Recently, God spoke to me, and I shared it with a friend.
My friend asked, “So what might be God’s invitation to you?” 
The riveting question haunted me, so the next morning, I read Psalm 42. As I meditated, I asked myself the question, “What is God inviting me to?”
I discovered four invitations:
Above all, God invited me to yearn for Him – to pant and thirst for Him. I often wake up agitated, wanting to experience Jesus. Though I don’t like that restless feeling, it indicates that I’m spiritually healthy.
What if the deer in Psalm 42 never experienced thirst? He might become dehydrated and die. I see my restlessness as an invitation to seek Him…so I can live.
I accept the invitation to yearn for God.
The next invitation was for me to be real, authentic. The psalmist cried out and questioned God. Twice he admitted to being “downcast.” He mourned. He was in physical agony. He had many enemies. King David was no pretender.
God invites me to be authentic with Him, even if that means shedding tears, questioning Him or acknowledging my pain or discouragement.
I accept the invitation to be authentic.
Another invitation I felt God extend to me was to recall the past. Though He invites me to be authentic when I am feeling down, He also invites me to savor the good times: leading crowds to worship Him…recalling places where I experienced Him closely.
In the midst of his pain, the psalmist remembered that God loved him. God was his Rock. God invites, even compels, me to remember past truths about Him as well.
I accept the invitation to recall, even savor, good times from the past and to remember who God is.
The final invitation from God was to hope in Him. The psalmist knew that in the future he would once again praise God.
But the way the psalmist did this is not something we are often encouraged to do. He talked to himself. He instructed his “soul” to hope in God. He did this twice!
I accept the invitation to hope, yes…even to talk to myself as I instruct my soul to look toward the future.
Four invitations:
• To yearn for God
• To be authentic
• To recall God’s truths in the past
• To stay in hope
What is God’s invitation to you?
2013 Deborah Simon, Executive Director
GateWay of Hope Ministries – The Helping Place for Hurting Women