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getting to the stream

Psalm 42:1-3 (JDV)

Psalm 42:1¹ Like a deer longing for flowing streams, that’s how I long for you, God.

Psalm 42:2 I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and see God’s face?

Psalm 42:3 My tears have been my food day and night, while all day long people say to me, “Where is your God?”

getting to the stream

I have hiked over a thousand miles, and I have encountered numerous deer. They like to hang out at the flowing streams, because they also travel many miles every day. God puts the streams where they need to be, but the deer cannot just lie down and cry out for God to give them water. They have to go to the streams.

The psalmist is like that too. He cannot just lie in his bed and cry out for God to come to him. Everyone around him is wondering where his God is. If he cannot find God where he is, he has to keep traveling until he meets him. That is why he is asking “When can I come and see God’s face?”

As small children, we learn that if we yell for mom or dad they will come, but as we mature, we learn that it is not really respectful for us to keep doing that. Instead, we should look for our parents if we need them. The same is true with our Father in the sky. By his grace, he is usually available when we call out in prayer. But, as we mature as his children, there will be times when he expects us to come to him.
Lord, we thirst for your presence. Show us how to get to where you are!

___________________

¹ superscription: “For the choir director. A Maskil of the sons of Korah.”