Day Forty -- My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

Psalm 25 to Psalm 45

One thing I've noticed is that the author(s) of the psalms spend a lot of energy focusing on their enemies.  Enemies are mentioned in over half of today's psalms, and God is petitioned to not let them triumph or gloat over the oppressed.  Enemies are to be consumed, put to death, trampled down or scattered.  There seems to be little rest from being pursued, threatened, or attacked by those who are named as evil or wicked.  It is exhausting and one has to wonder about the state of the spiritual life of the people because their physical lives appear to be constantly under siege.

It is comforting, then, to happen upon a psalm such as Psalm 42 -- "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God."  There is this longing within all of us to know the presence, the comfort, the saving grace of God.  It is always there, and yet how often we suppress it or fail to acknowledge the signs that our lives are indeed downcast and disturbed?  It is good to be reminded to put our hope in God, and that we have not yet sung our final words of praise.