Read Psalm 63:1-8
(*note--I won't be copying the text for you, because I want to encourage you to look the passage up in your own Bible. I think it's important to be familiar with your Bible, so you can know where passages are and mark verses that speak to you.)
Have you ever been famished? completely parched? This often strikes me when I go on a walk with a friend. I have been speed walking and fast talking with my friend for nearly an hour, and by the end of that time my mouth feels like I just swallowed cotton. The only thing on my mind is that I must get a drink of water…and fast. Sure that happens in a physical sense, but does it happen in a spiritual sense?
In this Psalm, David has an insatiable appetite for the living God; his hunger and thirst are for the Lord. As he is writing this Psalm, David is in the dry and weary wilderness. He is probably not hearing from God or feeling His presence, and consequently he is ravenous for the Lord.This thirst for God in the midst of a desert causes David to do a few things, and we can certainly learn from his godly example.
First, David asserts who God is. He starts out the chapter by stating first and foremost, “O God, You are my God” in verse 1. No matter what is going on in his life, God is still God. No matter what changing circumstances one experiences in life, God still reigns, and His character and person never change. He is the rock we can cling to during times of uncertainty, because we know He is the one thing that is still the same.
Second, David seeks after the Lord. Later in verse one David says, “I shall seek you earnestly.” David pursued God and sought Him with his whole being. David didn’t sit back and wait for intimacy with God; he chased after it. Jeremiah 29:13-14a says, “‘You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD.” Proverbs 8:17 states, “I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.” If you seek God earnestly like David did, you will find Him! He desires intimacy with you!
Another thing David does is cling to the truth about God. He may not see God working in his life right at this moment, and he may not feel God’s presence. But that does not mean that God is not there. David remembers the times that he has seen God work in verses 2 and 7. He has seen God’s power and glory (vs. 2), and he has seen God help him (vs. 7). God is faithful. Like David, we too can look back at what God has done in Scripture and what God has done in our own lives. We cling to this truth rather than looking at our present wilderness experience and wondering if He is even there.
The next thing David does is praise God with joy and thanksgiving. He praises God in vs. 3, lifts up his hands to God in vs. 4, offers up praise with joyful lips in vs. 5, and sings for joy in vs. 7. In the midst of the wilderness, we are to worship God! Continue to lift up His name with joy and thanksgiving, because He is always deserving of praise, during all seasons of life.
This is such a comforting and uplifting Psalm of David. The mighty king who was described as “a man after God’s own heart” demonstrates what it looks like to truly thirst for the living God. David passionately sought after God, knowing that He is the only one who satisfies. Will you follow David’s example? Will you hunger for the Lord and spend your life in pursuit of Him?
Pray right now that the Lord will give you a thirst for Him, and praise Him for who He is and what He has done~
