“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Psalm 42:1-2a).

Augustine's famous quote from his Confessions holds that “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

Countless confident saints and many a muddled sinner have found the Psalter to be a guide to the presence and peace of God. The various psalms in its collection run the gamut of human emotion. All point to the same goal for the satisfaction of human need. Whether to exult over one’s good fortune or to bemoan the greatest of disappointments, the language to express the deepest sentiments of a human heart can be found here.

Serving both ancient Israel and the modern church, the Book of Psalms is both a hymnbook and a guide to prayer. Beautiful Hebrew poetry from historical contexts typically hidden to the reader will nevertheless speak to the craving for God our human hearts naturally feel. Even when suppressed, that restless longing tells us we need a relationship with the one who is Creator, Provider, Rescuer, and Sovereign.

Blending the interpretive categories of the late Walter Brueggemann (orientation, disorientation, reorientation) with the “three essential prayers” of Anne Lamott (Wow, Help, Thanks), Longing for God examines a baker’s dozen of the Psalter’s beautiful poems in very practical terms.

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