Jesus prayed the Psalms just as the rest of His people did: His life of faith, His spirituality was nourished by prayer and the word of God. One day Jesus left home to begin His life's mission: preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Scripture tells us nothing about His decision to leave home, but we can be quite certain that He was motivated by a great desire to be "engaged in His Father's affairs", as He said at twelve years of age in the Temple (Lk 2:49). The great desire for God expressed by Psalm 42 would have found an echo in Jesus' own heart. Several times during His life He spoke of hHs strong desires: "I have longed to eat this Passover with you before I suffer" (Lk 22:15). He strongly desired to endure the baptism of death (Lk 12:50) in order that we might receive the baptism of life. Jesus came to cast fire on the earth, and He greatly desired that it was already blazing (Lk 12:50). As Christians, then, we should be people of strong desires - not the desires which trap and overwhelm us, but the desires that give us energy and vision, strength and courage.