Psalm 42:2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? This psalm is one of those said to be composed for, or by, the Sons of Korach. They are known to have been a family of Levites, whose inheritance lay in the wild country, on the eastern side of Jordan. I. WHAT DID THIS LEVITE FIND THAT HE WANTED? Man is a composite being, body, mind, and soul. Presently we discover that body and mind are but the agents of the soul, which is the real self; and the soul's cry is for God, the living God. This Levite thought that he wanted Jerusalem, and the Temple, and the sacrifices, and the feasts, and the music. But a self-revealing time came, and he found that his soul was really craving for God. His love was athirst for God. Its natural dependence was athirst for God. But the point of the self-discovery is put into the expression, "for the living God." It was no mere rain-pool, still and stagnant, round which he saw those gazelles gathering. It was the fresh, living stream. As they drank, it flowed fast, cool and refreshing. They were living waters. He found he could satisfy his cravings with no mere knowledge of God, no mere teachings about God. He craved for personal contact. He wanted personal relations. To be sure that God lived, in the sense of being active, interested, really concerned in his concerns. II. WHEN DID THIS LEVITE FIND OUT THAT HE WANTED GOD? It was not brought home to him while engaged in the Temple services. In some sense God's service stood in front of God. It came to him when he was away from his usual scones, and when he was placed in unusual circumstances. Everything around him was suggestive of peaceful, religious meditation. It was all so wild, so free, so open. It was all so quiet. The routine of life prevents our troubling about the thirsting of the soul, but the routine of life never allays the thirst. III. How THIS LEVITE RESPONDED TO THE AWAKENED THIRST FOR GOD. That thirst drove him to the hill-top. It always urges a man to seek loneliness, privacy, the silences of nature. The quenchings of the thirst come in the soul-communion with God, in openness to God, in conscious kindness with God, in holy joy in Him. And then awakens a new and intenser interest in all the means of peace. God waits to meet our thirst. "He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with good." (Robert Tuck, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?WEB: My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? |
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