We continue our study on the various aspects of Anxiety, however we spend our third and final week in Psalm 42. What does this Psalm teach us about how to deal with the Disquieted Soul?

We often go through life unaware of what is going on inside of us. The Psalmist is… Self-Aware – he realizes that something is not right in his soul and he names it. If you can name the anxiety and where it is coming from, it will de-escalate the power it has over you. The Psalmist is…Other-Aware – he realizes that other people’s hurtful words have caused him anxiety. We are all interconnected, and anxiety is contagious. The Psalmist is… God-Aware – he realizes that, although he is disquieted, that God is still working on Him.

Psalm 42
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Book II

(Psalms 42–72)

Psalm 42

Longing for God and His Help in Distress

To the leader. A Maskil of the Korahites.

1 As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
the face of God?
3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me continually,
“Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I went with the throng[a] and led them in procession to the house of God,
with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
a multitude keeping festival.
5 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 6 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.
7 Deep calls to deep
at the thunder of your torrents;
all your waves and your billows
have gone over me.
8 By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
and 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 walk about mournfully
because the enemy oppresses me?”
10 As with a deadly wound in my body,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me continually,
“Where is your God?”
11 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.