Psalm 42:1-11 As the hart pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after you, O God.… I. DIVINE IN ITS SOURCE. Desires are the pulses of the soul. We are that in the sight of God which we habitually desire and aim to be. Archbishop Leighton said, "I should utterly despair of my own religion, were it not for that text, 'Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness.'" II. INTENSE IN ITS DEGREE. Thirst is the strongest feeling we know. It is the established order of nature, and an original law in the constitution of the mind, that love should create love; and if this obtain in the measures and intercourse of human kindness, much more might we expect it to prevail in the sacred converse which is held between earth and heaven — "spirits are not thus finely touched, but to fine issues." III. PRACTICAL IN ITS TENDENCY, AND ENNOBLING IN ITS INFLUENCE. A pure affection towards an earthly object exalts the soul in which it dwells, by associating another's happiness with our own; according to Wordsworth's fine line — "Love betters that is best," by strengthening those fine ties which ally us to the side of virtue. How much more must this be the case with our religious emotions, where the object is infinite and the benefactor is Divine. IV. PROPHETIC OF ITS OWN FULFILMENT. Parallel Verses KJV: {To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah.} As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.WEB: As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God. |
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