January 13, 2005
Today, as you sit quietly before the Lord, mediate on these words in the 42nd Psalm.
“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.” Psalm 42:1-2a
Can you remember the last time you were physically thirsty? Perhaps it was after you just finished exercising or working around the house. Sometimes we can be so thirsty for something cold to drink that it is really hard to focus on anything else. And after we have that cold drink of water we are refreshed and rejuvenated.
There are also many times when we are in a spiritual desert and we need to be refreshed by the living water of the Almighty God.
Our tendency however is to turn elsewhere for answers. We turn to human wisdom and human understanding to answer questions and be satisfied. We try to fix things ourselves, or we ignore them and hope that they will just go away.
This is contrary to what the psalmist writes in Psalm 42. On two different occasions we read a similar command. In verse 5 we read, “Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.” Then later we read in verse 11, “Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.”
The challenge is to “hope in God.” We are called in the midst of all situations, good or bad, to place our confidence in God. We are to trust that He is fulfilling His promise that “…He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ…” Philippians 1:6
The psalmist also writes in verse 5 that “…I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.” As we hope in God and reflect on His character and nature we acknowledge that His countenance is a confident countenance because we know that He will ultimately accomplish His plans. This in turn changes how we view our circumstances. The confidence that we have in Christ changes the very countenance of our lives. And for that our hearts should be full of praise.
“Father today, in all my circumstances, may I be thirsty for you. May my soul thirst for you as a deer thirsts for water…”
