My Soul Thirsts for God (Psalm 42:1-11)

My Soul Thirsts for God

 

Psalm 42:1-11

 

Today, I want, together with you, to think about ‘thirst.’ In this Psalm 42, the Psalmist cries:

         “As the deer pants for the streams of water,

                    so my soul pants for you, O God.

         My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

                    When can I go and meet with God?”

Like a deer pants for water, the psalmist pants for God. His soul thirsts for the living God. His cry sounds more real than poetic. It is because we all know the intense pain of thirst. Knowing the pain, we may assume that “thirst” is a negative thing. But our “thirst” is also a very good indicator of what we are. By seeing what a person is thirsty for, we can say what kind of person he or she is. The word “thirst” may be replaced with “need” or “desire.” But “thirst” implies much deeper and stronger want directly attached to our life. Water is an indispensable ingredient of life. Therefore, our thirst diagnoses the condition of our deep heart, namely, our soul. That’s why God often leaves us in thirst and see what we are panting for.

 

There is a famous theory on human needs and desires called “Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.” According to his “Motivation Model,” people have eight stages of different needs from basic “Physiological Needs” at the lowest stage up to “Transcendence,” which includes religious and spiritual needs, at the highest. This model argues that human beings are motivated by such a hierarchy of needs, and basic needs must be met more or less (rather than all or none) prior to higher needs. According to this model, the deer’s thirst for water is a physiological need at the lowest stage, and the psalmist’s longing for God is a transcendence need at the highest stage. In this model, these two needs cannot go together even metaphorically. There are six stages between the two. To the psalmist, however, his thirst for God is the same as the deer’s thirst for water. His thirst is the most basic need and, at the same time, the loftiest need.

 

I would like to suggest a different model. This can be diagrammed as below. This model has three layers. The most basic layer is my God, the source of my life. On top of the basic layer is my soul or my life, which is sustained by God, the source of my life. The highest layer is “I,” which is the sum of what I am, what I do, what I have, what I eat and drink, what I like and dislike, my driver’s license, my certificates, my bank account, my past, present, and future, my successes and failures, and so on. In the Maslow’s model, life is sustained by the satisfaction of physiological needs such as food, drink, and shelter. This model assumes that people may be motivated to pursue higher needs only when their basic needs are met. But the Bible doesn’t say so. Even after 40 days’ fasting, Jesus says, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” As the source of life, Jesus puts God before bread, and even 40 days’ fasting does not change this order. For Jesus, life comes from God, and from God alone.

 

In fact, Maslow’s model doesn’t have “My Soul” as my life, and “My God” as the source of my life. It just has only “I” without life and without God in its foundation. His view of human being is evolutionary. In his model, man is basically an animal-like flesh, and only when his corporal needs and desires are satisfied, he may turn his eyes to higher values. In fact, this is building the pyramid upon death. Thus, even the highest religious piety is nothing but empty vanity without life and without God. The most glorious achievements cannot cover up the misery of the mortal flesh. It is because they are dead from the beginning. What is even more hopeless is that they are deceived by false hopes and are falsely satisfied without God. Do we seek God when we have been satisfied for basic needs? If this is true, most of rich people would become devoted believers, and few of the poor would be found in the church. But Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:23-24).

 

In Maslow’s model, food and drink cannot be transcendent needs. They are basic needs for survival. But this is not true in the Bible. Paul said, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1Corinthians 10:31). Paul is saying that we eat and drink not for our life but for the glory of God. And he says, “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” According to Paul, we have just one motivation for everything we do from the most basic to the most transcendent. It is God’s glory. There is nothing higher or lower. Eating and drinking are for the glory of God. And even if we do the most sacred religious service, it is still for the glory of God and not for mine. “I” am always the vessel and reflection of God’s glory. So we can say that “I” is God’s glory. I would like to redraw my model above into one as on the left. Man consists of three elements, living God, the source of life in the deepest, my soul in me that lives on God, and “I,” the substantiation of God’s glory coming from the satisfaction of my soul with God. Fallen man doesn’t have God and doesn’t have life. Thus, fallen man seeks his life by eating and drinking and finding security. And fallen man seeks his own glory by seeking self-esteem, self-actualization, and self-righteousness. But his “I” is a pyramid built on death. It is just empty vanity.

 

The psalmist’s soul is thirsty for God. Thirsty soul is truly a great blessing. It is a blessing because only God can satisfy his soul and God will surely do it. In his Sermon on the Mount as well, Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:2) and “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Life is not just survival. In God, life is full of satisfaction and full of joy. In John 10:10, Jesus said, “I have come that they (my sheep) may have life, and have it to the full.” Jesus’ purpose is not just giving life to his sheep. He wants his sheep to have life to the full. Only God knows how our life should be, and only He can give such a life to us. So the psalmist calls God “the living God” (v. 2) and “the God of my life” (v. 8).  In the middle of intense thirst, he does not go astray in search of his own happiness. He waits for God’s time, God’s comfort, and God’s filling. It is because he knows only God is the living God, and only God is the God of his life. In fact, the thirst of his soul is a strong bond between his life and God, the source of his life. The thirst of his soul is a large empty vessel to be filled by God with heavenly blessings.

 

The psalmist calls God “my God” (v.6, 11) and “my Rock” (v. 9). He had such a wonderful and precious personal intimacy with God. He used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng (v. 4). We don’t know the details of the psalmist’s life, but with his short testimony, we can guess that he was renowned as a man of God among people. He led a great number of people to the Temple of God, and he orchestrated joyful and majestic worships to God. Truly God was his God, and he was man of God. God knew him, and he knew God personally. But now he is alone, and people ridicule him, saying, “Where is your God?” This must be the most unbearable challenge to the psalmist. His life was complete only when it was with his God. But now, he is alone, surrounded by mockers saying, “Where is your God?” We can see similar sufferings in the lives of God’s people. Joseph was loved by his father Jacob. God also loved him and showed him dreams that he would become the ruler over his brothers. Then, his brothers hated him out of jealousy. They plotted to kill Joseph, saying, “We’ll see what comes of his dreams.” (Genesis 37:20). When Job was tested by God until his body was afflicted with painful sores from his feet to his head, his wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die.” (Job 2:9). When people crucified Jesus, they mocked him, saying, “He trusted in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” (Matthew 27:43). When we trust in God and call him “my God” and “my Father,” people want to prove that we are wrong. Especially when we fell in a difficult situation, they are highly elated and deride our intimacy with God, saying “Where is your God?” This pierces our heart, and makes us speechless. While the enemy sings a song of victory, we shed tears day and night.

 

Still the psalmist encourages his soul, “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God.” We don’t know exactly what happened to the psalmist. He cries to God, “Why have you forgotten me?” Maybe his soul felt forsaken by God while he was surrounded and oppressed by his enemies. They taunt the psalmist, saying, “Where is your God?” With this, his bone suffers mortal pains. Still the psalmist comforts his soul, “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God.” This is the psalmist’s faith, and also, our faith. Our God is worthy of our trust, and He is truly our Rock and our Hope. Our Christian faith is putting our hope in God even when we feel forgotten and forsaken. Sometimes God leaves us in sufferings. He sends his roaring waves and breakers sweeping over us (v. 7). These sweeping waters are for testing our hearts and cleansing false hopes from us. In the middle of such stormy waves, we cannot see God. Still God is seeing us, and directing his love toward us. Still he is holding our life, and hearing our soul. At the very moment our enemies are saying, “Where is your God,” we are in God’s hand, wrapped in the bundle of life with God (1Samuel 25:29). Thus, we shouldn’t be downcast and disturbed. We should put our hope in God, our unshakable Rock. Hope in God is very special. Hope in God is the same as God himself. It is because God is faithful and mighty, and he never disappoints our hope. Hope in God is also very special because it looks up God alone, and rejects all the other possibilities and probabilities. Thus, hope in God doesn’t go away even when all the other possibilities have failed. Hope in God is a light shining in darkness, and this light is bright, bright enough to drive out the darkness of death.

 

Our life is a long journey guided by our thirst for God and our hope in God. In the end of this journey, we will see God face to face. The psalmist asks, “When can I go and meet with God?” Here, a more literal translation for “meet with God” is “see the face of God.” And this has been the greatest desire of God’s people. Moses asked God, “Now show me your glory.” Then God said to him, “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Instead of showing his face, God hid Moses in a cleft in the rock and covered him with his hand while his glory was passing by, and showed only his back to Moses. (Exodus 33:18-23). Philip, one of Jesus’ twelve disciples, asked Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered to him, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father.” (John 14:8-9). Going further, Paul had this great expectation: “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” When we see God face to face, we will not have thirst anymore. When we see God face to face, our thirst will be satisfied fully and eternally.

 

Our only thirst is for God, and our only motivation is God’s glory. With this pure thirst and motivation toward God, God’s life and love keeps flowing into our souls. The world, without God, has many things that promise the satisfaction of our souls. People in the world are also boasting of their own glories. While our souls are panting for God, they look satisfied and happy. While our souls are humble, they look fruitful and proudful. Still, our journey goes on through this wilderness, guided by our thirst for God and seeing the distant hope in God. We are not animals in the process of evolution toward a more intelligent animal. We are God’s children in the journey of returning to our home in heaven where our Father is waiting for us. We will see Him face to face, and there will be no more thirst. Until that time, our thirst is blessing. Let’s make it pure and holy so that our souls be longing for God only, and be satisfied by God alone.