The Great Thirst

"As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." Psalm 42:1 

 Author: Clovis G. Chappell 

YEARS ago as a lad I was working one day in a field on the back side of my father's farm. This field was washed by the songful waters of the Buffalo River. Away in the distance on the opposite side of the farm stood a range of rugged and majestic hills. 

Suddenly from among these hills I heard the baying of a pack of hounds. My attention was all the more alert because we ourselves did not keep hounds. As I listened the baying became more and more distinct. By this I knew that the pack was coming toward me. Then as I waited in expectation I was startled to see a deer suddenly come into view. The pursuing hounds were dreadfully close upon his heels. It was easy to see that the poor creature was almost spent. But on he came, running desperately for his life. Then as he saw me in his path, in an effort to turn, he dropped to his knees. Immediately the hounds had their cruel fangs at his throat and the long chase was over. 

Why was this deer running in my direction? It was not that he expected any help at my hands. He was as fearful of me as of the hounds that hung upon his heels. He was running toward me because he was making for the river that lay just behind me. That brook offered everything to this poor spent creature. It offered escape from the deadly foes that were thirsting for his blood. It offered rest for his body that was wearied by long hours of desperate running. It offered satisfaction for his burning thirst. It offered life itself. "If I can only reach this brook," he might have said to himself, "I shall live. I shall again have an opportunity to realize my destiny in the glad freedom of my native hills." No wonder, therefore, that this poor, pursued hart was panting for the water brook. 

Now the psalmist tells us that his own pathetic plight is close akin to that of this hounded deer. He, too, is being pursued by bitter foes. They have chased him into exile. Even now they are taunting him with the derisive question, "Where is thy God?" (Psa. 42:3) And the bitterest heartache of it all is that he can give no answer to their question that is satisfying even to himself. Once he feels that he could have done so. In those glad yesterdays when he was privileged to take part in the religious festivities of his people he was quite sure of God. But it is not so now. His realization of Him is no longer vivid. And since sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering happier days, his soul is cast down within him. In his bitterness he tells us that his tears have been his food day and night. He feels that he must have help. He simply cannot get on without it. But where does he turn in his hour of desperation? 

What fountain does he seek for the slaking of his thirst? He turns to One that he believes can do for him what the water brook can do for the deer, and far more. What place does the brook fill in the program of the deer? It is a great luxury, but it is more than a luxury. It is an absolute necessity. And what place does God fill in the program of the psalmist? He leaves us in no doubt as to the answer to that question. He counts God as an absolute necessity. There is simply no getting on without him. Therefore he cries after him as a hungry, frightened child might cry after its mother: "My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?" (Psa. 42:2)