The psalmist remembered God from a distance—from the land of the Jordan and the Hermons, from Mount Mizar, quite far from Zion and Jerusalem, where God's house and city were. Psalm 42:6 says, "O my God, my soul is bowed down within me;/Therefore I remember You/From the land of the Jordan and the Hermons,/From Mount Mizar." This indicates that the psalmist was away from his home, from his country, from his nation. He remembered the Lord not from the door of the temple or from the gate of Jerusalem but from far away. This is because he was in captivity. This was during the time when the people of Israel, including those serving in the temple, had been defeated and captured by their invading enemies. This psalmist was such a serving one. The sons of Korah were Levites. Korah was a leader of the Levites who served the temple (Num. 16:8-10). The invaders defeated Israel and captured the people. Thus, the psalmist here was in a far away country.
Psalm 42:7-9a shows that the psalmist recognized God's sovereignty in his environment. Verse 7 says, "Deep calls unto deep/At the sound of Your water spouts;/All Your waves and Your billows/Pass over me." Some versions render "water spouts" as "waterfalls." This poetic expression describes the sufferings through which the psalmist passed.
Verse 8 says, "By day Jehovah commands/His lovingkindness,/And by night His song is with me,/A prayer to the God of my life." Of course, while he was passing through such a deep suffering, all the psalmist could do was to pray. In the day he enjoyed God's lovingkindness; in the night he enjoyed Jehovah's song being with him, a prayer to the God of his life.
Verses 9 and 10 say, "I 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 shattering in my bones, /My adversaries reproach me,/While they say to me all day long,/Where is your God?" His adversaries asked him where his God was since he was in captivity.
All of these thoughts came in to distract the psalmist from panting after God. Here we see the mixed expressions of the sentiment of the writer. When he was writing such a psalm, all kinds of distracting thoughts came to his mind, distracting him from panting after God and from the salvation of God's countenance. In verse 11 he said, "Why are you bowed down, O my soul?/And why are you disquieted within me?/Hope in God; for I will yet praise Him,/The salvation of my countenance and my God."