Psalm 42

My son Kenny plays this song beautifully on the piano. You know the one. As the deer panteth for the water so my soul longs after thee... But if you read on, I don't think David pictured his words hanging on your mantel with a serene wooded brook and a doe drinking gracefully with a pink tongue. That peaceful scene isn't where David's head was at all. This is torture. Angst. Severe anguished longing. Desperate separation. Crying. Oppressed. Agony. Downcast and disturbed.

I want to lay my full range of emotions before God. This extreme of thirst, but also the opposite extreme of exhilarated joy. Last week, I had an afternoon like this chapter. I laid on my living room rug and just sobbed and cried out to God. And He heard me. When I lifted my head, the first thing I saw was a big hawk perched on the bottom branch of the closest tree. Yeah, I saw God in a bird. Weirder things have happened. But I don't just want a moment to be recalled and retold. I want my whole life to be lived with my soul laid bare before God every moment.

Lord, my soul longs for you. I want you and nothing else. Help me live that out.