Psalms 42:2 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Thirst is more vehement than hunger, and more impatient of dissatisfaction. For the living God: this he mentions as a just cause of his thirst. He did not thirst after vain, useless idols, but after the only true and living God, who was his life, and the length of his days, as is said, Deuteronomy 30:20, and without whose presence and favour David accounted himself for a dead and lost man, Psalms 143:7. Appear before God; in the place of his special presence and public worship. See Exodus 23:15, Exodus 25:30. What is called before the Lord, 1 Chronicles 13:10, is before or with the ark, 2 Samuel 6:7.