Longing For God

“As the deer longs for streams of water,

So I long for You, God.

I thirst for God, the living God…”

Psalm 42: 1, 2

                                                                                                                      

A song released by Maranatha Singers in the 90s has the first verse drawn from Psalm 42: 1. The song   continues to be much loved among believers in Christ Jesus till now. In these verses, the Psalmist expresses a passionate desire for the living God.

A similar expression is found in Psalm 63:

“God, You are my God; I eagerly seek You.

I thirst for You;

My body faints for You

In a land that is dry, desolate, and without water.”

The Psalmist compares his desire for God to human longing for water. It is interesting that over and over, God in His word communicates to us His people in images and languages that relate with basic human needs such as food and water.

“Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost!” Isaiah 55:1

In His discussion with the Samaritan woman in John 4, Jesus also used the imagery of thirst and water to explain a deep spiritual reality. Other passages of the Bible that use similar imagery are Amos 8:11 and John 6:25–58.

The reality is that there is a deep void in man that only God can satisfy. There is an emptiness is man’s soul that only God can fill. There is a “God-sized hole” in every human being that only the living God can fill. I believe that God made man with the natural physical desires of thirst and hunger so that we can understand and appreciate to some extent our need for Him. People try to fill that void with entertainment, music, drugs, women, science, philosophy, and occultism and so on but you see, just like the Psalmist realised, true satisfaction is found only in God.

For believers in Christ Jesus, at salvation we enter a wonderful love relationship with God which needs to be nurtured in deep intimacy and longing. It is in this context that the Psalmist’s expressions spring to life in our hearts. We ought to eagerly desire His word that we may understand His heart (1^st Peter 2:2). We should long for times of fellowship with Him in prayer and praise.

Muse with me on this Psalm and rise above complacency, busy schedules, distractions, entertainment and other pleasures to an increasing experience of intense desire and longing for the living God.

*All Scripture quotations are from Holman Christian Standard Bible translation.