Good Morning All!!
Psalm 42:1; “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so
pants my soul for you, O God”.
As some of you know, I do a little
umpiring. I umpired a game a couple of
years ago and the heat index was 115 degrees.
It was probably the hottest game I have ever worked and hope it stays
that way. I made sure I drank a lot of
water but the catchers for both teams must not have done so; both of them had
to leave the game. I drank a lot of
water but after the game I was panting for more.
That is always one of the hard part of
watching when a drought hits an area; when you watch the animals looking for
water. You can see them panting as they
search for water. Many of the animals
die because they cannot find the water.
At best a human can go about 8-10 days without water before they
die. Water is an essential element for
our life. All creatures need water to
survive. When we go without water, even
for short periods, we suffer greatly for it.
Our verse for today compares the longing of
our soul for God and his mercy with a deer that pants for water that it cannot
find. As we think of this panting deer
searching for water, desperately going from place to place. It is almost delirious from its searching;
its tongue is hanging out and its eyes are hollow and sunken. It is gaunt and weak. Now compare that image to the image from the
23rd Psalm. There we are led
to still waters. There we see the image
of the sheep contented with the water it needs to support its life. What a contrast!
We are just like that in our live. Whenever we stay from God’s grace, our very
substance for our existence, we suffer and we suffer greatly. That suffering can come in the form of
anxiety or worry or exhaustion or that uneasy feeling that about tomorrow. If, or when, you experience these feeling,
you are thirsting for God and his mercy. Perhaps you felt you could deal with
the stresses of the devil and his attacks but now you are panting for God’s
grace. We need God’s grace just like we
need water or air. We need the comfort
and the consolation that we receive from God’s infinite mercy.
Our life here in this sinful, broken world
can only be nourished by God’s grace and it is not only nourished but it is
given all the food and water that it needs even to the point of it being
sated. God’s grace sates our soul with
his mercy. He gives us the life sustaining
nourishment that we so desperately need.
He comes to us when we are so parched that we cannot see or walk
straight. He comes to us in the love of
the Father and gives us life. God
wondrous mercy quenches our soul. He
gives us the life giving waters of his grace to give us the peace that our soul
seeks.
Dearest Father, through your grace we are given
the life giving elixir of your merciful forgiveness. We ask that you continue to quench our soul
that we may face this world’s pain, suffering and brokenness. Guard us with your Spirit and give us the
renewal we so desperately need. In
Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
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