YOUR SORROW HAS A PURPOSE

ALL I HAVE IS CHRIST

READ PSALM 42

Psalm 42:1-4

1 As a deer pants for flowing streams,

so pants my soul for you, O God.

2 My soul thirsts for God,

for the living God.

When shall I come and appear before God?

3 My tears have been my food

day and night,

while they say to me all the day long,

“Where is your God?”

4 These things I remember,

as I pour out my soul:

how I would go with the throng

and lead them in procession to the house of God

with glad shouts and songs of praise,

a multitude keeping festival.

What a wonderful gift it is, when God places us in a condition of needing Him more than anything else! We are so easily distracted by the cares of our lives. Robert Robinson, the hymnist, penned this thought so well: “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, O take and seal it; Seal it for thy courts above”.

While the psalmist faced his difficulties, tears were his companion day and night. The temptation, was to question the presence of God, as he listened to those around him.

Even the revelation of our own reactions is a gift of God. We easily state that we live in dependence on God and that we are satisfied with His sovereign hand, but it’s only during a crisis that it becomes evident what the desires of our hearts really are.

Do we desire God’s modeling work in our lives, or are we looking for His blessing, presuming that we have complete choice in defining what God’s blessing should look like?

The image in Psalm 42 is vivid: as the deer, driven by her thirst, is panting for water, nothing else takes precedence. The need must be met and satisfaction will come only when streams of water are found.

We should always thirst for the living God. He is the Creator, sustainer of all. There is none other who can be compared to Him. Spiritual thirst is real and there is only One who can satisfy. It is truly a gift, when we are driven to God’s feet.

We tend to look at our hardships as a curse, but in reality they are a blessing. God’s Word and His meticulous care are available to us constantly. Life distracts us, but our jealous God will do all it takes to arouse our thirst so that by it, we are driven to Him. And then, He finds pleasure in satisfying our need.

The woman at the well had tried to satisfy her thirst with multiple husbands, she was even aware of the religious beliefs of that time, but she found out that only Christ could give her water that would truly satisfy her.

John 4:13-14

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 

I remember the many times when I have tried to find satisfaction with human resources, and God has lovingly driven me to Him, instead. In fact, the temptation was not only to look for different solutions, but also to question God, while doing that.

The writer could not forget how he had found his joy and satisfaction in God: with the multitude he had gone to the house of God, as he praised Him.

Are you going through a hard time? Does your difficulty seem to have no end in sight? Do you feel like tears are your only relief? Are you assailed by doubts about God? You are certainly not the first one to go through this, for many have preceded you. For some, their sorrows have driven them away from God, exposing their lack of real relationship with Him; others have been driven to God, the only fount of true and eternal satisfaction.

My friend, your sorrow has only one purpose, to drive you to God. “All I have is Christ” is not the cry of a desperate person - it is the victorious hymn of those who are being drawn toward eternal satisfaction!

There is a beautiful song that reminds us of this. LISTEN TO IT

Verse 1
I once was lost in darkest night,
Yet thought I knew the way.
The sin that promised joy and life
Had led me to the grave.
I had no hope that You would own
A rebel to Your will,
And if You had not loved me first,
I would refuse You still.

Verse 2
But as I ran my hell-bound race,
Indifferent to the cost,
You looked upon my helpless state
And led me to the cross.
And I beheld God’s love displayed:
You suffered in my place;
You bore the wrath reserved for me;
Now all I know is grace.

Chorus
Hallelujah! All I have is Christ!
Hallelujah! Jesus is my life!

Verse 3
Now, Lord, I would be Yours alone,
And live so all might see
The strength to follow Your commands
Could never come from me.
O Father, use my ransomed life
In any way You choose,
And let my song forever be -
My only boast is You!