HOW TO KNOW IF YOU LONG FOR GOD AS THE DEER PANTS FOR WATER

ANCHOR OF LIFE DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE

MONDAY, 22ND MAY, 2023.

TOPIC: EXPOSITION OF PSALM 42 – Part 2 

HOW TO KNOW IF YOU LONG FOR GOD AS THE DEER PANTS FOR WATER

MEMORIZE: “As the deer pants for water, so my soul pants after You”? Psalm 42:1.

SCRIPTURE READING: Psalm 42:1-2

“As the deer pants for the water brooks, 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?”

EXPOSITION:

Depending on our life situation from one day to the next, there are seasons in all of our lives when we feel compelled to fast, pray, worship, cry out, stand in faith, run to the front for prayer at church and battle in the spirit with the fervor and passion of one who desperately needs rescue, guidance, help, healing, rest, peace and more. It’s almost like we pant after God, as the deer pants for water, like David wrote. We experience the desperate thirst for God that a dying person would for water. GOD, I NEED YOU!!

Have you ever read the verses in Psalm 42 where David wrote, “As the deer pants for water, so my soul pants after You”? (If you’re old enough, you probably even remember singing a song with those lyrics in church!)

That phrase seems nice and poetic with its gentle imagery, but here’s the thing: A deer panting for water isn’t thirsty or overheated. Dogs pant on a hot day, but a deer does not. In fact, generally speaking, deer get a great deal of their water from the food they eat – up to 90% in some cases, so they don’t often go hunting for water and they can go long periods without a water source.

So, what could David, who had vast experience with and knowledge of animals, have meant when he wrote that?

THE REAL REASON A DEER PANTS FOR WATER

David knew exactly what he was writing when he penned this song to the Lord to express his desperation to save his own life. At this point in time, David was being pursued unto death by his own son, Absalom, who wanted to seize control of David’s kingdom. David was afraid, brokenhearted, betrayed and being actively hunted down by an army.

Unlike a deer being pursued by an enemy who must then hunt for water, David knew exactly where to go to replenish his exhausted spirit – he got into praise and worship and found Living Water.

When David wrote this song to the Lord, he felt “as the deer” – why? Because a deer only pants when it is being chased by a predator. As soon as a deer escapes and knows it is safe, it will immediately look for water to replenish its depleted inner stores. However, if a deer runs for too long from an enemy and cannot get to water, the panting from lack of water will cause the deer to collapse and die.

PRAYER POINT: Lord, draw me closer to you in unbroken relationship with you in Jesus name.

DAILY BIBLE READING IN A YEAR –  Job 25-28.