<TITLE>08. Par 39-43</TITLE>L-39 Thirsting. "Oh, I thirst for Thee," said David. "My soul thirsts like in a dry land where no water is." David was a woodsman. He knew what it was to deal with wildlife. So in (I believe) the 47th Psalm, he wrote this: "As the hart thirsts for the water brook, so my soul thirsts after Thee, O God."
Now, in Africa and different places where I'd ministered, a deer... A hart is a deer, and sometimes the wild dogs get after these little fellows. And they have a shrewd way of downing their deer. They grab the deer. They have fangs. And they grab the deer just behind the burr of his ear, sinks his fangs into him, and swing your weight. A wolf will do the same thing. It'll cut the throat of the dear. The jugular vein lays on the side down there, and when those great fangs rake across there, the deer dies immediately.

L-40 Another way they have of doing it. If they can't grab behind the ear, the neck, they grab him in the flank. And when the dog or wolf, grabs the deer in the flank, he throws his weight down, and in the middle of the deer it throws him off his feet. Then he's covered with dogs in a few moments. And they tear him from place to place, piece by piece.
Now, sometimes, with a fast maneuver, they can get away from that wild dog. The dog may grab him, and if he doesn't get too much of a hold, if the deer will jump sideways, it'll... The dog holding on to the flank will pull that chunk out. And the deer swiftly, if it isn't hurt too bad, can sometimes escape from the dog. But he can't go very far. He's bleeding, unless he finds water.

L-41 I've shot deer and watch them. If he can get to water, he can survive. But if he can't find water, he's gone. And David giving that most beautiful expression, "As the hart thirsts for the water brook..." The little deer is wounded; he's bleeding to death. It's either water or death immediately. Could you imagine him hot, bleeding, the hounds right behind him. And as he lifts his head, he smells; he looks; he's watching for water. He must find it or perish.
Oh, my decrepit friend, the hounds of hell's behind every one of you tonight. We must find Christ or perish. "As my soul thirsts after thee, like the hart for the water brook." He's got to get to Christ or perish. That's to the church. That's to the nation. That's to the world.

L-42 Look at the condition we are in tonight when in Moscow they can land a bomb on top of this building, guided by radar, timed by the radar and stars; they can drop it anywhere they want to, and blow a hundred and seventy-five feet deep in the ground for fifteen miles any way. They've got their finger on the trigger. And setting in this nation with the same kind of a weapon to drop one on them, it's just who pulls first. Then something's going to happen. No wonder the world is a quivering all over tonight. There's a great drama set.

L-43 One time, down in South Africa, I was hunting for lions. And I went down behind a native corrals. And I heard something, and it was a little sheep. And he was grazing along all right. And after while, the little fellow by some means become very nervous. I thought, "What's the matter with the little animal?" I used my binoculars. I couldn't see a thing. But he was so restless, being quiet just a few minutes before that. And I happened to have my binoculars trained on the yellow grass, and I noticed two ears sticking up. The little sheep could not see that lion. But there was instinct in the little fellow letting him know that trouble was at hand. He was so nervous he couldn't eat. And I watched that drama as that lion crouched coming easy like the big cat, through high weeds like that. He could smell the lamb, but the lamb could not smell him. But the lamb had an instinct that told him that death and trouble was at hand.


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