"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 … My heart is breaking … Why, my soul, are you downcast [so discouraged]? Why so disturbed [so sad] within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God. Now I am deeply discouraged, but I will remember you … Each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me, and each night I sing his songs – praying to the God of my life … my foes [for us it is the powers of darkness] 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 Saviour and my God. You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? … Send me your light and your truth, let them lead me; let them bring me … to the place where you dwell … to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you … O God, my God. Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God."

In many Hebrew manuscripts, Ps 42 and Ps 43 constitute one psalm. I have brought them together here using both the NIV and the NLT. When Sue read the three-time repeated refrain the other morning: "Why, my soul, are you so discouraged? Why so sad and disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God" I felt God say to me: "There is no alternative." That may seem obvious, but it made me think of what I might have considered alternatives. Things like: what the depressed believer needs most is the right counselling; to spend more time in prayer and in the Word; to be more disciplined; to be more active in ministering to others; etc., etc. What is being said here is: "Depressed believer, give yourself a good talking to. Tell yourself to put all your hope in God. Make faith declarations like 'I will praise him again'; 'My heart will be filled with joy and gratitude again'. Affirm that he alone is your Saviour – you cannot save yourself! Affirm that he is your God – your personal God who is not ashamed to be known as such. Affirm that only he can satisfy you; thousands upon thousands of your own 'perfect' performances would never be able to that!"

There are some well-meaning believers who say it is a sin to be discouraged, fearful and anxious, but this is simply not the case. God wants us to find the solution to these natural, human emotions in him. David said to God: "When I am afraid [in the day of fear] I will trust in you" (Ps 56:3). Peter wrote: "Cast all you anxiety on him because he cares for you" (2Pt 5:7). Jesus himself became "very sorrowful" and "deeply distressed" in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mt 26:37-38). A feeling of deep anguish and desolation began to fill his mind. The Greek word translated "sorrowful" means "pained, grieved, saddened and vexed"; that translated "distressed" means "to feel fear, to lack courage and to be troubled". Jesus experienced all these emotions, but did not let them overpower him. I am filled with awe at what he suffered for me and so grateful that he understands.

And what of our psalmist? He could truthfully say: "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you my God … the God of my life." The picture is of a deer that is desperately thirsty. He can hear an underground stream through a ventilation shaft, but he has no way of reaching the clean, cool flowing water. He longs to drink; he pants for the life-giving refreshment he needs, but is being denied.

The psalmist could also say "Each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me, and each night I sing his songs." This is all part of him speaking to himself and reminding himself of how great his God is; how personally involved with him he is and that he is the one drawing praise and worship from his heart.