A Lent devotional on Psalm 42:1-2
"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?"
Did you know that the largest deer species was the now-extinct Giant or Irish deer, which is related to our fallow deer? It stood up to 7ft high at the shoulder, had antlers up to 11ft wide and lived across a huge area spanning from Ireland to Siberia. I can totally empathise with the deer in this scripture, especially if it was one as large as the Giant Irish.
Being dehydrated is not good, not only do we feel thirsty, but we can also become dizzy and lightheaded, making it difficult to function properly. Last year we undertook the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge to raise funds for WorldShare and had to carry all of our water for the duration. At times, all I wanted was to have a long drink to fully refresh myself but knew that I had to ration the amount I could drink and so my thirst was never fully quenched.
God created us in such a way that we need water, without it we die. The same is true about our need for Him, whether we acknowledge this or not. The question is, however, does my soul thirst for God in the same way that my body thirsts for water? When I am dehydrated, the best thing is water, but I will drink anything, usually tea. If I’m honest, although often my soul needs satisfying, I don’t always go straight to the source. Instead of meeting with God as David longs for, I may seek satisfaction in a range of other things, none of which will ever hit the spot and often, make my soul even drier, harder and more cracked, just like parched lips.
Through Jesus, we have direct access to Almighty God, who we get to call ‘Our Father’, so why wouldn’t we make full use of the privilege we have to have our eternal thirst quenched? Often, it’s because we take this freedom for granted, just as we do with our access to the abundance of H20 at our fingertips.
