As pants the hart for cooling streams
When heated in the chase,
So longs my soul, O God for thee,
When heated in the chase,
So longs my soul, O God for thee,
And thy refreshing grace.
N Tate & N Brady
We often sang this hymn during our daily school assembly(1) when I was in high school. It seemed so irrelevant. There were few, if any deer in West Wales and there definitely was no shortage of water. Also if they meant a deer why didn't they say so? Since then I have visited Houston Zoo on a Texan summer day and can appreciated the deer's desperation.
In my mind I picture the stream wandering through a green meadow and a deer idly quenching his thirst. The hope of the refrain of these two psalms (which were written as one) sings in my heart. The stream of living water flows from the living God to relieve the drought of my soul.
There have been times when I have wandered through the desert where the water could not flow, times when I did not think that I needed God, of when nothing seemed to go right and my life was disintegrating around me. Jesus lead me back to the clear bubbling brook. He placed me in situations where he could act through the people around me. They were Christians who heeded his prompting.
Sometimes my stream passed through dark forests. I could hear the crystal waters and sip their abundant supply although all around seemed black. The nights after Matthew died and I awoke to a wet pillow oblivious that I had spent the night crying. The stream guided me through the despair of the night; I was comforted and supported by the presence of the living water. I was not alone, Christ was with me and so were my Christian friends, ministering to my daily needs.
Psalm 42 is now one of my favorite psalms. Fortunately I have not experienced the same rejection and oppression as the Psalmist but I can associate with his longing for his God. "Why are you downcast, O my soul?" Is there a refreshing stream on the horizon? Hope in God and He will find you. Praise him for his salvage work. Be a stream of Christ's love in another's desert.
(1)Yes it was in the days when schools were small enough to gather together in one room.
This was written for the Holy Spirit Episcopal Church Advent Meditation Book 1996
In my mind I picture the stream wandering through a green meadow and a deer idly quenching his thirst. The hope of the refrain of these two psalms (which were written as one) sings in my heart. The stream of living water flows from the living God to relieve the drought of my soul.
There have been times when I have wandered through the desert where the water could not flow, times when I did not think that I needed God, of when nothing seemed to go right and my life was disintegrating around me. Jesus lead me back to the clear bubbling brook. He placed me in situations where he could act through the people around me. They were Christians who heeded his prompting.
Sometimes my stream passed through dark forests. I could hear the crystal waters and sip their abundant supply although all around seemed black. The nights after Matthew died and I awoke to a wet pillow oblivious that I had spent the night crying. The stream guided me through the despair of the night; I was comforted and supported by the presence of the living water. I was not alone, Christ was with me and so were my Christian friends, ministering to my daily needs.
Psalm 42 is now one of my favorite psalms. Fortunately I have not experienced the same rejection and oppression as the Psalmist but I can associate with his longing for his God. "Why are you downcast, O my soul?" Is there a refreshing stream on the horizon? Hope in God and He will find you. Praise him for his salvage work. Be a stream of Christ's love in another's desert.
(1)Yes it was in the days when schools were small enough to gather together in one room.
This was written for the Holy Spirit Episcopal Church Advent Meditation Book 1996
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