Thirst for God

O God, You are my God; 
Early I will seek you; 
My soul thirsts for You; 
My flesh longs for You
in a dry and thirsty land
where there is no water. 

 - Psalm 63:1

When was the last time you were thirsty? I mean truly thirsty? I’ve run races in central Texas and the Panhandle in hottest months of the year. I was thirsty then. I’ve worked in my yard all day with the sun and wind in West Texas. I was thirsty by the end of the day. I’ve worked out so hard that I downed multiple water bottles afterwards. In each of these instances, I was blessed to find water quickly and easily. I’ve never been thirsty let’s say out in nature like the desert or up on mountains where I was far away from water. But I can imagine it based on the shorter feelings of thirst I’ve had in my life. The closest I’ve gotten to this feeling was when I ran a race in August. I didn’t drink enough before. The day was one of the hottest days of that summer. The race did not feature many water stops and I only took one water bottle with me on my run. I was so hot by the turn around. I was literally just running from shaded area to shaded area for some reprieve from the heat. I used my extra water quickly and was left to try to make it back to the finish line with no extra water and very little shade. By the time I finished, I was so hot and thirsty I thought I was going to have a heat stroke. Lucky for me, I was able to find water and shade quickly and cool down. Extreme thirst is the illustration David uses to describe how much he longs for God in Psalm 63. Let’s examine the Psalm together to start off our week.

The Psalm is given the description “A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah.” Most scholars say this Psalm was written in either the years he was fleeing from Saul before David became king or while he was fleeing from his son Absalom during his son’s rebellion. More scholars lean toward the second time from because of clues in the Psalm that seem to point to David actually being the King when he writes the Psalm. Regardless of timing, David is on the run from his enemies in the wilderness. The natural elements of the wilderness and his physical needs clearly inspired the words he dedicates to God when he describes his spiritual wilderness. In this short Psalm, David clearly lays out before the feet of God how much David not only loved but needed God. Only God could quench his thirst.

David begins with a strong affirmative statement of his relationship to God. O God, You are my God. From the beginning David sets up the relationship. David knows that God is Jehovah but he also claims possession here. You are my God. Here David is affirming not only that God is GOD but that the creator of the universe is also a very personal God. He knows David and David knows Him. So, because of this relationship David says early I will see You. My soul thirst for You; My flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. David begins each day seeking out God. He prays to God and looks for God like a man stuck in the middle of the desert looking for water. David would have understood that feeling. After all, generally when the people were in the wilderness in Canaan there were thirsty. The Israelites while they wandered. Elijah while he fled Ahab and Jezebel. Hagar after she was expelled from Abraham’s family. Jesus while he awaited the temptations. In the instances where wilderness appears in the Bible, almost always those who are trapped there turn to God for physical aid. So, David here clearly would have understood the notion of being that thirsty. So, he uses that to craft a comparison. Like he thirsts for physical water, his soul thirst of God. And like all the physical examples of those who needed God’s help to physically survive the wilderness, David here is acknowledging only God can help use through our spiritual wildernesses as well.

Because David has had to flee Jerusalem (the location of the House of God), David feels acutely the absence of God. He longs to be back with God. So, he says he has looked for God in the sanctuary to find God’s power and glory. When David felt this absence, he didn’t pack up his bags and call it a night. He actively looked for God. He sought him early in the morning. And he found his answer.

Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, 
My lips shall praise you. (vs. 3).

He remembered God’s lovingkindness. He remembered all the things God had done for David throughout his life. So even in this incredibly difficult time (a time which was as David knew direct consequence of his sins if this was written during his flight from Absalom) David found God by remembering God’s love for him. Even though it may have felt that God wasn’t there with him in those moments while he fled from his enemies, David remembered all of God’s love and kindness and realized they were better than life. Even if David died out there in the wilderness – even if he never got back to the throne, having God’s lovingkindness was superior to even life itself. So, David said My lips will praise you.

The middle portion of Psalm, David lists all the reasons and ways he rejoices in and praises God. He will bless the Lord while he lives by lifting up his hands in worship. His soul is so satisfied to the point of fatness that his mouth will praise God. When he goes to bed and lays awake at night, He will praise God because he knows God is there. When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches because you have been my help there in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice (vs. 6 &7). David concludes his section on praise by stating:

My soul clings to You; 
Your right hand upholds me. 

David realized that safety, security, and peace were only truly found in God. So, his soul clung hard to God. Like a drowning man clinging to a lifesaver or a climber clinging to the rope as they ascend the mountain, David decided the only way through this time of hardship was not to move away from God but to cling harder to him because he knows God will save him. David concludes to state with confidence what he knows will happen to his enemies. He knows God will bring them to justice (vs. 8-11). David simply ends by saying Everyone who swears by Him shall glory; but the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped.

Psalm 63 is very similar to Psalms 42-43. While many attribute those songs to David, we don’t know for sure if he wrote those. But like in Psalm 63, the Psalmist begins by simply stating As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs for You, O God. Psalm 42 and 43 follow a very similar pattern so I would highly recommended reading all 3 Psalms together today. But the ideas presented in Psalm 63 are clear. David is in a wilderness being hunted by his enemies and away from the House of God. He feels God’s absence and longs to be reunited with God. But instead of becoming mad about the situation he was in or becoming frustrated with God’s apparent absence from his life, David turned to God even harder. He sought after God, he looked for God, he clung to God. The answer to the feeling of desperation and loneliness wasn’t to fold his arms up and walk away from God as we all have the tendency to do. No, David looked even harder for God and he found his answer.

Psalm 63 should be a Psalm we turn to when things aren’t going the way we had hoped or wanted. When we think and feel like God is absent from our lives. Or, when we’ve prayed ad prayed and it just doesn’t seem like God hears us. In other words, when we are in our own spiritual wilderness. We should follow David’s example. He looked even harder for God and he found Him in all of the lovingkindness God had directed toward David. We all face spiritual wildernesses and our souls can sometimes get caught in a spiritual drought. If God was willing to help the Israelites, Hagar, Elijah, and Jesus get through the physical wilderness, how much more will God help us through our spiritual wildernesses? Like David, we only need to look for Him. He is there…waiting.