Longing for God
Psalm 42:2, 3; and Psalm 43:3, 4
March 13, 2023 - Monday, 3rd Week of Lent
Longing for God
Psalm 42:2, 3; and Psalm 43:3, 4
Our liturgical psalm today comes from two psalms: Psalms 42 and 43. In several Hebrew manuscripts, these two psalms are preserved as one psalm and the biblical commentaries treat them as one unit. The first two stanzas are taken from Psalm 42 and they speak about a deep longing for God. The soul of the psalmist longs for God the way a deer longs for water. This desire can only be fulfilled in the temple in Jerusalem, the place of God’s presence. But what prevents him from going there?
The entire Psalter is divided into five books to emulate the five books of the Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Psalm 42 begins Book II of the Psalter (Ps 42-72), and many scholars suggest that this second part reflects the painful experience of exile to Babylon. Thus the psalmist could not go to the altar of God and see the face of God either because the temple was destroyed or because something prevented him to make a pilgrimage to a new temple.
We all live in exile - either a geographical or spiritual one. Some live far away from their native lands others far away from their true self. Both groups long to return home but they do not know how to do it. The petition of the psalmist in Psalm 43 can help. He prays to God: “Send forth your light and your truth” (Ps 43:3). He asks that the Saviour be sent to us and God answered that prayer by sending us His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Light of the world (John 8:12); Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). Only He can bring us back from our exile to the mountain of the Lord, the heavenly Jerusalem. He can do it because He is the only way to the Father.
In the Book of Revelation chapter 14, there is a vision of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ standing on Mount Zion surrounded by the redeemed. Jesus brought them home. And they were singing a mysterious song to the accompaniment of a voice from heaven that was “like the sound of harpists playing on their harps” (Rev 14:2). In 1999, a Christian rock band “MercyMe” came out with a song titled “I can only imagine”. The writer of that song, Bart Millard, tries to imagine the unimaginable, namely how it is going to be when we shall stand in the presence of Christ the Lord.
The psalmist hopes and prays to be led by God’s light and truth to God’s dwelling, Mount Zion. That should also be our dream and prayer. And so we pray:
Lord Jesus, you are the light of the world and the truth; lead us to the heavenly Jerusalem that we may see your face and dwell in your presence forever. Amen.