“As a deer longs for flowing streams, so I long for you, God.”
— Psalms 42:1
“Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your billows have swept over me. The Lord will send his faithful love by day; his song will be with me in the night — a prayer to the God of my life.”
— Psalms 42:7-8
Verse 1 speaks of more than needing God for life. It speaks of desiring Him. This desire for God isn’t just internal but results in action-crying out to/calling out to and seeking for God. Longing for God requires heart, mind, body, and soul, just like Jesus taught how we are to love God. This longing for God can be equated to loving God with our whole being.
Verse 7 leads us to the depth of our longing for God. From the depths of our being-our souls (and above that), we cry out for/long for God, the deepest source and meaning of our being and all life. We recognize and seek with all we are for God, the source and sustainer of our life now and for eternity. We recognize Him from His constant presence in our lives; we hear the sound of His presence and provision like the sounds of a great waterfall-the gates of heaven’s dams/storage houses opened and rushing out from Him toward us. His waters rush over us like breakers of the sea and they provide life to us.
Verse 8 says God commands/decrees (what He says will be done) His lovingkindness (redemption from enemies/His payment for our freedom from enemies now and throughout eternity (including from Satan). God declares and decrees we are His possession. That comes from His faithful love for and toward us in times of rejoicing (day). God’s faithful love is our song of worship to which we can hold and about which we sing during difficult times. These become the songs-prayers-we sing to the God of our lives.
Longing for God comes from the depth of our being and causes an action from us to seek Him from our whole being, acknowledging He is our source and meaning of life. This acknowledgment leads to our whole being singing to the Gods of our lives now and eternally because of who God is and what He’s done-His faithful love decreed to us. Our singing to and about Him is our worship of Him.
We reach out to God. He is faithfully and lovingly always near us. We worship Him in song, rejoicing because of the redemption He gives us now and eternally. What God decrees will happen because of His faithful love toward us and creation.
Note: To enjoy the full and lasting presence of God, we each must believe in Jesus as our Savior so that we are eternally forgiven and cleansed from our sins. This gives to each believer the promise of being with God for eternity. This is the ultimate redemption of ourselves from our enemy, Satan.
