When Your Soul Thirsts
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.(Psalm 63:1)
Psalm 63 begins with a lament of longing: “O God, You are my God… my soul thirsts for You.”
Is this something you’ve experienced? We wonder, “What is God doing!? Where is God in this situation!? If only I could see or know what He’s up to!”
God’s people have experienced seasons of this since at least the time of Psalm 63. In fact, I’d say it’s something we regularly experience, which is why the Spirit gave us this psalm. This is the starting place for the journey of faith and of growth.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. (Psalm 63:2-3)
Notice, then, what the Psalmist does. He doesn’t just languish, reclined on his divan, smoking clove cigarettes and listening to jazz improvisation, sighing dramatically whenever he senses someone watching him.
No, but this: “So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding Your power and glory.” (2) The psalmist experiences spiritual dryness, and for that reason goes to church. And in church he is attentive to things that speak to his malaise: “Where is God described as powerful? What of His glories here are meaningful to me?” He attends with attentiveness.
When his soul is thirsty, he knows what he needs—a sense of God’s ability and God’s worthiness—and he goes and gets it.
The result is v. 3: “Because Your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise You.” All the “life” the psalmist felt he was missing is now set beside the love the psalmist enjoys. And the love is greater than the life. Now the psalmist no longer thirsts and faints; he is satisfied and full.
My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; Psalm 63:5-6
And this is a meal that keeps on filling. The second action the psalmist takes after attending the service at the sanctuary is in v. 5-6: “I remember You upon my bed and meditate on You in the night.” “When” he does this, “my soul will be satisfied with fat and rich food…” (5)
The Word of God doesn’t go in one ear and get chased away by to-do lists, resentments, and daydreams. No, it is captured and enjoyed in the moment, and recalled again with satisfaction later. In fact, it’s there, in the later meditation on God’s Word that the claim of “Your Steadfast Love” becomes “You have been my help…” (7). A truth about God becomes a memory recalled, a story of steadfast love for me. The initial hearing of God quiets the distress of verse 1, but it’s not until the psalmist connects the Word of God to his personal journey that he feels he’s been filled “with fat and rich food.”
And so, in the end, “My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.” (8) What a transformation from “My soul thirsts for You”! (1)
It is a common experience to be puzzled by God, to feel a longing for Him but then to feel that He is distant. And it is common for us to then stare into our own discontent, twisting it around like a Rubik’s cube: “What did I do wrong? Why do I feel this way? Why doesn’t God answer? What is God doing?”
This psalm lets us know that such feelings are common. But just because they're common doesn't mean that they're where we want to stay.
First, look upon the Lord in worship. There, uniquely, when we’re worshipping God together, do we hear of His power and glory. Look and learn. And then, second, remember this later. Discover those same truths at work in the story of your life. Excavate grace and put it on display for yourself. And lastly, learn a lesson: let your soul cling to these truths, so you don’t so quickly find yourself again in the “dry and weary land where there is no water.”
“My soul thirsts for You… My soul will be satisfied… My soul clings to You”: this is the journey, the regular and normal journey, of faith. Do you need to walk it again this week?
Photo by Fares Nimri on Unsplash
