Drink the Living Waters
Drink the Living Waters
“As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts
for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” (Psalm 42:1-2).
In the life of every follower of Christ there are times and seasons our souls feel distant
or separated from God. In Psalm 42 the psalmist longs for communion with the living
God in the same way that a weary, thirsty deer is desperate for the refreshment of the
cool stream. You can hear the psalmist’s ache in his words; this thirst is urgent and
intense. Lesser water from some brackish pool or stagnant pond will not satisfy. The
writer knows that only the pure, clean, living waters of the living God can truly quench
his spiritual thirst. The Lord is the wellspring of life.
This thirst is itself a grace. Only a heart made alive by the work of Christ can ache for
His presence.
After some lament for his situation (42:3-4), the psalmist, who was in a literal exile during this time, does something profoundly instructive: he preaches truth to his own
soul.
“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in
God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God” (Psalm 42:5).
Hope in God. While his circumstances had not changed, his gaze did. He looks beyond
his turmoil to the Lord who saves. While we may remain for a while in the valley, we are
not forgotten.
The sorrows of this Psalm remind us of the great sorrow Jesus experienced in the
garden (Matthew 26:38) before He entered the deepest darkness on that cross. He was
forsaken on our behalf (Matthew 27:46), so that, even in our darkest nights, we will
never be forsaken. As Paul reminds us: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed;
perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not
destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). Though trials and sorrow come in this life, the Lord will
not leave us in the valley forever. He walks with us.
The thirst of Psalm 42 is met by the fountain of grace found in Jesus. This grace is
perfect and sufficient for every trial.
“On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone
thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has
said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water”’” (John 7:37-38).
Psalm 43 reads as a continuation of Psalm 42. When we look at them together, an
interesting pattern develops. At the very end of both Psalms 42 & 43, the whole of 42:5
is repeated verbatim. Three times the poems crescendo to the same point: “Hope in
God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” Whether we are in the
valley or on the mountaintop, let that always be our refrain.
Lord, ever awaken in us a thirst for You, and may that desire be quenched in the pure
living waters of Christ. Amen.
Brian Gates
“As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts
for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” (Psalm 42:1-2).
In the life of every follower of Christ there are times and seasons our souls feel distant
or separated from God. In Psalm 42 the psalmist longs for communion with the living
God in the same way that a weary, thirsty deer is desperate for the refreshment of the
cool stream. You can hear the psalmist’s ache in his words; this thirst is urgent and
intense. Lesser water from some brackish pool or stagnant pond will not satisfy. The
writer knows that only the pure, clean, living waters of the living God can truly quench
his spiritual thirst. The Lord is the wellspring of life.
This thirst is itself a grace. Only a heart made alive by the work of Christ can ache for
His presence.
After some lament for his situation (42:3-4), the psalmist, who was in a literal exile during this time, does something profoundly instructive: he preaches truth to his own
soul.
“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in
God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God” (Psalm 42:5).
Hope in God. While his circumstances had not changed, his gaze did. He looks beyond
his turmoil to the Lord who saves. While we may remain for a while in the valley, we are
not forgotten.
The sorrows of this Psalm remind us of the great sorrow Jesus experienced in the
garden (Matthew 26:38) before He entered the deepest darkness on that cross. He was
forsaken on our behalf (Matthew 27:46), so that, even in our darkest nights, we will
never be forsaken. As Paul reminds us: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed;
perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not
destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). Though trials and sorrow come in this life, the Lord will
not leave us in the valley forever. He walks with us.
The thirst of Psalm 42 is met by the fountain of grace found in Jesus. This grace is
perfect and sufficient for every trial.
“On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone
thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has
said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water”’” (John 7:37-38).
Psalm 43 reads as a continuation of Psalm 42. When we look at them together, an
interesting pattern develops. At the very end of both Psalms 42 & 43, the whole of 42:5
is repeated verbatim. Three times the poems crescendo to the same point: “Hope in
God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” Whether we are in the
valley or on the mountaintop, let that always be our refrain.
Lord, ever awaken in us a thirst for You, and may that desire be quenched in the pure
living waters of Christ. Amen.
Brian Gates
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