“As a deer pants for flowing streams, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God . . . .” Psalm 42:1-2
My Beloved Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,
Back in the early 1990’s as I was investigating and embracing Reformed and Covenant theology (what we Presbyterians love to call ‘Biblical truth’!), I experienced not only a theological renaissance in terms of the great doctrines of justification by faith alone and of God’s gracious sovereignty in salvation, but also in my understanding of the nature and glory of public worship. I’m ashamed to admit that prior to that time, even as a pastor, I had fallen into the belief that corporate worship on the Lord’s Day was more or less a ‘pep-rally’ for the saved, a time to pump up and entertain the saints (and to attract the unchurched). The public service of worship was, in my defective view, a mechanism for the creation of excitement in the church, and for keeping the members of the church motivated to be there in support of the many programs that our fellowship offered. After all, we had to keep up with, if not outpace, what other local churches in our area were offering. We dare not suffer any of our people departing our membership for greener pastures elsewhere!
All of that changed for me as our Father graciously and tenderly broke my heart with His Word, placed me in His ‘school of affliction,’ and began to show me the purpose of His Church and the goal, glory, power, and indispensable nature of public worship.
I bring all of this to your attention today because public worship is the setting for Psalm 42, the first psalm in Book Two of the Psalter (Psalms 42-72). It was penned long ago by the sons of Korah, and has as its central focus the thirst-quenching power of temple worship in Jerusalem (vv. 2, 4).
What this psalm teaches us is that something amazing should happen as we worship together as the body and bride of Christ. And it suggests that what does, in fact, happen in corporate worship is totally unique and does not and cannot occur or be experienced in any other context!
Now, to be sure, in corporate worship on Sundays we gather together in the presence of our King, which is impossible to do if we don’t actually gather together! And we share in the Sacraments, the two essential ‘means of grace’ that Jesus Himself committed to the Church that we may only participate in as a gathered community.
But there is something else that only happens among the great “throng” and “multitude” (v. 4) who appear together on the Lord’s Day. And it is set forth in the opening lines of this magnificent psalm:
It is only as we worship together as the one body of Christ that we have our spiritual thirst quenched!
We worship corporately, in other words, because we are thirsty for that which only our Sovereign Lord can grant us. And He has committed Himself to quenching this thirst as we come before Him each Lord’s Day.
This is not at all to imply that our private times of worship, prayer, and Scripture reading are fruitless, for such daily disciplines are essential to faithful Christian discipleship. Rather, it means that something unique occurs when we come together as one body, gathered together because we are united to Christ, with one mind and one heart seeking our Lord, and reaching up to Him out of a corporate thirst that only His Word to us and His presence with us can satisfy!
All of this is to say that our deepest spiritual longings are designed to be satisfied as we “appear before God” together (v. 2). What drives us to worship is our shared thirst, our panting for the Lord, “the living God” (v.2). Worship, then, is really for those who are thirsty for the Lord!
Frankly, there are likely as many motives for attending or neglecting Sunday worship as there are people! But in this psalm we learn that, above all, it is especially in our corporate encounter with our Lord that we find ourselves fulfilled, increasingly sanctified, more completely unified, better equipped as servants of His Kingdom, and more and more re-created in the image of the One who has loved us eternally!
On this new Monday we need to ask the Spirit of the Lord to make us pant for Christ, to make us deeply thirsty for the nourishing waters that He alone can give, and to lead us to faithfully come “to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise” (v. 4). Our purpose in assembling is not performative, not to entertain, not to attract other believers to our programs or style of worship, but to seek together the spiritual water that our Lord alone gives!
Perhaps our morning prayer should be, ‘Dear Lord, keep me thirsty for You. For only as I thirst for You with my brothers and sisters will we all be satisfied and Your Holy Name glorified.’
I love you all so much,
Mike
PS: Next up is Psalm 51