Why a Deer?

"As the deer longs for the streams of water, so I long for you, O God. 

I thirst for God, the living God." 

Psalm 41:1-2, NLT

I go to one of those rare churches that sings hymns every Sunday. I love it. But a wonderful praise and worship sesh quickly becomes comedic when "As the Deer" is one of the hymns we sing. The begins like this:

"As the deer panteth for the water, so my soul longeth after Thee.

You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship Thee."

My dad has his own version of this song. The lyrics only change a little.

"As the deer panteth for the water BANG!" Complete with hand motions. 

That was my funny story to get your attention. Now I am going to get serious; my original purpose of all this.

Why a deer?

Every living creature needs water to survive. Every living creature longs for water and searches for water. So why does this passage point directly to a deer?

I do not know. But maybe one of the reasons was so that I could understand myself, and God, a little better on this very night.

Another story: A couple months ago my dad shot a big deer! We tracked the deer through the dark woods behind our house for almost four hours. It was a good hit; we found a lot of blood. The deer ran straight for the swamp and stayed there, stumbling around and breaking branches everywhere.

The deer ran straight for the swamp.

Not to get too graphic on ya, but there was a lot of blood. This deer was very, very injured. And he went to the water.

That is a beautiful picture. Water is not the most secure place to be, even for a deer. It is cold and dangerous. Yet in water, the deer can be made clean. And has a chance to survive if the shot was just a little bit off.

So maybe in Psalm 42, the deer is not just a thirsty deer. Maybe that is a hurt deer. A deer longing to be made new. To find security the only place it knows to.


I feel lost. I seriously long to feel God's presence right now.

I am that wounded deer. I am looking for the water so desperately.

I thirst for God.