Psalm 42:1–2: “As the deer pants for the water brooks, / So pants my soul for You, O God. / My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. / When shall I come and appear before God?”

February 17th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Imagine a deer on the run, as it’s being chased or hunted by its enemies. It’s on its last leg, mouth dry and parched, panting hard, longing desperately for refreshing water. This was the kind of thirst David was talking about. Perhaps he felt like a hunted man, as though he was on his last leg. Whether his state was real or imagined, he was clear about what he needed: “My soul thirsts for God.” He was desperate for the water of God’s presence, touch, and Word. Like David, we need to come to the water of the Word of God to be refreshed and cleansed. Just as the physical body thrists for water, so do our souls, but it is a thirst that can only be quenched in God. Jesus said to the woman at the well, “whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst . . . [it] will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14).

Many years ago Lawrence of Arabia visited London and brought with him some of his desert-dwelling friends. These men were impressed by the bustling city and its modern conveniences. But they were most impressed by the water faucets. All one had to do to obtain fresh water was turn a handle! The visitors asked Lawrence if it would be possible to take some of the water faucets back to the desert. They had absolutely no understanding of plumbing. This is what takes place in people who are spiritually dead as they attempt to find joy and fulfillment in material pursuits, pleasure-filled living, or worldly success. They are trying to get joy from a tap that isn’t attached to anything, which is just as impossible as getting water from a faucet that isn’t connected to a water source. David understood 3000 years ago that true joy and fulfillment are only possible after surrendering one’s life to the source of living water, Jesus Christ.

“LORD, we thirst for more of You. Please fill us again as we come to drink from Your Word today.”

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Psalms 42 KJV

¹ As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.  

² My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?

³ My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?

⁴ When I remember these things , I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.

⁵ Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.  

⁶ O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.

⁷ Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.

⁸ Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.

⁹ I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

¹⁰ As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God? 

¹¹ Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.