Home > Lenten Blog 2022

The Thirsty Soul:  Psalm 42: 1-7

March 21, 2022

2 Kings 5:1–15b | Luke 4:23–30 | Psalm 42:1–7

As the deer longs for the water-brooks,
so longs my soul for you, O God.’

It is a beautiful, yet compelling image, this first verse of Psalm 42. One feels an urgency, a yearning, picturing this beautiful animal in search of a water source. Earlier translations of this psalm use the word ‘hart’ to describe the deer, which would specify a male deer, about five years old. Other sources have used the term ‘hind’ – a female deer. Regardless, the deer/hart/hind was termed a ‘clean’ animal, as outlined in Deuteronomy – the fifth book of the Old Testament.

Because deer are so prevalent in our community, they elicit twin reactions of frustration at their propensity in gobbling our gardens, and yet serenity at their pastoral posings of great beauty. Like all of God’s Creation, they are dependent upon shelter, food, and especially water to sustain their existence. And thus, we feel their need to journey to their life-source, the water-brooks.

My soul is athirst for God, athirst for the living God…

I love the archaic word, “a-thirst,” in this passage. As I ponder how my soul is “a-thirst” for God, the physical sensation of thirst comes to mind. So powerful, and evocative of a memory of when I was urgently thirsty. A summer institute in college included a day trip to Nantucket, my first visit to that faraway island. Once the day’s lecture and tour of the Whaling Museum were completed, we rented bikes to tour the island, in a limited timeframe. Once we visited the windmill, the cobblestone streets and the oldest house on Nantucket, we pedaled furiously back to the wharf, racing to catch the ferry back home. It was a hot and sunny July day and, having returned our rented bikes and scampered up the gangplank, just in time for the ferry’s departure, we were hot, tired and parched with thirst. At the concession stand onboard, I purchased a small can of Bluebird Grapefruit Juice, which I poured over ice. Never has such a beverage quenched my thirst since. 

So how are our souls “a-thirst for God?” Are we parched for reassurance, love, or forgiveness? In these trying days, are we seeking peace, justice, relief, salvation? Do we need to know that God is near, and actively with us in these times?

…when shall I come to appear before the presence of God?

My tears have been my food day and night, *
while all day long they say to me,
“Where now is your God?”

While the Psalmist asks to find the Living God, and to come before Him, we may be heartened to know that God is, in actuality, looking for us. Abraham Heschel, the Jewish theologian and author, tells us, in his aptly named “God in Search of Man,” that our Lord seeks to be in company with us, His beloved Creation. Where are we?  He’s looking for us! As God’s precious own, we know that heaviness of heart, and the feeling of estrangement, as our souls long to be in companionship with God. Longing for its Creator. There are tears, doubts, feelings of being alone and abandoned and misunderstood. Where is God in all of this?

Put your trust in God;
for I will yet give thanks to him,
who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

As we journey through Lent, and ponder these questions in the midst of the world’s conflicts, God asks us to find Him, to draw closer to Him, and to slake our thirst at His endless source of renewal. This timeless psalm has been put to music for our spiritual refreshment, whether it be Herbert Howells’ ethereal “Like As the Hart,” or our own Choirs, who offered up the Palestrina’s elegant “Sicut Cirvus” translation yesterday at our 10:15 AM service. 

Something for our Hart/Heart and Soul.

Laura Sullivan