Psalm 42:1 Seek After God — Always!

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

This morning I wasn’t sure what to do this on for today. I felt that continuing in the book of Proverbs that we were looking at so long ago, wasn’t the best for today. So as I was praying, God put Psalm 42 to my mind. So that is what we will be looking at today.

Today’s verse reminds us of how much our eyes should seek the Lord, always. Just as the hart (deer) pants after water when thirsty, so our soul pants after God. There’s a nice song that many might know, based on this Psalm, called “As the Deer.”

David, truly was surrounded nearly all his life, by war. He was constantly troubled. However, notice and remember that most of the Psalms were written by David. David didn’t sing songs of praise, thanksgiving, prayer, and worship to God because he was always in the mood for singing! David wasn’t living a happy-go-lucky type of life . . . but he knew how important it was that when we are troubled, seek the Lord. When we are downcast, Sing unto the Lord! Just as Isaiah 61:3 says, we are given the garment of PRAISE for the SPIRIT OF HEAVINESS! So when we feel troubled and down and have that spirit of heaviness . . . we have to remember to just praise God, just start singing, or hum if you have to!

Let’s never forget that. But continuing on with today’s verse, we have to remember to seek God in the same manner as a deer would pant after water. David was going through a time when he felt completely alone. He felt abandoned by God, abandoned by his friends, by the whole nation. This truly is something we can often feel in our own lives. I know I personally have felt that way so many times. However, we have to remember to seek God!

O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee; my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen in the sanctuary.” Psalm 63:1-2

It’s pretty easy, when we are down, to decide to stay down and not even raise our heads to look in God’s direction (much less seek His Face). Then again, for many that is the only time God is sought after, when trouble is all around. Though there’s nothing wrong with seeking God when we are down, afterall God tells us to do that! The problem is that we are constantly surrounded by trouble . . . even if we don’t feel it. Our enemy the devil is wise . . . he plans his moves just like one would plan the next move in a game of chess! So when we feel at peace, we need to seek God’s face because the devil very well could be simply setting things up to really get at you! It is the very same thing as having our shield of faith up at all times, and not just when we see those fiery arrows coming after us (because then, many times it’s too late and they’ve already hit us)!

Just as we know from 1 Chronicles 16:11 “Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face continually.”, we must Continually keep God’s face, in our eyes. We need to, despite the things we go through and the things in life that would wave their hands in the air and scream after us for us to take our eyes off God and look at them, we need to keep God the center of our focus and attention!

Something that must be said also, is that the Word of God tells us to SEEK after God. Does someone whose mouth is dry and really needs water, sit down and wait for water to come to him or her? Not in the least. Rather they get up, walk around, search around, for that water! I believe it’s a major problem that is growing among the Body of Christ, that so many forget that God wants to see us walk after Him, not sit down and demand that He come find us!

When we are troubled, when we are not, so long as we are alive, we are daily to seek God. This means that we walk after God. We study the Word, we Pray, we Praise, we work for God. This doesn’t at all mean that we sit down and don’t even pray or read the Word until God shows up, or God puts it in our heart to do this or that for Him, or that we wait until He zaps us with enough zeal that we immediately jump up and even feel like dancing! That . . . isn’t seeking God, nor is it even faith! God wants to see that we will seek after Him even when our flesh does not feel like it. Even if we have to crawl!

I pray that we never forget how important it is that we seek God, and we seek to follow God, to work for Him, and to just be with Him, in the same manner as we need air to breathe, and water to drink!

I thank you all again, and thank God for you all! I love you with brotherly love and continue to keep you in my prayers. Please keep me in your prayers as well, as I truly do need

Love always in Christ,
Your friend forever,
And brother,
Michael

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Psalm 66:1-2 “Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious.”

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