As the deer fails to teach lament, so does the Church
The WELS new hymnal placed "As the deer" as a surrogate for Psalm 42. The following was written to address this unfortunate replacement. As the deer fails to teach lament, so also the church. Psalm 42 is classified as an individual psalm of lament [1] , [2] . TLH categorizes it as a psalm “Of Prayer; Against the Enemies of the Church” [3] – that is, imprecatory. The psalm itself shares the psalmists’ despair at the seeming victory of the godless and his separation from God’s presence at the temple. What should be we learn from this psalm? We should desire God’s presence, hear His Word in public worship, and receive the salvation He gives in his Word [4] . Luther uses Psalm 42 in his “Brief Exhortation to Confession” [5] as an image of yearning for God’s Word, absolution, and the Sacrament. “As the deer” says none of those things. It is a pop evangelical song [6] that, other than the paraphrase of verse 1 in stanza 1, fails to capture the depth or intent of its inspired...