The well known words of Psalm 42:1 give us a word picture for spiritual longing: “As a deer (KJ: “hart”) pants for water brooks…” He pictures a deer exhausted, possibly having been chased in a hunt, and now longing for some fresh stream to quench its thirst. “…So pants my soul …for Thee....” He desires fellowship with “the living God.” He longs for the communion with God that the Spirit works by the means of grace. Those means are administered in the Lord’s house. But the Psalmist appears to be away from Jerusalem and the Temple; he is presently hindered from going to “the house of God.” (cf. vs.2, 4) It causes his soul to be “cast down” − it depresses him. He remembers, with a spiritual nostalgia the days when he used to be able to go with the crowds of worshipers to the pilgrim feast, (KJV: “holyday”) possibly the Passover feast. As we come to church, do we also come with such a longing for the strengthening, refreshing experience of fellowship with God? Do we come thirsty? The Psalmist encourages himself to look to the Lord who will help Him: “Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, who is the help (lit. “salvation”) of my countenance and my God.”(vs.11)