“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” Psalms 42:1-2 NIV
“‘As the Deer” is a praise and worship hymn song by Martin J. Nystrom, a native of Seattle. Written in 1984, this song is based on Psalm 42:1;”As the deer panteth for the water, so my soul longeth after Thee; You alone are my heart’s desire, and I long to worship Thee”. This is how it came to be. “In 1984 I was a school teacher in Seattle, and since I had the summer off I decided to go back to Bible College, but only for the summer term. I headed for Dallas, Texas and Christ For the Nations Institute. Little did I know what was about to happen to me, especially with all that I would be exposed to and the worship emphasis of the school. I had a roommate at CFNI who was a very vibrant Christian. He challenged me to go on a fast – a period of time when a person refrains from eating solid food in order to give time to the reading of the Bible and to prayer. I took up the challenge, and on the 19th day of the fast I found myself sitting at a piano trying to write a song. I was simply playing chord progressions when I noticed a Bible on the music stand of the piano. It was open to Psalm 42. My eyes fell on the first verse of that chapter… As the hart (deer) panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. After reading the verse I began to sing its message, right off the page. I wrote the first verse and the chorus of a song, pretty much straight through. The whole of the adventure was completed in a matter of minutes. I then repeated the song I had just written. I wanted to seal it in my mind. I had no intention of showing the song to anyone. It was to be for my own devotional time with the Lord. However, before leaving the school to go back to Seattle, I did share it with one person, Dave Butterbaugh. He introduced it to the students of the school and it became a favorite. Since that introduction of the song, it has been translated into several languages and is often sung in other countries. Orchestras have used it. It has been sung in unusually different styles. Marty continues to write songs and travel extensively, teaching in worship conferences. In Korea in the 1990s, he attended one such conference and as he walked into the stadium 100,000 Koreans were singing “As the Deer.”
This story is from Lindsay Terry’s book, “I Could Sing of Your Love Forever: Stories Behind 100 of the World’s Most Popular Worship Songs.” One of my friends believed the song was so old, he thought it was a hymn. As it turns out, it probably is! An 80’s style hymn that travelled the world. I still remember this song hitting the youth groups back then. It was such a simple song to play on a piano or a guitar. I had just received a gift from Steve and Gaye Vanzant, a used Ovation guitar, and began leading worship for our own youth group at Life Center in Lakewood, California. “As the Deer” had a beautiful progression that I played in the key of D. Open D, or “open D tuning”, is a tuning of the following notes: DADF#AD. Open D tuning gets its name from when you strum all of the open strings, you get the D major chord. This naturally gives the notes played in this tuning a very uplifting, and happy vibe. This song was published by Maranatha Music in 1984 and continued to be popular for many years. It was also my first introduction to leading worship for years and playing many more “open” chords.
Prayer
Dad,
This Psalm, this song, that became so popular, takes me back to simpler days. Days of worship before lots of tech, synths, lights, fog and auto-tuning. Makes me sound old, but not as old as the original written by David who learned to worship while being pursued by a mad king. My mind still searches for that picturesque moment of a deer looking for water and finding it. That captures worship well. My soul longeth after you.