, dancing, and loving in the joyful community
So ... Why am I so depressed?  Why am I so troubled?
I must praise the God of Hope, the One who Saves, the Sovereign God!
Depression threatens my sanity; I try to remember you from my childhood,
I try to remember you from the days I spent in Canada and in New Orleans.
The depth I feel meets your infinity as together we rush over the waterfalls of life,
I feel the waves crashing on the shoreline of my heart, 
threatening to pull me to the surface of myself
Everyday your love fills me, every night your song lifts me up – 
I pray to you God of Love
O God, you are my fortress but you turn away from me in my despair
And so the sadness overwhelms me, others take advantage of me
I am human, I grieve what could have been as people perpetually shout out,
“Your God has abandoned you!”
Yes ... I am so depressed?  I am so troubled?
Yet ... I believe in God, I will sing and dance for God, my Redeemer and my Rock!

University of Arkansas Campus, May 2013

Lectio Divina ...
Step 1:  Read Psalm 42 slowly and reverently ...
Use the NIV text, my paraphrase or your own, or take link to use this Message Paraphrase:
What image, word, or phrase calls for your attention?  Spend a few moments pondering ...

Step 2:  Read your selection again and reflect ...
How does this paraphrase illuminate your life right now?

Step 3:  Read your selection again and respond ...
What do you say to God about your life and how you are seeing God's presence in it?
Write a one-sentence prayer as an Amen to your time of lectio ... here is mine and feel free to share yours in the comments

O God, God of Hope, the One who Saves, the Sovereign God, you are mine and I am yours.  
So be it!  Amen!

Step 4:  Rest ... Come to a place of silence within yourself and just "be" with God.

Breath Prayer ...
Step 1:  In 3-4 syllables, what image of God is emerging from your time of prayer?

Step 2:  In 3-4 syllables, what prayer of desire is rising within you?

Step 3:  Create your breath prayer ... here is mine and feel free to share yours in the comments

Breathe in … God of Hope (pause)
Breath out … I yearn for you (pause)

As you continue to journey through your week, breathe!  And take the Presence of God with you through the breath prayer you have created from your time with Psalm 42 ... Amen!


If music is a pathway for you, check out this youtube video of "As the Deer"

Psalm 42: Longing for God

Psalm 42   To the leader. A Maskil of the Korahites.

As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. 
When shall I come and behold the face of God?
My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually,

‘Where is your God?’

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.

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.

My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep at the thunder of your waterfalls
all your waves and your billows have gone over me.
By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,and at night his song is with me, 

a prayer to the God of my life.
I say to God, my rock, ‘Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mournfully because the enemy oppresses me?’
As with a deadly wound in my body, my adversaries taunt me, 

while they say to me continually,

‘Where is your God?’

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. 

Psalm 43             Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people;

from those who are deceitful and unjust deliver me!
For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you cast me off?
Why must I walk about mournfully because of the oppression of the enemy?
O send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; 

let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.
Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; 

and I will praise you with the harp, 

O God, my God.

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.

Context:   Once upon a time, Psalm 42 and 43 were one … one prayer in two parts.   The unity of these two psalms, which I will refer to as one, is evident by their overall cohesive structure which includes the beauty of a repeating refrain times three and by the lack of any attribution at the “beginning” of the 2nd of the two psalms.

This psalm combo is a “maskil,” which is thought to mean either a psalm with a lesson to learn or a psalm that is written cleverly.    It is a psalm of the Korahites.  The Korahites were of the priestly line of Levi and had a colorful history dating back to the time of Moses.  At the time of David, the Korahites were “doorkeepers” of the tabernacle.   With eleven psalms attributed to them, the Korahites were also renowned poet/singers in the temple.

This 2-in1 psalm is written as a series of individual laments.  A lament is an expression of grief.  The laments of the psalmist are interrupted by words of praise of and trust in God.   In this psalm we see the essence of spiritual struggle that is so common to human beings.  The psalmist suggests that hope can counter spiritual depression of the soul. 

Where do you find hope in your times of despair?   As you read and pray this psalm … what are the feelings that emerge?
  
Going Deeper:   Popular Christian writer, Anne Lamott, has written that her prayers oscillate between “help me, help me, help me” and “thank you, thank you, thank you.”  Psalm 42 and 43 model that same 2-fold pattern which is an echoing theme through the Psalms and the Old Testament as well.  Humanity, both individually and communally, fears the abandonment of God as we cry out with the psalmist, “Where is your God?” with desperately hopeful longing and praise in the face of everything that invites us to abandon our faith because we perceive that we have been abandoned.  In our finest hour we gather up all of our faith, go against the flow, and cry out, “Hope in God!  For I shall again praise him, my help and my God.”

Have you ever felt like you have been abandoned by God?  What were the circumstances?  Have you ever longed for God’s presence … to know God more?  The psalmist talks of that longing as “thirsting.”  How would you describe your longing for God?  How are you able to sustain your hope throughout the struggles of your life?   Where do you find the invitation of God to stay strong in your daily living?

Pondering:  Read the first verses of Psalm 42 aloud again as you engage in the art of Lectio Divina (divine reading)

As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When shall I come and behold the face of God?
My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually,
‘Where is your God?’
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.
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.

• Lectio=Listen to the words. Read the words slowly, repeating them again and again, allowing them to linger on the tongue, savoring their beauty ...

• Meditatio=Prayerfully listen as you read until a small portion of the psalm (a word or a thought or a phrase) begins to draw you deep within.  Turn your “portion” over and over in your mind and consider what God may be inviting you to think or feel or do or be … Write down the “portion” that Spirit has given you:

Stay with your “portion” and commit it to memory as your thought for the day …  Praying:

• Oratio=Spend some time in prayer responding to God’s invitation … allow prayers of confession, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, praise, or ...

• Contemplatio=When you runs out of words to say, simply rest in the presence of God, lingering with God in loving companionship …

Amen!   
Experience the song inspired by this psalm on this YouTube video ...