Day 160, or June the 9th. True worship from believers. Our thoughts today are rooted in
Psalm 42, verse 1. As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.
Now the big picture surrounding this verse. The group of Psalms 42 to 48 are all, with
one exception, attributed to the sons of Korah, who are listed in one chronicles as musicians
who served in the temple. This means that they lived and worshipped after David had
died and was succeeded by Solomon. These Psalms would have been written to further expand
the considerable number of scrolls already written by David. Perhaps the first example
of God's people singing traditional hymns supplemented by some modern one.
And now to day's action step. We used to have a small dog who was very fussy about
which water she drank. She could be really panting, but when presented with a bowl of
water would sniff and then refuse to drink any of it. One day, however, I remember carrying
her in a garden centre, because she had decided she had had enough of walking. She was panting
heavily and there were no bowls, so I cupped my hand and filled it from a water fountain,
and she lapped my hand dry—twice. She was really thirsty, and it dawned on me that's
how thirsty we should be for time with God. This convicts me personally, because I am
not always that thirsty. Are you? I believe it's all a matter of preparation, and we
tend to rush into a meeting or into a house group or even our own quiet time with little
appreciation that God is meeting with us. Why not try today to remember how reliant
we are on God, and whenever we see a fountain or running stream or even rain pattering on
a window, ask ourselves if we are as thirsty for God as a deer at streams of water, or
even a small dog being carried in a garden centre.