Psalm 42: Thirst for God, a Sign of Healthy Faith

Introduction

"As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God" (Psalm 42:1, WEB). At the prayer meeting on September 24, 2026, at Aburayama Shalom Church (油山シャローム教会) in Japan, Pastor Yokota (横田法路) opens Psalm 42 with a simple question: does the person who wrote these lines have a weak faith, or a healthy one?

The pastor has just returned from a spiritual convention in Tokushima, on the island of Shikoku, where more than seventy people came to seek the Lord. The week before, he was in Matsue, following in the footsteps of the missionary Barclay Buxton. What he took away from it shapes the whole message: the only force able to carry the Gospel in Japan is the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit gives a joy that comes from within.

From there he draws a conviction that runs against the grain: thirsting for God is not a lack. It is the sign that you know him. And the cross opened the way so that this thirst can be satisfied.

Outline of the Message

1. A Joy That Comes from the Holy Spirit

• Pastor Yokota recalls Barclay Buxton's conviction: for mission in Japan, strategies and programs have their place, but what really matters is the Holy Spirit.
• And what the Spirit gives is joy. A joy that comes from God must be given to us from the inside.
• Without it, we end up like the people who came out of Egypt: in the desert, facing trials, they began to say it was better in Egypt, to the point of wanting to appoint another leader than Moses so they could go back. They had forgotten how hard life was there.
• "It is not enough to leave Egypt." We have to go all the way into the promised land, that is, taste the joy the Spirit gives. Then there is no more talk of turning back.

2. Passing Joys and the Joy That Remains

• Eating well is a joy. Being able to work is a joy. But these are passing joys: the next day, we are hungry again.
• What we need is a joy that wells up from within and does not change.
• Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians, called the epistle of joy. He did not write it "by the pool of a luxury hotel," but in prison, surrounded by uncertainty and fear, not knowing what would happen to him.
• Yet he repeats: rejoice. This is the joy the Holy Spirit gives, and the pastor invites the church to seek it.

3. The Thirst of Psalm 42, a Sign of Healthy Faith

• "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God" (Psalm 42:2, WEB). Is the psalmist a shallow believer, someone who does not yet believe? No: "This man knows God. It is because he knows God and believes that he is thirsty."
• The pastor shares that his teenage daughter goes through ups and downs in her faith. Sometimes she says she does not feel blessed, and it touches him. But as he thinks about it, he sees something beautiful in it.
• Conversely, saying "I am satisfied" may be less healthy. The one who says to God "I understand, I have had enough" has, in reality, not understood.
• A spiritually healthy person knows God, and yet still says: "I am thirsty, I must know you more, I want to know you more."
• The pastor applies the question to himself: am I thirsty enough? And he reassures you: if you feel unsatisfied, if you are thirsty, that is a good thing. It is even a reason for joy, because it drives you to seek God.

4. Paul, a Believer Leaning Forward

• In Philippians 3:7-8, Paul counts as loss, even as refuse, what used to be his pride: his zeal, his efforts, his lineage, everything that made others say "what a remarkable man." Compared with Jesus, all of it seems worthless to him. His values were completely overturned.
• And yet, right after, he writes: "Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do: forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14, WEB).
• Paul understood that Jesus is wonderful, but he does not claim to possess everything. He lives in a "forward-leaning position," like the athlete who stretches forward to run faster.
• The pastor asks the question: does your Christian life look like an armchair where you tell yourself "this is fine for me," or like a race where you want to know Jesus more? Paul walked his whole life with the thirst of Psalm 42.
• This God is the Creator of the universe, the one who calls into existence what does not exist, and who came as a man without sparing his own life. We cannot say: "I know him, it's done." It is about seeking him, knowing him and experiencing him, not just understanding him with the head.

5. The Torn Veil: God Opened the Way

• Why were we saved? For the salvation of souls, yes, and Barclay Buxton insisted on that. But at the center there is this: we were saved to experience God.
• In Eden, God lived with Adam and Eve, his presence was with them. Sin drove them out of the garden, but God did not abandon them.
• A turning point in the Old Testament is the tabernacle, the model of the future temple: there the holy God manifests his presence in the midst of his people. But this presence had to be protected, because sinners cannot approach the holy God without being destroyed. It required the blood of animals, purification, priests.
• A veil separated the Most Holy Place, which the high priest entered only once a year. This veil, the pastor tells us, was as thick as the palm of a hand: even animals pulling on it could not have torn it.
• Yet in Matthew 27:50-51, when Jesus gives up his spirit, "the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom" (WEB). The place of the cross and the temple are far apart: this was not a shock wave. The veil was not torn from the bottom, by human hands, but from the top. God is the one who tore it.
• Cleansed by the blood of Jesus, we can now enter God's presence and live in communion with him. God has prepared everything, he has opened the way, he invites you.

6. The Veil of the Flesh, Still Between God and Us

• The problem, says the pastor, is on our side. God has opened the way, but we keep "going around in circles" in the outer court, busy with other things, in a hurry, without entering the communion he offers us.
• Do we have the thirst to enter? Or do we tell ourselves that other things will do? That is where our spiritual thirst stops.
• The temple veil has been torn, but another veil can come between: the veil of the flesh, self-centeredness. And with it self-justification, self-pity, self-reliance, the thought that we can manage on our own, self-love.
• This self forms a new veil that hides communion with God from us, even though God has already removed the other one.
• The answer is to die to yourself: "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:19-20, WEB). When you surrender, Christ lives in you, the veil of the flesh falls, and a more intimate communion with Jesus opens.

7. Pray Starting Now to Receive the Thirst

• Do not tell yourself "my present spiritual state is enough for me" or "I will go no further." Pray that Paul's thirst would be born in you: "I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold."
• A convention is coming, in less than a month. It has no meaning if we are content to watch it arrive. Rooms are being prepared, but above all it is about starting now to pray to receive this thirst. God desires to satisfy it and let you experience the joy of his presence.
• The pastor offers a prayer: "As the deer pants for the water brooks, give me thirst for you, thirst for your Word, so that I may know you as never before, and know myself."
• There are also the difficulties each person carries: their own, those of the family, questions about the future. The pastor believes that God wants to bring his light to them, and invites us to prepare in prayer, with expectation.
• In his closing prayer, he asks for the church a heart that loves God, because the one who loves him always longs for him more, the thirst to know him more, and a humble heart.

Key Takeaways

• The joy the Holy Spirit gives keeps us from looking back toward "Egypt": it brings us into the promised land.
• Thirst for God is not the sign of a weak faith. The one who knows God thirsts to know him more.
• Like Paul, the believer lives leaning forward: he does not claim to have already taken hold of everything.
• At the cross, God himself tore the veil: the way into his presence is open.
• The veil that remains is the veil of the flesh, and it falls when we die to ourselves and let Christ live in us.

Personal Application

1. Which passing joys take up the most room in your life right now, and where are you seeking the joy that comes from the Spirit?
2. Do you feel unsatisfied in your spiritual life? Can you see this dissatisfaction as a thirst to bring to God rather than as a failure?
3. Does your Christian life look more like a comfortable armchair or a race leaning forward?
4. What keeps you in the "outer court," busy and in a hurry, while the way into God's presence is open?
5. Which of these forms of the self forms a veil in your life: self-justification, self-pity, self-reliance, self-love?

Verses Cited

• Psalm 42:1-4
• Philippians 3:7-8
• Philippians 3:12-14
• Romans 4:17
• Matthew 27:50-51
• Galatians 2:19-20

Frequently Asked Questions

Is thirsting for God a sign of weak faith?

No. For Pastor Yokota, the author of Psalm 42 is a believer who knows God, and it is precisely because he knows him that he is thirsty. Saying "I understand, I have had enough" would rather be a sign that we have not yet understood. A spiritually healthy person knows God and still thirsts to know him more.

What does the torn temple veil in Matthew 27:51 mean?

The thick veil separated God's holy presence, which only the high priest entered once a year. At the death of Jesus, it was torn from top to bottom: God himself tore it. Cleansed by the blood of Jesus, we now have access to communion with God.

What veil can still separate us from God today?

Pastor Yokota speaks of the veil of the flesh: self-centeredness, self-justification, self-pity, self-reliance and self-love. This veil is removed when we die to ourselves and surrender to Christ, as Galatians 2:19-20 says.