As the deer

Psalm 42

Dr. Roy M. Gray taught me at Miracle Valley Bible College in Arizona, (USA) that the Lord told him, ‘If you make seeking me the most pre-eminent thing in your life, I will take care of so many things you think you have to take care of.'

Jesus taught His disciples that the cares of this world, the desire for riches and other desires creeping into your heart are like thorns that choke a growing plant. The question is what do you thirst after? What do you really desire? What draws your attention all the time?

A person after God's own heart

David was a man after God's own heart. David was far from perfect. He made terrible mistakes, he sinned, he allowed his rebellious son to kick him out of the palace, he committed adultery and murder, and yet he was a man after God's own heart.

What gave him that title? Was it because he killed the giant Goliath? Was it because he defeated the Philistines? Was it because of the great wealth he amassed (which he left to Solomon to build the great temple)? Was it because of his lovely Psalms?

There must be something else that made him a man after God's own heart than his achievements or failures. I think it is the fact that he had a heart after God. His heart reached out to God's heart.

Yvette wrote a modern psalm based on Psalm 42 and it sang through me one morning as I woke up in Dakar, Senegal en route to Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire.

As the deer pants for the water

So my soul longs for you

Let me never wander

But ever be near you

Reasons to thirst after God

There are several reasons why we should thirst after God as the deer pants for the water.

1.     The Lord will command his loving kindness by day

2.     And at night His song shall be with you

During the day you will experience his loving kindness which is better than life! And at night the Lord shall give you a song. It will just come to you. You don't have to try to remember it. It will come to bless, comfort and strengthen you!

The cry in David's heart

The cry in the heart of David after God remained there in spite of his failures or achievements. It was a constant cry after God.

‘I will rejoice in you and be glad

I will extol your love more than wine

Draw me after you and let us run together

I will rejoice in you and be glad.'

The cry in David's heart made him dance unashamedly before the people – even though his own wife Michal despised him in her heart. (She remained childless for the rest of her life).

Antelope in the National Park

As a child I remember our visits to the Kruger National Park. We would drive slowly through the bush and try to spot animals. My dad was a hunter and loved to hunt. He taught me how to spot animals. Any movement or any change of colour could be a wild animal. The excitement was always great!

But if we could not find any animals at the road side, we would simply go to a water hole and sit and wait patiently until the animals come to drink in the morning or evening before the sun sets.

Animals know where the water hole is. Their thirst directs them to the water hole. Their smell helps them to find the water hole. They were created to find their way to the water. Without water they will perish. They return to the same water hole again and again. To which water hole do you return continually?

The void in the heart of man

We were made in the image of God. There is a void in man that only God can fill. The worldly entertainment, fame, wealth and power cannot fill that empty space inside. Only God can fill it. It was made for Him. Only He can satisfy that deep hunger and thirst after Him.

‘Deep calls unto deep at the sound of your waterfalls

And all your waves have crushed over me.'

When Aje was 15 he went on a rugby tour to Argentina. I preached in every town where he played matches. We also went to visit Iguazu, in the Missiones district where the greatest waterfall on earth becomes the boundary between Brazil and Argentina. That is where they shot the movie ‘The Mission'.

The noise of that waterfall is so tremendous that you cannot hear each other even if you shout out loud!

The Lord's love is like waterfalls that deafens the sound of the temptations of this world. If we thirst after Him, he will pour out His love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit and fill us with a satisfaction nothing else can compare with.

Thirst after the Living God

David said, ‘I thirst after the Living God!'

There are many gods – but most of them are dead statues or man-made gods that cannot help you in the time of trouble. Whereas the Living God has been tested and He is an ever present help in times of trouble! There is a great cloud of witnesses that can testify that when you call upon the Lord Jesus Christ that He will hear you and come to your aid and help you out!

More reasons to thirst after God

3.     He becomes your rock on which you can stand

4.     He becomes your fortress in which you can hide

5.     He delivers you from evil

6.     He is your great shield that protects you

7.     He is your salvation

The value of going to church

That is why David says, I will call upon the Name of the Lord, for He is greatly to be praised! He says, ‘I used to go with the multitude to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise…' but he found himself all alone, downcast and disquieted.

Isn't so that if we neglect the house of God, if we neglect the assembling of ourselves together with other saints who go to praise and worship the Almighty, that we become downcast and disquieted?

A friend of ours that was involved in house churches said he eventually missed the wonderful atmosphere