David and the Deer

Psalm 42 To the Chief Musician. A Contemplation of the sons of Korah.

“As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, “Where is your God?” When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, With the voice of joy and praise, With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast. Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance. O my God, my soul is cast down within me;
Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan, And from the heights of Hermon, From the Hill Mizar. Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls;
All Your waves and billows have gone over me. The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song shall be with me— A prayer to the God of my life. I will say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a breaking of my bones, My enemies reproach me, While they say to me all day long, “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 yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.”

This is one of my favorite psalms, for it can be sang so easily:

Nii kui hirv ihkab vett,
mu hing igatseb Su järele.
Üksi Sa oled soov mu südames,
Sind tahan tänada.

Üksi Sa oled jõud ja kaitse,
üksi Sind igatseb mu vaim.
Üksi Sa oled soov mu südames
Sind tahan tänada

Sina oled mu vend ja mu sõber,
Ehkki oled Kuningas.
Armastan ma Sind rohkem kellestki,
veel enam millestki.

Armastan ma Sind rohkem kullast
ainult Sina annad kõik.
Üksi Sa oled ainus rõõmutooja
minu hingele.

However… we should be wary of comparing us with David, for we seldom have suffered same-fold. We have never been in that gridlock there we loved someone else's wife, and when we fucked that wife pregnant, tried to hide it, by making the husband drunk, so he would fuck his wife, and it would appear, like Uriah had done it, and if that wont do, send the man on the bulk of the army and ask the others to abandon him, so Uriah would surely die, to then marry his wife, who is pregnant of you, and begets you King Solomon in the future. (that first baby died by Gods wrath) And as David is repenting through his brothers words, who was the prophet of Yahweh:

2 Samuel 12:1 – 14 “Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: “There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. “The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. “But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him. “And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! “And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.” Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! ‘Why have you despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. ‘Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ “Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. ‘For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’ ” So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. “However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.”

So many people started to despise David, just like Shimei, son of Gera from the family of Saul, the previous King, then David's sin became public, to raise Abshalom the son of David, as the next king... – For how do you not hate a murderer/ adulterer/ obstructionist of justice? That's the real reason behind: “There is your God?” Psalm 42:3,10 – for the people totally ignored that David repented and verified the words of the prophet as true on him, especially on account of his own judgment through the parable.

(2 Samuel 12:13) How many of you can say the same about yourself and not like the Woman in Blood 2 at the start of level 2 “Hold on now – god damn creatures of the night!” and Caleb lunges through with his knife leaving only a heart standing on your corpse. God just sent you the prophet and condemned you though your own lips – wouldn't you be afraid of life and want to make a run for it or at least kill the prophet too, to get away with it? I definitely wouldn't be so holy and modest and humble, as was King David in front of his brother, who also was a prophet and lived from his coffers! I wouldn't let someone, who's wages I pay, lecture me about my sin! But King David did just that and after he was fleeing from his own son, he wrote Psalm 42 to remind himself that he still belongs to God! How many of us abandon our cause, after the “final blunder” because our honor and self-esteem and respect from the people has vanished into thin air? I mean, nobody would have blamed King David for giving up, there he was. His odds there really bad, for even his head – advisor, who's counsel was like the word of God, had abandoned him and joined Abshalom! It comes prevalent, how humble King David really was, then he doesn't let his men kill Shimei, who was throwing stones at them from a high ground as they traveled the road. (2 Samuel 16:5 – 13) or how he sends his last advisor and a close friend, who is still loyal to him on a covert mission into the ranks of Abshalom, though it was obvious, that it can't prevail, IF the counsil of Ahitophel is heard enough. (2Samuel 16:15 – 17:14; 15:31 – 37) For if Abshalom had really gathered 12.000 men to hound King David day and night, then the people would have really abandoned him, for being a sinner he was at that time, and letting him fight alone… and who can fight so many alone – not even king David who slew Goliath, for that he did with God! The problem is, that in such conduct there is no honor. You can't tell it to your grand-children in front of a chimney or around a bonfire: “We killed David with 12.000 men and his loyalists fled like cowards, and we accepted them back to Israel and did nothing more!” What would that teach to our children? That you're right then you got might! So the advise of Hushai, the friend and advisor of King David, was to tickle the pride and hybris of Abshalom and his men, and it worked that way. It's so much more proud to boast in front of your chimney and around a bonfire to some boy-scouts or grand-children: “We gathered all men in Israel and slaughtered David, and all his loyalists! Aye, it was a tough battle indeed, but we had managed a resounding victory. Even then he fled into a stronghold, we took ropes and tore it into the river and no man was left standing, who was with this rogue David!” Because it sounds so much more fair, than to just kill one man with 12.000!!

Aren't we the same, then we sing the Psalms of King David, forgetting about the history – for at that time, these there written down into scripture, King David had been quietly laid to rest into his tomb and given his reign forward to King Solomon, and Abshalom was a faint memory in the past – it doesn't sound right! We only rejoice at that, because we assume that God has forgiven us everything, but did we come back from that kind of thing to still remain faithful and not kill those who rightfully curse and spit at us. That's the true meaning of Psalm 42 – to wait for God, when you have utterly failed and embracing the outcome, that you may not survive Gods judgment!

So many of you would like to say: “Hell no, sir, that can't happen white raven, sir! For I have apologized and longed for God – just as King David said and did!” Because we don't want to receive judgment and proper punishment – we don't want justice being done unto us, as King David humbled himself – we only long to tickle our ears, that it's still time and that we are redeemed and can proceed with business as usual! We want Mercy, but we don't want to pay for it!! The moment God starts wanting a fair share of your life, you will wail and scream: “Why do I have to pay for it – I was receiving Mercy?” For in our minds, Mercy is for free – although it cost God Jesus Christ on the cross – so how can that be “free”!! If your best friend dies for the crime that you committed, would you live on, as nothing ever happened? Think about it… “Have you held back you sword, then someone rebuked you, for your sin, like David did to Shimei? Have you accepted the condemnation from the lips of a prophet as he passes judgment over you on your own account? Have you sent away all the perks you have acquired from God (The ark of the Covenant, what David refused to take with him) to open yourself up for Gods judgment, so it could find you and it wouldn't pass blame on the church or other members of the church?” Then the answer to all this is a “Yes” then you can sing Psalm 42 with King David, but if any of those answers waver, or are “No” sometimes even “Hell no!” than you cannot sing that song for you are like the deer, but not like David! I wish you all the best in this coming Christmas, Godspeed!