Devotion

This prayer expresses a fundamental human capacity: hunger. Just as the deer thirsts for water, the soul can thirst for God. This is not duty or obligation; it is desire. The question is: what are you hungry for? What does your deepest self actually long for? The psalmist is saying that he has found that his truest hunger is for God—not for comfort, not for success, not for distraction, but for connection with the source of life itself. This kind of hunger cannot be faked. You cannot make yourself thirsty. But you can notice where your true hunger lies, and you can make choices that either satisfy it or suppress it. The person who cultivates hunger for God finds that all other hungers fall into proper proportion.