Psalm 42:1-5 (CB)

1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 4 These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng. 5 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.

LOSING GOD. The psalmist has lost not belief in God but the experience of meeting with the living God (v 2). Human beings need the sense of God’s presence and love as much as the body pants after water (v1). His first response to this dryness is to simply remind himself that it will not last (v5). “This too shall pass” is a fact about any condition in this changeful world. While often painful, the truth can be used for comfort too. Though our good things will inevitably be shaken, a believer’s difficult times will always end as well. Only when we are safe in heaven, surrounded forever by love unshakable, will all fear of change be gone. Hope in God, for we shall again praise him.

Prayer: Lord, I praise you for being a living, personal God who will never leave us nor forsake us. Soften my hard heart, strengthen my fainting heart, and humble my proud heart. Amen.