Bible lessons for persons with cognitive disabilities
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Psalms 42 "desperate for God" (© Jeff McNair)
Do you know what it feels like to be desperate for God?
Have you ever been outside on a very hot day, maybe you were walking around or working outside and you were so thirsty that all you could think about is getting a drink of water. You wanted a drink so bad that all you could think about is getting a drink of water. You would do just about anything to get a drink of water.
v. 1 - The Psalm says just like a deer pants for a drink of water, so my soul pants after the Lord. Just like you would be panting after and really wanting a drink of water, you should be wanting God in a similar way. Your wanting to be with God, to do what God wants you to do, to be obedient to what God. To spend time in prayer, in watching uplifting TV shows or videos, listening to Christian music that is something that we should want more than anything. Wanting it like we would want a drink of water when are really thirsty. So we look for every chance we can get to go after God in the things we do, the things we spend our time doing. Like Proverbs 3:5 says, "in all your ways acknowledge Him" which means in everything that we do in our lives we try to do what God would want us to do.
But there is something else that this verse talks about. In verse 3 and verse 10 it tells of people saying, "Where is your God?" People can just taunt us as it says in verse 10, but we can also live like we don't have God. Verse 3 says that "my tears are my food day and night." For someone to live with their tears as their food day and night means that something is wrong other than just that their life isn't going well. In verse 5, it says, "Why are you downcast O my soul?" We can live in such a way that we are not going after God, we can live in a way that people will wonder whether we even believe in God at all. Would people know that you are a believer in God by the way you act, not only in the way you do things to grow as a Christian, but also in the way you handle hard things in your life. Would someone say to you "Where is your God?" by the way they would see you live your life?
At the end of the Psalm it is like he looks at himself in the mirror, slaps himself in the face and says to himself, "Put your hope in God!" You should remember that. When you feel sad, when you feel depressed, don't sit around with your "tears as food day and night." Look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself, "Put your hope in God!" Maybe it will help you to come to your senses such that people are not saying to you "Put your hope in God" because of what they see in you, but instead, you are saying to yourself "I will yet praise Him, my savior and my God."
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© Jeff McNair