4-4-2022

      Good Morning All,

Psalm 42:1; “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.”

     A few years ago, I used to do some umpiring, nothing exciting just some younger age high school baseball. One afternoon the heat index was 115 degrees. It was probably the hottest game I have ever worked. 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 parts 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 23^rd 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