Photo by John Royle
I first learned about As The Deer from my grandfather when I was a young child. It was one of my favorite hymns, with its two verses and alternate chorus. Except, I could not find the version that he sang! Its alternate chorus begins with “I was born just to worship you”, seemingly nowhere to be found on the internet. He was not singing the original version!
Written by Martin J. Nystrom and published by Maranatha Praise, As the Deer was a popular hymn during the late 20th century. Though not intended for recording, The Maranatha Singers released in 1995 an audio version of Nystrom’s hymn. It has since shown up in several compilation albums, covers, and hymnals. Insofar as I know, Nystrom did not receive any awards for this work.
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1. What message does the song communicate?
To put it succinctly, the core message of As The Deer is our desire as Christ followers is to worship God who is our strength and shield. While I would have liked to see an explicit reference to God or Jesus, its plethoric references to the Bible, mention of worship and King, capitalization, and Ye Olde English style writing all point to God as the object of affection.
Though the original intent of Psalm 42, the inspiration behind this song, is a lament offered to God, both this song and Psalm 42 end at the same destination: praising God.
Score: 10/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
All lines are Biblically accurate. Lyrics posted with permission*. Insofar as I am aware, this is the original version, which does not include verse 3 which begins “I want you more than gold or silver”.
[Verse 1]
As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after Thee
An equivalent paraphrase of Psalm 42:1. The psalmist’s imagery compares our thirst for God to that of a parched deer.
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship Thee
Though our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9), God changes our hearts and desires to worship Him (see 1 Samuel 10:9, Psalm 51:10, Ezekiel 11:19, Ezekiel 36:26, and 2 Corinthians 5:17).
[Chorus]
You alone are my strength, my shield
Borrowed from Psalm 28:7, God is our protection and the strength we have when ours is gone. Also see Genesis 15:1, Deuteronomy 33:29, 2 Samuel 22:3, Psalm 3:3, Psalm 5:11, Psalm 12:5, Psalm 18:2, Psalm 20:1, Proverbs 30:5, Psalm 33:20, Psalm 34:19, Psalm 46:1, Psalm 57:1, Psalm 59:1, Psalm 84:11, Psalm 89:18, Psalm 91:1-16, Psalm 115:9, Psalm 121:1-8, Psalm 140:4, Isaiah 41:10, 1 Corinthians 10:13, and 2 Thessalonians 3:3.
To You alone may my spirit yield
A prayer offered to God to change our heart and desire to conform to His. See commentary in Verse 1, lines 3 and 4.
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship Thee
Repeats Verse 1, lines 3 and 4.
[Verse 2]
You’re my friend
And You are my brother
Even though You are a King
Though it sounds blasphemous and irreverent to see God as a brother, it is Jesus Himself who considers us His followers as His brothers and sisters on the condition that we do the Father’s will (see Mark 3:34–35).
I love You more than any other
So much more than anything
A derivative of Verse 1, lines 3 and 4.
Score: 10/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
While some might be tempted to interpret this as a love song to a woman, its references to worship and King severely decrease the plausibility of this view. Yes, a clear and explicit reference to God or Jesus would have helped unbelievers understand this as God worship; however, most will intuitively arrive at this conclusion.
Score: 10/10
4. What does this song glorify?
It shows reverence and worship to the King, the object of our affection. This glorifies God.
Score: 10/10
Closing Comments
As The Deer is a great ditty; a biblically sound hymn worth utilizing for worship. Though no clear references to God or Jesus exist, the allusions to worship and King provides ample evidence to describe our desire for the Almighty, bringing Him glory.
Final Score: 10/10
Artist Info
Track: As The Deer (listen to the song)
Artist: Martin J. Nystrom
Album: N/A
Genre: Hymn
Release Year: 1984
Duration: 4:07
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
*Copyright © 1984 Universal Music – Brentwood Benson Publ. (ASCAP) (adm. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Updates:
05/05/2022 – Based on Ezra’s comments, I prayerfully re-examined my review and came to agree with their conclusion. Therefore, I removed my criticism of taking Psalm 42 out of context. I also changed section 3’s rating to align with other reviews. This raised this song’s score from 8/10 to 10/10.
10/17/2019 – This song originally scored 9.5/10. My correspondence with commenter Nicholas Kleszczewski changed my mind, resulting in a re-evaluation, lowing its score to 8/10.
Comments
Daniel
Whilst there isn’t an exact verse for “To you alone may my spirit yield”, I think it refers to Jesus’s words on the cross “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”. So, biblically, I believe this is accurate. And, even though there’s no direct verse quoting the same words, the message is perfect. We must follow Jesus’s example by yielding our spirit, just like he did.
Vince Wright
Daniel,
Thank you for your comments! However, this song received a score of 10/10 for Biblical accuracy. So, I’m not sure what the purpose of this comment is.
-Vince Wright
Steve Barhydt
I have to agree with Ezra on this one.
I would say that this song…
1) begins at the same place as Psalm 42 with very familiar words…
Psalm 42:1 (NASB95)
As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So my soul pants for You, O God.
This song…
“As the deer panteth for the water.
So my soul longeth after Thee”
2) and ends roughly at the same place as Psalm 42
Psalm 42:11 (NASB95)
Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.
This song…
“You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship Thee”
3) but takes a different path to get there.
Even though the song does not go into the depths of despair that the Psalm does, the end result is the same.
“Hope in God” and “You alone are my heart’s desire”
“for I shall yet praise Him,” and “And I long to worship Thee”
From David Guzik https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/psalm-42/
****************************Begin Quote*********************************
a. Why are you cast down, O my soul: The psalmist paused from the painful memory to challenge his own soul. He did not surrender to his feelings of spiritual depression and discouragement. Instead, he challenged them and brought them before God. He said to those cast down and disquieted feelings, “Hope in God. He will come through again, because He has before.”
i. This is a long way from the surrender that often traps the discouraged or spiritually depressed person. He didn’t say, “My soul is cast down and that’s how it is. There is nothing I can do about it.” The challenge made to his own soul – demanding that it explain a reason why it should be so cast down – is a wonderful example. There were some valid reasons for discouragement; there were many more reasons for hope.
ii. It also wasn’t as if he had not already given many reasons for his discouragement. Many things bothered him.
· Distance from home and the house of God (Psalm 42:2, 42:6).
· Taunting unbelievers (Psalm 42:3, 42:10).
· Memories of better days (Psalm 42:4).
· The present absence of past spiritual thrills (Psalm 42:4).
· Overwhelming trials of life (Psalm 42:7).
· God’s seemingly slow response (Psalm 42:9).
Still, it was as if the psalmist said, “Those are not good enough reasons to be cast down when I think of the greatness of God and the help of His favor and presence.”
iii. “The result is not deadening his sense of sorrow but rather setting it in right relationship to God.” (Morgan)
iv. “You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul: ‘Why art thou cast down – what business have you to be disquieted?’” (Lloyd-Jones, cited in Boice)
v. “David chideth David out of the dumps.” (Trapp)
b. Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him: In his discouragement, the psalmist spoke to himself – perhaps even preached to himself. He didn’t feel filled with praise at the moment. Yet he was confident that as he did what he could to direct his hope in God, that praise would come forth. “I don’t feel like praising Him now, but He is worthy of my hope – and I shall yet praise Him.”
i. “Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey towards it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.” (Smiles, cited in Spurgeon)
c. The help of His countenance: The psalmist knew to look for help in God’s countenance – that is, the approving face of God. He found a better place by challenging his sense of gloom and seeking after God’s face, His countenance.
i. For the help of His countenance: “Hebrew, for the salvations of his face.” (Poole) “Note well that the main hope and chief desire of David rest in the smile of God. His face is what he seeks and hopes to see, and this will recover his low spirits.” (Spurgeon)
ii. “When the sun arises, we cannot be without light; when God turns his countenance towards us, we cannot be without ‘salvation.’” (Horne)
iii. In seeking the help of His countenance, the psalmist understood that the answers were not within himself, but in the living God. He didn’t look within; he looked up.
****************************End Quote*********************************
As Ezra correctly points out
“To consider it to have been taken out of context,
1) those words must first be understood to have come from the psalm,
2) and then the following lyrics would have to use those words to arrive at a different point or conclusion than the psalm comes to,
3) and finally the song would have to assert that this is what the original psalm was getting at.”
In particular his second point, this song DOES NOT come to a different conclusion.
Both the premise that “I am thirsty for God” and the fulfillment of that premise “Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him” are the same (with poetic license factored in of course)
Additionally, from the online Macmillan Dictionary
https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/take-quote-something-out-of-context
To “take something out of context” means…
“to use only part of something that someone said, SO THAT the original meaning is changed.” (emphasis mine)
Again, the original meaning has not changed. Only the tone of the thought (somber to more reflective) has changed.
Vince, as you know I am a stickler for context, however, this song should not be penalized for being “out of context” as nothing of substance is different.
Vince Wright
Steve,
Thank you for your comments!
This strengthens my resolve to update my review.
-Vince Wright
Ezra
I disagree that that the line “As the deer panteth for the water so my soul longeth after Thee” was taken out of context. To consider it to have been taken out of context, those words must first be understood to have come from the psalm, and then the following lyrics would have to use those words to arrive at a different point or conclusion than the psalm comes to, and finally the song would have to assert that this is what the original psalm was getting at.
The artist here could simply be taking a statement which they agree with, and using it as a literary device in their work. This really shouldn’t be controversial because it’s not even like they’ve only chosen one part of a multi-clause statement. The artist is simply stating that their soul desperately longs for God in the same way that a thirsty deer pants for water. There’s not even a lot of temporal information in this statement so determine if this is an instantaneous state of thirst, or a constant state.
I really don’t see how you can make an argument for these words being taken out of context because I don’t think the artist is trying to summarize the psalm, but rather create a new song.
Vince Wright
Ezra,
Thank you for your comments!
I prayerfully re-examined this review and agree with your conclusion. Therefore, I updated my review and gave you credit.
-Vince Wright
Prvbs 31
Claire McIntosh wrote this song…the wife of the Pastor of NorthWest Foursquare in the early 80s. She never got credit. She wrote it and performed it before 1984. I know I was a member and was there when she unveiled the song.
Vince Wright
Prvbs 31,
Do you have any sources that say Mcintosh wrote it? All the sources I’ve looked at says Nystrom wrote it in 1981.
-Vince Wright
Melissa
History of Hymns: “As the Deer ” by C Michael Hawn
Nicholas Kleszczewski
I would say the biggest problem that detractors have with this song (and I’m not one of them, but don’t disagree with their point), is that, for a song that starts off on Psalm 42, it doesn’t finish the Psalm. Psalm 42 is a very lamentable-worthy song, written at a low point in the Psalmist’s life, being persecuted (though at the end he is in hopeful territory). The line “As The Deer” is ripped from its original context, and placed in a calm, C-major’d tender key of assurance, which really goes against the harrowing tone of the rest of what Psalm 42 is.
tastywallet
Nicholas,
That is an excellent point! Taking things out of context is a major pet peeve of mine; However, that seems to be more of an instrumental issue rather than a lyrical one, which is outside the scope of this site.
-TastyWallet
Nicholas Kleszczewski
I respectfully disagree; it is a lyrical issue. The textual tone of “As the Deer” in Psalm 42 is harrowing, where the textual tone of Nystrom’s “As the Deer” is couched in tenderness.
tastywallet
Nicholas,
Forgive me. I must have misunderstood your initial post! I thought you were only referring to the instrumental usage.
I revisited the lyrics and see your point. The original context of Psalm 42 is about lament. Psalm 42:3 is especially graphic, describing a deep sense of distress. I’ve updated my review.
-TastyWallet