January 3 -- "Thirsting Like The Deer"

Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 20 & Psalm 42

"Thirsting Like The Deer"

Korah’s descendants were appointed by David as the leaders of music in the house of the Lord. During their service under king David, they penned eleven beautiful songs which express a deep spirit of gratitude and humility towards God (Psalms 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 84, 85, 87, & 88). Their words express a spiritual thirst that they had come to learn could only be satisfied by a deep connection with God, Himself.

In Psalm 42, they depict their thirst for God as a dry and thirsty deer panting for the flowing streams of fresh water.  There is within every human heart a thirst for God. Down deep inside of everyone there is a parched soul thirsting after a meaningful relationship with Him. It is an internal sensation that causes us to know that we are lacking. We know that we need something more than what we have yet experienced. There must be more to life than this. In reality, it is God – and only God – that can truly satisfy the human heart.

“As a deer pants for water” describes the intensity of its thirst. It meant that he was becoming exhausted, worn out and depleted from being pursued by the enemy and he had reached the point inside of himself that he wanted to lay down and just give up.  For the deer, it was ‘find water or die’. It is the same for us, just as the deer intensely seeks water, we too must find spiritual ‘water for our soul’ or die.

Deer do not need to be trained to pant—and they do not need to be trained to drink water. Thirst, and a knowledge of how to satisfy that thirst, comes naturally to them. In the same way, the thirst of our soul for God comes naturally to us as well. Everyone is searching for a way to have that thirst satisfied. Some seek to satisfy that thirst in healthy ways, others in unhealthy ways (e.g. through sin, pleasure, education, entertainment, etc.). What this passage reminds us of is that not one of these unhealthy pursuits can truly satisfy our panting soul - there is only one true way to have our thirst for God satisfied.

Jesus gave us the answer to this deep thirst in the human spirit. He cried out, "If any man thirsts, let him come unto Me and drink. And he who drinks of the water that I give out of his innermost being, there shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:37-38). It is only in Him that our spiritual thirst will ever be truly quenched. So, come to Him. Pant after him. Drink the living water that He gives freely to all who will come.