Podcast Introduction Today our reading is 1Psalms 42-44.  I’m calling the episode “Thirsty.” Comments on Psalms 42-44 Introduction to Psalm 42 This is the first psalm of Book Two of Psalms. There are certainly differences between books one and two. One difference is the Hebrew word for God. Commentator James Montgomery Boice wrote, “According to Franz Delitsch, in book one the name Jehovah occurs 272 times and Elohim only 15. But in book two, Elohim occurs 164 times and Jehovah only 30 times.”  In Book One, David is the author of all but four of the 41 psalms, with those four having no attributions. In Book Two, which contains 31 chapters, David wrote eighteen, Asaph and Solomon each wrote one, the sons of Korah authored seven or eight, and three have no attribution. The title of Psalm 42 is “To the Chief Musician. A Contemplation of the sons of Korah”. Who were the sons of Korah?They were Levites from the tribe of Kohath, and according to 1 Chronicles 20:19 they “…stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with voices loud and high…” in the temple, so it appears that they were part of what we might call the worship band. Comments on Psalm 42 Many years ago, I was an apprentice carpenter. The first job I ever had in this field was building condominiums in Palm Desert, California. Palm Desert is next door to Palm Springs. So yes, it’s in the Southern California desert. And yes, the job was in the summer. I looked up the temperatures in July and August 1978, the year I had this job. Most every day the temperature reached 110 degrees. We would begin our day’s work at 5 am, if memory serves, when the temperature was only about 85, but once the sun came up, the mercury would quickly rise. Verse 1 and 2 in the NLT more accurately captures the author’s meaning than our translation today, the ERV. It says, “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. 2I thirst for God, the living God.” Whenever I read this verse, I think of my time in Palm Desert. I know what it’s like to long for fresh, cold water. I have also had times in my life where I felt spiritually that I was in a desert, separated from God. To be sure, when I feel apart from God, it’s my fault, because God doesn’t change. If someone has drifted away, it’s me that does the drifting. But God is faithful. He lets me do what I do. And as a good Father, He lets me feel the consequences of my wandering ways. And without fail, I begin to thirst, I begin to long for His presence again. I’ll be honest. I currently have loved ones who have wandered away from God. And my fervent prayers to God for them is that they would experience this same longing for Him that David wrote about, and that I myself have experienced. A deer is driven by thirst to that cool stream of water. My prayer is that my loved ones will be driven to the refreshing arms of a loving God. Introduction to Psalm 43 This psalm has no title, and there is no indication of who the writer is. G. Campbell Morgan wrote, “This psalm is either a part of the previous one or is closely connected with it.” As a matter of fact, many ancient Hebrew manuscripts have Psalms 42 and 43 combined into just one psalm. Introduction to Psalm 44 This psalm’s title is “To the Chief Musician. A Contemplation Of the sons of Korah.” The writers speak of a time of defeat for the nation, and they ask God to deliver them, to rescue them. We don’t know