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There are times the soul becomes quiet, as if peace does not come. We go through the day caring for others and tending to what must be done, yet something within us remains unsettled. Often we notice it only in the pauses—those in-between moments when the heart begins to whisper again.
Psalm 42 helps us name that whisper. “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God” (Ps 42:1, NKJV). These words come from a soul that remembers what it meant to walk closely with the Lord, and now feels the ache of that memory. “My tears have been my food day and night…” (v. 3). Some of us might understand that more than we ever hoped to.
There are seasons when the question “Where is Your God?” (v. 3) does not come from others—it comes from within us. Even prayer feels strange. The joy that once came easily now feels like something we have to remember rather than feel. And still, the psalmist shows us what to do: he speaks to his own heart. “Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him” (v. 5). It is not a solution. It is a step. And sometimes, that may be enough for today.
This kind of hope is not shaped by how we feel. It grows through remembering. “The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me…” (v. 8). When joy does not return quickly, we may still lift a quiet prayer. We may still say His name. The heart that chooses this, even through weariness, is still holding on.
Some of us carry this thirst quietly. It may not be something we share often. Yet even longing for God shows we have not turned away. A heart that calls Him “my God” (v. 6) while walking through the valley is still walking with Him. The psalm does not end in full relief, but it points us there. And perhaps that is how many of our days feel—unfinished, yet held.
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