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| 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.”
