Running and leaping over fences, a deer flees from hunters. Her sides heave and her nostrils quiver. Her heart beats overtime. Her open mouth pants for water. Will her enemy ever stop pursuing her? Where can she get some water to give her strength to keep going?

“As the deer pants [longingly] for the water brooks,
So my soul pants [longingly] for You, O God.”
Psalm 42:1 AMP

We can identify with a deer’s plight, can’t we? Satan is relentless in pursuing us. Every moment is hunting season for him. He will stop at nothing to devour us. He knows where we are the most vulnerable. He batters us with lies: God doesn’t care about you. You’re insignificant to Him and to everyone. You have no purpose in this life. And on and on… He will stop at nothing to discourage us and keep us away from the Fountain of living water we so need to refresh us, energize us, and revive our fainting spirits.

As a deer pants longingly for water brooks, every fiber of our being can long for a refreshing and reviving drink from Jesus, the Fountain of life. Without His life-giving strength, we can’t go on. We try to keep replacing Satan’s lies with God’s truth, but we can become so battle-weary. Come, Lord Jesus, come!

Jesus knows when we are too weary to keep going. He constantly invites us, “Come, My child, come. You don’t have to do this alone.” His longing for us is infinitely greater than ours. He is the Fountain of living water that longs to quench our thirsty souls. He is the Fountain of love and mercy that never runs dry. He is the Fountain of sufficient grace that is available every second of day or night.

All Who Are Thirsty
by Kutless

“All who are thirsty
All who are weak
Just come to the fountain
Dip your heart in the stream of life
Let the pain and the sorrow
Be washed away
In the waves of His mercy
As the deep cries out to deep, we sing…”