Panting for Worship (Psalm 42:1-4)

Psalm 42:1-4

 

1 As a deer pants for flowing streams,

so pants my soul for you, O God.

2 My soul thirsts for God,

for the living God.

When shall I come and appear before God?

3 My tears have been my food

day and night,

while they say to me all the day long,

“Where is your God?”

4 These things I remember,

as I pour out my soul:

how I would go with the throng

and lead them in procession to the house of God

with glad shouts and songs of praise,

a multitude keeping festival.

 

            Have you ever had something prevent you from being able to worship God?  Of course we know that people can worship God anytime and in any place.  Because God is always present everywhere, we can perform acts of submission and homage to him whether we are driving in a car, shopping at Wal-Mart, or making breakfast.  But those of us who are honest also know that such acts of private worship are different from gathering together with the people of God to corporately worship our Lord.

 

            So, have you ever had something prevent you from being able to worship God in that corporate sense?  Maybe it was a sickness.  Maybe something came up and your job kept you from worship.  Maybe it was your own laziness.  Maybe it was travel.  Have you ever had something keep you from being able to go and worship God together with the people of God?

 

            Of course you have had this happen.  All of us have been prevented from participating in worship services for one reason or another.  So, perhaps a better question needs to be asked:  How did failing to worship your God at that time make you feel?

 

            Psalm 42 is one of those psalms that many Christians know, probably from the worship chorus of the 1980s.  That opening line, “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God,’ paints for us a picture of a person thirsting to be in the presence of his Lord.  As thirst drives a wild animal, so the psalmist’s thirst for God drives him to desire to worship.  Yet, something is wrong.  Verse 3 shows us that something is preventing him from being able to worship God.  Hardships have come upon this Old Testament saint, and he is prevented from going to the temple of God to offer proper sacrifices.  And so the psalmist is left to fondly remember the joyful times when he led the procession of saints to the place of worship.

 

            What God intends to stir in our hearts with this psalm is a longing to join with the people of God in gathering to offer him the praise and glory that he is so richly due.  Here, of course, comes the rub.  How many of us are totally willing to neglect or even entirely forsake the privilege of going to  a place where the people of God have gathered to glorify their Lord?  (I’m not aiming this at those who are truly prevented by health from being able to attend worship.)  O I know life is busy.  I understand kids get sick.  I recognize that picnics and camping trips are loads of fun.  But it seems that the biblical picture of a heart after God is the picture of a man panting after the opportunity to worship God as a deer pants for a flowing stream.  Nothing, no family outing, no golf scramble, no soccer practice, no sleeping in will be able to quench that thirst.  The only thing that will truly satisfy the child of God is when he or she stands in the presence of the Lord and experiences the genuine, soul-satisfying joy of the glory of God along with other saints of God.

 

            Perhaps it would be good for us to examine our worship attendance, and the excuses that we are willing to allow to prevent us from attending worship.  Are they many and various?  Do we more easily dismiss worship than we do ballgames, career requirements, or family vacations?  Speaking of vacations, do we seek the opportunity to worship when we are out of town, or just assume that being out of town is an excuse not to worship with others?  If we are so lax in our worship attendance, what does that say about our hearts for God? 

 

            Christians, let us take this seriously.  Where repentance is required, let us repent.  Where life rearrangement is required, let us rearrange.  Where attitude changes on our part are needed, let us change our attitudes.  Whether the service is peppy or whether it is drier than we like, let us be certain that we do not neglect the call to worship the Lord our God with his people.  As Psalm 42 shows us, this should be a big deal.