Read Psalm 42:1-5

As the deer pants for streams of water,

so my soul pants for you, my God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

When can I go and meet with God?

My tears have been my food

day and night,

while people say to me all day long,

"Where is your God?"

These things I remember

as I pour out my soul:

how I used to go to the house of God

under the protection of the Mighty One

with shouts of joy and praise

among the festive throng.

Why, my soul, are you downcast?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

for I will yet praise him,

my Savior and my God.

Reflect

How would you compare the first stanza (or group of verses) of this passage with the second? Which emotions do they express that are similar, and which that are different?

Respond

When you pray, both today and in the future, prepare yourself to be like the psalmist and to bring all of your thoughts and feelings to God, even the ones that don't seem very "religious." God can see through all of the masks we try to wear, so we waste both his time and ours when we fail to be honest in prayer.