“As The Deer Pants For the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? (Psalm 42:1-2).

It is important for the true worshipper of God to hunger so that he would fill a vacuum in his or her life, the merciful and loving Father. And so, it was in this state of life that the sons of Korah found themselves and seriously, they needed to quench their thirst. Although, temple assistants and musicians, yet, they craved for God, as deer pants for water.

But who are the sons of Korah? They are of the linage of Levi. Also, Psalm 42 was one of those attributed to them, which they sang in worship to God. However, their father, Korah, was known in the Old Testament in Numbers 16, as one of those that opposed Moses in his time. Korah, like others, felt that Moses was talking too much and therefore opposed him to his face, but later he was to suffer the consequences of attacking verbally the man of God.

Remember, the scripture had warned: “Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm”, (1 Chron. 16:22). Yes, Korah paid the price, as the ground opened and swallowed him with others opposing Moses. The Bible noted: “ Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods.” (Number 16:31-32).

However, his action was not extended to his children in line with what prophet Ezekiel said: “Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die”, (Ezekiel 18:4). From this proverb, it only permitted a man to die for his own sin and not to be shared by his household or children. St. Paul was right, when he asserted that: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”, (Rom. 6:23).

Therefore, the sons of Korah, the temple assistants and musicians felt the need to crave for God and thus they said: “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” (Psalm 42:1-2). What a good way of not taken God for granted.

Every child of God, no matter the loneliness or depression of the season, should find time to thirst for God. When we truly look for Him we will find Him. He said “and you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart”, (Jer. 29:13). But we may ask: Do we have enough time to seek and thirst for Him?

It is unfortunate; most times people engage in trivial things that do not edify their spirit. The resultant effect of this is that man is farther away from His Creator. But this should not be so. You may then ask; what are those things that take away attention of the believer from His Creator? Is it money, academics, politics and business among others? Are these things enough to keep us away from God? St. Paul had argued and rightly too: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”, (Rom. 8:35, 38, 39).

People of God, may we be encouraged that the sons of Korah were not discouraged from thirsting for the Lord, even though their father lived and died shabbily. Rather, they chose to hunger and thirst for the Lord. This attitude, more than any other thing else, should be a challenge to the modern worshipper and a child of God. Necessarily, wherever we are found today, may our soul thirst for this living Lord. Please, do not be discouraged either by friends or situations around, but be determined to crave for this God, Who loves and cares for us all. Yes, He is the source and fountain of life and in Him the worshipper is to quench his thirst.

Ven. Ernest Onuoha
Rector, Ibru International Ecumenical Centre, Agbarha-Otor, Delta State.
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