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"As the deer pants longingly for the water brooks, So my soul pants longingly for You, O God."—Psalm 42:1, Amplified
It is amazing how often what we see everyday that seems routine and matter-of-fact can be a type and shadow of something eternal and essential.
Like deer crossing signs on the highway. The message is loud and clear: slow down and pay attention.
But how do they know? How do they know that deer like to cross along this particular stretch of highway and not that one? Researchers at Penn State University learned that deer don't usually cross the highway randomly but use known crossing sites taught by those that have gone before them. “Deer didn’t just approach the closest fence section and then decide to cross. It wasn’t just chance that brought them to a particular place. They were seeking them out.”
Further, deer tend to cross the road for two primary reasons: they’re being chased or, depending on the season, they are in pursuit of relationship...
"...the report of His power spread even faster, and vast crowds came to hear Him preach and to be healed of their diseases. But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer."
—Luke 5:15-16, NLT
...The root word of the place to which Jesus, and deer, often withdrew is “wild-deer-ness”—a place inhabited only by wild animals like deer, or simply any place where there are no people. No noise. No distractions.
We are never told in the Gospels exactly why Jesus went to the wilderness other than to pray, and that He did so as was His custom. For guidance on choosing disciples? For wisdom on where to minister next? To get away from the never ending pressing in of the crowd and to seek intimacy with His Father without distraction and noise? Probably yes, yes and yes. After all, He once said, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.”—John 5:19
The great and wonderful mystery of it all is that in one sense, because Jesus is God in the flesh, it would seem that He didn’t need to do any of those things. And yet in Love, He did so anyway, to leave an example for all of us who would follow in His footsteps...
“I am the vine, you are the branches—apart from Me,
you can do nothing.”—John 15:1
...Especially in this hectic month, when people and events and demands are pressing in on all sides, and on top of all the other craziness of the world and daily life, it is good—no, essential—to follow the deer and find that known crossing site of the deep woods, or the woodworking shop, or even a favorite chair in a quiet room, and make it our custom, too, to seek it out regularly.
And pray. And seek guidance and wisdom. And love. And exhale. And be still. And just be. And none of it to merely escape or live passively but to be refueled, like the deer at the brook, to go on in wonderful pursuit of Him, with all we've got.
It could be the greatest gift any of us receive (or re-open) this or any year.
"The pursuit of God is not a part-time, weekend exercise. If it is, chances are you will experience a part-time, weekend freedom. Abiding requires a kind of staying power. The pursuit is relentless. It hungers and thirsts. It pants as the deer after the mountain brook. It takes the kingdom by storm...The pursuit of God is a pursuit of passion. Indifference will not do. To abide in the Word is to hang on tenaciously. A weak grip will soon slip away. Discipleship requires staying power. We sign up for duration. We do not graduate until heaven." - R. C. Sproul
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