As the Deer

I’m intending to share some of my Bible reading. The outline is REAP (like described here), but that’s not really special. It’s “Read, Examine, Apply, Pray.” The ‘R’ is obviously necessary; the ‘E’ is too, although it might not be obvious that it’s helpful to write it down. Without the ‘A’ you won’t know what to do with the truth you have read, and without the ‘P’ you have abandoned God even while reading his word. Writing it all down is useful to me. Sharing it is difficult for me, but something I’d like to grow in.

Read: Psalm 42:1–4

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. (ESV)

Examine:

The psalmist addresses God, and speaks of a thirst in his soul, for God. He remarks that the God he addresses is alive and singular in that regard: “the living God.” While he first confesses that his soul thirsts for God, he then says that his tears have been his food for some time. It would seem that it has been some time since he has come and appeared before God, and in the meantime the people around him mock him (or perhaps ask in earnest, but still to the effect of disheartening him): Where is your God? For now he holds to the mere memory of leading the people into the house of God with celebration.

Apply:

The first application is that like the psalmist, my soul thirsts for the one and only living God. The answer to the question, “when shall I come and appear before God?” I will answer the same way I answer my thirst: often; daily. This passage teaches me that it’s at least for the sake of my spiritual sustenance that I meet with God. Without him I will eventually find myself living off my tears, and the people around me will wonder what happened to that God I spoke of, has he gone somewhere?

The second application concerns what to do when I find myself thirsty. Just like the psalmist turns to his memory when his soul is cast down, I can turn to my own store of joyous and powerful recollections of God’s goodness and faithfulness. God fashions an anchor for us for when we find ourselves adrift: we can hold fast to the memory of him and his people.

The psalmist makes this more explicit as he goes on: Psalm 42:5–6

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. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. (ESV)

When my soul is cast down, remember!

Pray:

God my soul has been cast down many times lately, but you have blessed me with a history of blessings. Teach me to turn to you and hold fast to the memories of your goodness, because you stay the same. Remind me not to heed doubters and naysayers, because I cannot un-know you now that my soul has developed a thirst for you. Remind me that you quench the thirst in me, that you always have, and that you always will. Give me wisdom to recognize when I’m thirsty and to drink. Thank you for saving me and caring for me. You labored in love and sacrifice like no one else ever could, and you have met my needs in the process. God, your track-record is spotless; you have never failed. Thank you for being so strong and so sure. Amen.