SATISFIED SOUL

Psalm 42:1-2

As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul chins for God, for the living, God. When shall I come and appear before God? Psalm 42:1-2, NKJV

This is a wonderful illustration of one who was experiencing a terrible drought in his life. His soul was hurting, and his most ardent desire was for the realization of the presence of God in His life. He would not be satisfied until he searched every place until he experienced God's presence.

When we are searching for the knowledge of God's presence, it is then that we realize how much we love and need Him to quench our spiritual thirst. When one who has experienced God's dealings in their life is in a place where they do not realize that God is there; it can be a very hard time.

The psalmist paints the picture of a thirsty deer moving along the mountainside, intensely searching for much needed water in order to quench its thirst. The thirsty soul of one passionately searching to have their soul quenched by the living God will not be content until they experience God's satisfying presence in their life. It is important to know that when God's presence in our lives is our most precious desire, He is faithful to the utmost to quench our most intense yearning.

True health as a human being can only come by being obsessed with God. God must be the center of our lives. Everything must revolve around our relationship with God for us to be healthy. In fact, balance is only found by having God at the center. Just as a deer would get sick and eventually die if it let chasing butterflies get in the way of finding water, there is nothing more important in life than thirsting for God and having that thirst met. Anything less is substituting a false cure, an idol, in place of God.

Our very souls are longing for God, but in our sinfulness, we let other things compete with God and we suffer in the process. True health and true balance, things we long for, come through total, laser-focused obsession for and devotion to God through Jesus Christ!!!

Father, thank You for this day and the breath of life we find in the water of Your Word. Lord, open the storehouses of Your abundant blessings to the fall upon us and our family today. Lord, hear our deepest longings for You and quiet our troubled souls with Your holy presence. Lord, we want to follow You because You are truth, because it is right, and that's who we are meant to be: Yours. Lord, we long for You, we need You, and You are life. Lord, help us to remember that there really is no distance between us but that You are always there. Lord, use us to be the living example of Your Word that others see today.

Father, we love You. Amen.