Psalms 42:3 NIVUK
[3] My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’
There is a saying in English that ‘mud sticks’.
I recently read the tale of a pastor’s daughter who was filmed saying something rather stupid in front of a camera that I won’t repeat here, and it went viral. She became ‘famous’ (or rather, infamous) overnight.
Of course, as most savvy people from her generation would, she is trying to ride it out and make some money as she goes along. Fair play to her for that.
But one social media commentator urged caution. It might seem like a good idea to say something outrageous on camera to earn your sixty seconds of fame, but reputation is a hard thing to shake. Your moment of fame could lead to a lifetime of gossip, innuendo and struggle.
The sons of Korah knew all about that.
They played a hugely important role in Israelite history.
They were gatekeepers in David’s Temple (1 Chronicles 26:19). And this was a very responsible job. They were not just doormen or bouncers or security guards. They were much more than that. They were responsible for keeping unclean things and people out of the Temple. They helped keep it sacred and special and holy.
It should come as no surprise, then, that we find this family line – who clearly cared greatly for God – leading worship in the time of King Jehoshephat (2 Chronicles 20:19).
And yet these people – so important for the functioning of national worship – could simply not shake off the sin their ancestor committed, when he rebelled against Moses and was swallowed up alive by the earth (Numbers 16). It hung around them for so long that it was even discussed thousands of years later in the New Testament (Jude 1:11).
They had achieved much, but still could not escape that stain on their reputation.
Life has become impossibly hard nowadays. We used to be a bit worried about a ‘totalitarian state’ when CCTV was invented. Nowadays, we think little of a potentially reputation-ruining CCTV camera we carry in our pockets. Yet that tiny camera in the top of our phones has the potential to end careers and destroy reputations in seconds.
Never has it been more important to live wisely.
But the sons of Korah seem to have had a further problem. We feel bad for them that they could not shake off the stain on their reputation from their forefather’s error. However, this Psalm tells us that suffering was also involved; that their life was hard.
Never has a more appropriate Psalm been written for our modern culture.
So if you're feeling like you are in deep trouble and feel the pressure from having nowhere to hide; if you’re trying hard to establish your own reputation and finding that it took way more work than you anticipated; if you are just plain burned out on life, then this Psalm is for you.
The sons of Korah, with everything that seemed to be against them, felt four things – four things we often feel too.
The first of these was Desire.
Psalms 42:1-3
[1] 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?’ https://bible.com/bible/113/psa.42.1-3.NIVUK
Now, these are interesting verses.
The sons of Korah are in a right pickle. Life is absolutely against them.
If they had desired to escape their suffering or to be vindicated against their accuser, we could understand it. We might even agree with it.
But that is not the case.
Their desire is for God. First and foremost. Above all.
And that is quite something.
You see, suffering often has a most difficult effect on us. It matures us in a way that we often find hard to take. It weans us.
Think about a baby. When the baby is very young, he or she will view their mother as a source of food and sustenance. But as they grow up and are weaned onto solid food, their mother is more than a source of sustenance; their mother is a person to whom they can connect and relate.
As Christians, we often confuse God and the things He provides. We love Him because He looks after us and gives us what we need. But what if these things are taken away?
It is then that our faith is tested like Job’s was. It’s then that we face the reality of our own maturity. Will we respond like Job?
Job 1:20-21 NIVUK
[20] At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship [21] and said: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.’ https://bible.com/bible/113/job.1.20-21.NIVUK
That is the choice facing these sons of Korah. Do they seek God for who He is or for what He can do for them?
Do they see God as a divine Santa Claus who brings them gifts, or as a Divine Father who always knows what is good for them?
They have the choice to either cry out to God to return with His blessing, or simply to be who He is.
And they make their choice.
Their longing is for God – for who He is – not just to be rescued from their predicament.
And their reaction is a massive challenge for us.
Any passive reader of the history books of the Bible – from Judges to 2 Chronicles – will notice a well-established pattern. The people sin. God sends someone to rescue them and call them to repentance. The rescuer dies. The people forget. They sin again.
This isn’t Jewish nature: this is human nature.
And it happens when we worship the gifts God gives us rather than the giver; when we are more concerned with our material situation than how we relate to God.
The sons of Korah have the answer: long for God first; long for rescue second.
That is similar to what Jesus taught:
Matthew 6:33 NIVUK
[33] But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
But I wonder: how many of us are listening?
We have to face the cold, hard reality: for some of us, release from our suffering is not possible on earth. It is not God’s plan. So our longing for release might not be fulfilled.
But our longing for God always will:
Isaiah 55:6-7 NIVUK
[6] Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. [7] Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. https://bible.com/bible/113/isa.55.6-7.NIVUK
So we see the sons of Korah wrestling with their desire for God, as well as an impression that He is absent, even if this is not the case.
The second emotion we see in this Psalm is one of Displacement: that is, a sense that they are not where they should be.
Psalms 42:4 NIVUK
[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.
Although none of our churches celebrate the Jewish festivals – or sometimes even Christian festivals – with this level of exuberance and fun, we do have a sense of what this must have felt like. The Covid pandemic took millions of Christians out of their churches and into their homes. Christmas and Easter were just not the same for us at all.
But that is not just what the sons of Korah are talking about. They are talking about something – whether a sin or a sickness – that ruled them out of participating in communal worship.
Suffering does this to us – if we let it. We hear the lie echoing around our head that no-one else understands how we are feeling, and so we separate ourselves off from other people. This robs us of the shared joy of communal gathering and worship, which compounds our suffering, making it way worse.
Nostalgia never helped anyone.
Nostalgia for something we had but seem to have lost makes things so much worse.
But there is a place for misty-eyed longing such as this.
Why?
Because such pain can drive us back to where we should be: among God's people.
Psalms 84:1-2 NIVUK
[1] How lovely is your dwelling-place, Lord Almighty! [2] My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. https://bible.com/bible/113/psa.84.1-2.NIVUK
Psalms 122:1 NIVUK
[1] I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’ https://bible.com/bible/113/psa.122.1.NIVUK
Psalms 132:7 NIVUK
[7] ‘Let us go to his dwelling-place, let us worship at his footstool https://bible.com/bible/113/psa.132.7.NIVUK
I don’t know if you have ever felt that itch, that sense of being ill at ease, of feeling like you are in the wrong place. It is profoundly irritating. It just won’t go away, no matter what you do.
Let me tell you, it is there for a reason. That profound discomfort is the Holy Spirit’s way of telling you that you are in the wrong place with God, that you are the one who moved and not Him, and that it is time to go home.
That leads is from desire and displacement to the very emotion that drives change deep in your soul: that feeling of angst, or, as I am calling it here, Disquiet.
Psalms 42:5-7 NIVUK
[5] 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. [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.
Now, this is where we have to deal with a very interesting question.
The reality is that many are far from God, are fully aware of the fact, but it doesn’t seem to bother them one bit. They are like the Prodigal Son before he repented, living the high life without one single care in the world (Luke 15:13).
But we should not envy such people. Not one bit. Remember: it was hardship and suffering that brought the Prodigal Son to his senses (Luke 15:14-20).
What if this doesn’t happen? Well, that could be even worse! It could be that God has given them over to their lusts and sinful desires to show them what life looks like apart from Him, and if they continue to rebel, they could end up heaping eternal damnation upon themselves (Romans 1:24-32).
But there are others, like the sons of Korah, who feel the sting of the distance between them and God and it really bothers them. It causes them disquiet, angst, a sense of dis-ease. As I said earlier, although this is not a nice, comfortable emotion, it is good for us because it drives us to God.
The Hebrew word to describe this emotion talks of being bowed, humbled, despairing.
Not a ‘happy-clappy’ state of mind at all.
Yet here, seemingly far from their Lord, the sons of Korah find a cure.
Their souls are downcast, so they remember God’s identity - that God is their Saviour. That is: it is in the very nature of God to save, not to cast away:
Psalms 103:6-14 NIVUK
[6] The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. [7] He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: [8] the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. [9] He will not always accuse, nor will he harbour his anger for ever; [10] he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. [11] For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; [12] as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. [13] As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; [14] for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
It is to this identity that the sons of Korah cling.
And they cling to it in a very interesting way. What we see here is self-talk. Better still, it is self-exhortation. It is self-preaching. From the miserable depths of their troubles they are reminding themselves that they will one day be rescued and returned to communal worship in the Temple. They will be restored.
It used to be said that talking to yourself is the first sign of madness. I disagree. It is ignoring yourself – and even more so when you are encouraging yourself from the Word of God.
Secondly, after identity, we see memory. Mount Hermon is on the northern border of Israel.
This – either literally or figuratively – depicted the author’s long distance from the place of worship, the Temple. From that place of distance, for whatever reason, the sons of Korah again recall the joys of Temple worship.
However, the recall here is different. Whereas earlier the memory has a certain tinge of melancholy to it, here it appears to be a memory that bolsters and strengthens as the sons of Korah recall not just a memory, but something they look forward to and will experience again. It’s almost as if this is the reason for their drive and their goal.
I know that feeling. More than twenty years ago, I was a returning missionary, essentially benched from ministry and working in a dead-end job. But there was something keeping me going: the prospect of seeing my fiancée again and marrying her. Every day, I brought in a framed picture of her and sat it on my desk. That picture reminded me of why I was working and provided me with the drive to keep going, no matter what.
That is the kind of memory we are talking about here. It is something that provides the focus and drive to endure hardship, regardless of the cost.
Lastly, we see here sovereignty. The sons of Korah see the source of their suffering, and that source is God Himself. They see God as sending His waves and His breakers over them.
But this is also an interesting picture. If anyone has seen waves, you will know that they don’t always flow in one direction: they pull backwards and then they crash against the shore. This picture tells us that not only is God in charge of our suffering, but He will one day take it from us.
And this is a familiar phrase in the Bible. Jonah takes it up after being swallowed by a whale in Jonah 2:3.
It reminds me of what seems like a funny picture from one of our recent holidays.
We were in Italy, visiting the five villages of Cinque Terre. It was springtime. The weather was good, but the sea was very rough. No sailing boats were out. It was too dangerous.
However, one of those villages – Vernazza – resides behind an ancient sea wall, which, when we were there, was being battered by the spring waves. Spray was regularly bring thrown up, at least five metres into the air, maybe more. It was an awesome thing to hear the thundering and see the splashes.
On the other side of the sea wall, it wasn’t exactly flat calm either. It was very choppy. We saw a local man don a wetsuit and then, helped by his friends, he struggled to get into a canoe. It was a hilarious sight – like something from a slapstick movie. He would be seated nicely and ready to go, and then a big wave would slap his canoe and he would fall back into the water. It was really funny to watch. Many of his friends and colleagues stood jeering and cheering on the banks of the bay.
But then, somehow, this man got a bit of stability and momentum. Then, with muscular determination, he rowed through those incredibly choppy waves deeper into the bay.
I wondered what on earth he was doing, why anyone would do such a thing for fun. And then I realised what he had intended to do all along, when somehow this man, while being thrown around like the sea’s plaything, fetched a restaurant chair out of the water. And then another. And then another. Then, with incredible tenacity, he rowed them back to the banks of the bay, before rowing back to get more.
All the time, huge waves were pounding at the sea wall.
That man in his canoe spoke profoundly at me. We often complain when the Lord sends His waves and breakers over us: when suffering and darkness of the soul are our constant companions; when each day seems like a desperate struggle just to keep our heads above the water.
But how many of us see the sea wall? Or the mighty waves that crash against it?
How many of us fully realise how much harder our painful struggle would be without God?
So yes, the sons of Korah feel the pain and struggle of their exile from Temple congregational worship, but how much more painful would their life had been if there was no worship and no Temple at all?
After desire and displacement and the disquiet this brings, we see the final emotion of Dependency.
Psalms 42:8-11 NIVUK
[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 Saviour and my God.
Here the sons of Korah recall one thing on which this Psalm turns: God’s love.
There is much in this Psalm that reminds me of these pivotal verses in the middle of the dark book of Lamentations:
Lamentations 3:21-23 NIVUK
[21] Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: [22] Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. [23] They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
The sons of Korah are suffering. There is no doubt about that. But in the middle of their suffering they are experiencing God’s love in a special, beautiful way.
Again, this reminds me of a verse in another precious Psalm:
Psalms 23:5 NIVUK
[5] You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Do you see this?
Three signs of plentiful provision: a table prepared by God, an anointing with oil and a cup that overflows. But where is it served ? A penthouse suite? A seven-star hotel? A white sand beach?
No.
In the presence of David’s enemies!
This is what the sons of Korah feel.
In fact, some believe that Psalm 43 should really be a part of Psalm 42, because it continues along the same themes:
Psalms 43:1-5 NIVUK
[1] Vindicate me, my God, and plead my cause against an unfaithful nation. Rescue me from those who are deceitful and wicked. [2] You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy? [3] Send me your light and your faithful care, let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. [4] Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. [5] 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.
Both Psalms have the same focus: when the sons of Korah are in trouble and feel far removed from the joy of their celebrations with God, the only One who can restore that joy is God Himself. And so, despite their feelings of displacement and the disquiet this brings to their soul, they express their desire for God and their dependency on Him.
It is this that tells them their joy will one day be restored.
It is this that gives them the strength to go on.
On 3rd November 2013 – a little over ten years after we got married – Typhoon Haiyan blasted through my wife’s family’s village. We didn’t know if they were okay or not for a week. The sense of powerlessness was extraordinary. Nothing we could do would help. The roads and bridges were out. Aid was not getting through.
Thankfully they were all okay. But it's at times like that when you really feel the distance the most.
The sons of Korah are not feeling the distance because of some dreadful disaster – except if that dreadful disaster is exile caused by sin. In fact, we don’t know why they are feeling the distance, or what it is that has disqualified them from worship at the Temple.
What we can see is that their longing for worship is what we often feel when we feel apart from God. Sometimes we can even be in church and feel the distance, when we realise that our spirituality is all for show and we just don’t feel the closeness we once did.
It is at times like that when this Psalm really applies.
There is an old adage that if you feel far from God, it isn’t Him who moved, and that is quite true.
But what this Psalm teaches us is that the only thing that can fulfil the emptiness in our lives is God Himself. Yearning for the good He does for us is not enough – that’s like a thirsty man longing for the beauty of a glacial river but not drinking from its water. It just makes no sense.
But when we recognise that we need God and we yearn for Him more than anything else, even an end to our struggles, that is when we finish true satisfaction.
Even if, like the sons of Korah, we can’t see when they will end.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, help me to realise that real joy and satisfaction comes not when my struggles are over, but when I long for You more than anything else and You meet my longing. Take away from me all other distractions. Help me to seek You above all else. Amen.
Questions
1. What is different about the sons of Korah? How does this speak to us in our age?
2. What did they long for in their troubles more than anything else? How did this help them?
3. What do you long for when you are passing through a time of trouble?
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