Morning

October 9

Psalms 42:1-3 ¹As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. ²My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? ³My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, "Where is your God?"

The words of the first verse became a popular chorus in the church. In the song it is used as an expression of desire to know God more intimately, but in the psalm it is a cry for deliverance from the psalmist's situation. It is reminiscent of Job when he pleaded to present his case before God. We don't know the cause of David's distress. It may have been when he fled from Saul, or Absalom, or an illness. There are dark valleys, through which God takes us, that increase our desire for God. No one likes to go down them, but oh the maturing of our soul that comes from the pain. We long for the presence of God to be our hiding place from the troubles of life, but sometimes He even withholds that from us.

The dark night of the soul takes us from our apathetic level back up to climbing the heights of life in God. The pain draws us past our complacency and onward to heights of intimacy. The brokenhearted reading this can instantly relate to these words. Those who have not yet gone down this road, remember this, do not harden your heart in this place. If you do, you will come out bitter instead of better. The enemy of your soul will have won a double victory. He inflicted the pain, and it will have borne the results that he desired. Instead, defeat him by allowing yourself to be even more tender and allowing your heart to break. The LORD is near the brokenhearted. It is a place where all your trust is in the faithfulness of God, though you cannot see any evidence. Those you have shared Christ with, who know you as a Christian, will mock saying, "Where is your God?" He has promised to be near.

Remember: Weeping will endure for a season, but the joy will return. You will come out with a greater desire for God, for intimacy with Him.