RE: Psalm 42 Our Panting Soul

The Touch by: Alan Levine

This is a singularly sensuous psalm; I love it. It initiates with an image of thirst, wild thirst, uncurbed by propriety which become the driving force of one's whole being (Psalm 42:1-2). I feel that thirst; we all do. Rarely do we see it for what it is: a thirst for God which is sated in him alone.

Unaware of it's true purpose, some idolize this kind of thirst, imitating and paying homage to it with stories of passionate romance, wanderlust, and lofty dreams that refuse deferment. Others have been disappointed by the world's inability to fulfil their innermost longing, and they live in fear of the thirst, telling cautionary tales like that of Icarus. Fear and idolatry both miss God's purpose for our thirst.

“Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.” (C.S. Lewis. Mere Christianity)

Challenge:

Read Psalm 42. Remember that no matter what life is like now it is God's desire to make you whole, to satisfy your deepest longings and unite yourself in perfect intimacy. Say the words of Psalm 42:11 today, “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”