Single lesson
Psalm 42: As the Deer Pants for the Water
Psalms 42:1–11
Psalm 42 teaches children how a prayer can speak honestly to God. The writer uses strong pictures like thirst, tears, waves and singing to show longing, sadness and steady hope in God.
Before you teach
In Psalm 42:1–11, one speaker talks to God, talks to his own soul, and remembers going to God’s house with a joyful crowd. The psalm moves between grief, questions, memory and hope, repeating the call to hope in God.
Students will identify the speaker’s main images, trace the movement from thirst and sorrow to remembered worship and renewed hope, and explain that this psalm is an honest prayer to God in distress.
Welcome: Hear the thirst image
5 minBegin by asking children what it feels like to be very thirsty after running or playing. Then explain that the psalm opens with a picture: just as a deer pants for water, the speaker says his soul longs for God. Read verses 1 and 2 aloud slowly and listen for the repeated idea of thirsting for God.
Psalms 42:1, Psalms 42:2
Read and explain: Tears, memories and self-talk
8 minRead verses 3 to 5. Point out three parts. First, the speaker is crying and other people ask, “Where is your God?” Next, he remembers joyful trips to God’s house. Then he speaks to his own soul: “Why are you in despair?” and tells himself, “Hope in God!” Show that this poem includes sadness and deliberate trust together.
Psalms 42:3, Psalms 42:4, Psalms 42:5
Discuss: Waves, prayer and hard questions
6 minRead verses 6 to 10. Help the group notice more images: deep water, waterfalls, waves and billows. These words picture trouble feeling large and overwhelming. Yet the speaker still remembers God, says Yahweh’s loving kindness is with him, and offers a prayer in the night. He also asks honest questions about mourning and enemies.
Psalms 42:6, Psalms 42:7, Psalms 42:8, Psalms 42:9, Psalms 42:10
Make and respond: Illustrated prayer card
7 minChildren create a small card with two sides. On one side, they draw one image from the psalm such as a deer, water, tears, waves or a singing crowd. On the other side, they write a short prayer sentence using words from the psalm, such as “I hope in God” or “You are the God of my life”.
Psalms 42:1, Psalms 42:4, Psalms 42:7, Psalms 42:8, Psalms 42:11
Closing: Repeat the hope refrain
4 minFinish by reading verse 11 together. Explain that this repeated line helps us hear the movement of the psalm. The speaker is still troubled, but he tells his soul to hope in God and says he will still praise him. Invite children to share one image or phrase they noticed most.
Psalms 42:11, Psalms 42:5
Questions to explore
What does the deer picture help us understand about the speaker’s soul?
Look at the words “pants” and “thirsts” to see that the speaker strongly longs for God, the living God.
Psalms 42:1, Psalms 42:2
Which verses show the speaker moving from sadness to remembered joy and then to hope?
Find the tears in verse 3, the memory of going to God’s house in verse 4, and the command to “Hope in God!” in verse 5.
Psalms 42:3, Psalms 42:4, Psalms 42:5
How do verses 8 and 11 show that the speaker keeps praying and trusting even while distressed?
Verse 8 mentions loving kindness, song and prayer, and verse 11 repeats the call to hope in God and praise him.
Psalms 42:8, Psalms 42:11
Make, think or respond
Illustrated Prayer or Image Card
What you’ll need
- paper or card
- pencils or crayons
- markers
- scissors
Try it together
- Read Psalms 42:1–11 again and choose one image from the psalm, such as a deer, water, tears, waves or a crowd going to God’s house.
- Fold or divide the paper into two sides.
- On one side, draw the image you chose from the psalm.
- On the other side, write a short response line from the psalm or based closely on it, such as “My soul thirsts for God” or “Hope in God”.
- If time allows, share how your picture connects with the words of the psalm.
This activity helps children notice how Psalm 42 uses pictures and repeated lines to express praise, need, grief and trust.
Adapt for your group
- For younger children, offer two or three image choices from the psalm and let them copy a short line such as “Hope in God” from verse 11.
- For older children, ask them to sort the psalm into parts of longing, sorrow, memory, prayer and hope, using the verse numbers as evidence.
An optional closing prayer
You may pray: “God, when we feel sad or troubled, help us speak honestly to you, remember your goodness, and hope in you. Teach us to praise you as the psalm does. Amen.”
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Psalms 42
1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember, and pour out my soul within me, how I used to go with the crowd, and led them to God’s house, with the voice of joy and praise, a multitude keeping a holy day.
5 Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him for the saving help of his presence.
6 My God, my soul is in despair within me. Therefore I remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon, from the hill Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep at the noise of your waterfalls. All your waves and your billows have swept over me.
8 Yahweh will command his loving kindness in the daytime. In the night his song shall be with me: a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I will ask God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”
11 Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him, the saving help of my countenance, and my God.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.