Daily Devotion, July 6, 2022

 

Devotion:

Read Psalm 42.

This week’s devotionals are focusing on both beginning and deepening a relationship with God. I recall attending a seminar several years ago led by Dan Glover and Claudia Levy about faithful discipleship. Their analogy for the different stages of faithful discipleship was an ocean diagram, with the first two stages being “life on the beach” and “life on the shoreline”. The last two stages were “life beyond the breakers” and “life in the deep.” The authors describe “life in the deep” as being a fully committed follower of Christ.

Sometimes, “stages of faith” are not exactly linear. Even after many years as a Christian, we still go through seasons of struggling to understand how God is leading. This Psalmist had a deep relationship with God and could confidently speak of continuing to hope in God while in a time of struggle.

Psalm 42 and 43 are paired together in the commentaries because of the common refrain in verses 42:5 and 11 and 43:5. The Psalmist writes of having a “disquieted soul” and yet continues to hope in God. In the midst, the Psalmist remembers who God is and trusts God to be life’s source for the difficult days.

 “As the deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.” The Psalmist is in a season of life of deep longing for God. Perhaps he feels like God is absent, but God is even more present in this season. The Rev. Lloyd John Ogilvie writes on Psalm 42, “The feeling of the absence of God often occurs when we are on the creative edge of wanting God for who God is and not just for what God can give us.”

The Psalmist’s words remind us that even when our souls are troubled, God and God’s own steadfast love and faithfulness are ever present with us. God is the source of our hope and will carry us through every season of life. Jesus understood this when he echoed the Psalmist’s words in Matthew 26:38 and John 12:27.

Personal Worship Option:

 “As the deer panteth for the water

   So my soul longeth after Thee

  You alone are my heart’s desire

    And I long to worship Thee

 You alone are my Strength, my Shield

   To You alone may my spirit yield

  You alone are my heart’s desire

    And I long to worship Thee.”  

First stanza “As The Deer” by Martin Nystrom, 1984