"The Thirsty Deer" (Part 1)

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. (Psalm 42:1-2 NIV).

Mary and I have been moving the past few days. What I thought would be a relatively easy task has turned into quite a project! We are still not finished completely as of this writing! An interesting thing happened while we were moving that sparked a line of thought for this series The Thirsty Deer. Kyle and Brandy, as well as Faith and Logan were present to help us move. They were indispensable. However, the kernel of the devotional thought came to me when Logan saw me taking my guns out of the cabinet and safe to move them to the new address. He knew they were real guns, but wanting to help, he asked, “Grandpa, can I help you carry the guns?” I answered him that I’d better do it myself. Even though I had checked to make sure they were unloaded, I felt it was safer for me to carry them down the stairs and into the truck. I didn’t want him to feel left out though, so I asked him to carry some of my other hunting gear.

On the way down the stairs he began a rapid fire series of questions about the rifles and what they were used for. When I told him that I used some of them to deer hunt, he became very interested in that. He asked when he could go deer hunting. I told him that was up to his mom and dad. He ran inside to ask immediately! Kyle said he might be able to shoot a gun when he was twelve. Then Logan came back to me and recited his plan to go deer hunting on November 28, 2015. That’s the day after he will be twelve! He allowed a day to travel back to Texas after his birthday, since he thought that would be the best place to hunt deer!

There are many places in Texas where the deer population is very dense. I’ve hunted many of them. Some of the roads that took me to those places were some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. These roads could also be some of the most dangerous to travel at night. There are so many deer along the side of the road that you must exercise extreme caution. Sometimes they will dart in front of you without any notice at all. I’ve often wondered why they were in such a hurry to cross the road. Maybe they were being chased by some unseen threat. Maybe they were just thirsty!

I wonder if that is the background the Psalmist uses meant in today’s reading. Had he witnessed deer in such a frenzy to find water? Had he seen the anticipation of a deer who was heading to quench its thirst? I’m not sure exactly what correlation the Psalmist was making to deer in their search for streams of water, but I’m fairly certain he was saying that He had a deep thirst for God. Whatever the reason the deer was in such a hurry, I know it must have been critical in its mind. At that moment nothing mattered like getting to the water. What matters most in your life? What do you need most? Run to the God who cares for you more than you can imagine. Develop a passion for Him so great that you will be like the deer who panted for water. Let your soul thirst for God!