God may want to see how thirsty you are for Him before He can trust you with His best and greatest blessings. We think of blessings as money, but God sees so much greatness about us that we can’t see in ourselves.
Psalm 42: 1-2
As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?
David wrote this Psalm when he was in exile from Jerusalem.
He longed to go back there and worship daily in the Temple, because that was where God resided.
It would be many years before Jesus came to earth as a babe to deliver the people of Israel. He would bring to the people a whole new way of worshiping God. But for now, David’s way of worshiping was to go to the Temple.
To explain the verses above:
a hart is an animal (like our deer today) that is fond of feeding near the water. When hunted he will go into the water and stay submerged as long as possible, then get in the middle of the river and swim downstream, not touching any tree branches on either side so dogs won’t be able to follow his scent. In a chase he becomes faint, and longs for water intensely.
The word “panteth” as David uses it here means not just a quiet longing and inward desire, but audible panting produced by an agony of thirst – the intense desire and overwhelming sense of want.
This exact word occurs only twice in the Bible, here and in Joel 1:20. It properly means to rise, and then, to look up toward anything; to long for. It refers here to the intense desire of the hind (female deer), in the heat of day, for water; or, in Joel, to the desire of the cattle for water in a time of drought.
There was an intense thirst that needed to be quenched, and nothing would help until water was found.
How much do you thirst to truly know God? Does that thirst consume your very being? Are you satisfied just being the way you are right now, whatever that is?
God has a plan for every believer in Christ, but He may want to see how thirsty you are before He allows you to walk in His greatest plan.
In these last days, He wants to use His People to do an awesome work. Will you be willing to get rid of the unnecessary baggage that has been holding you back? Will you surrender your life to Him?
It won’t be easy, but nothing can take the place of living in peace and harmony with God.
