In a Dry and Parched Land

July 11, 2020

STUDY THE SCRIPTURE

Click here to access the reading from Psalm 63

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REFLECTION

What Desire is Better Than Life?

by Mary McGinnis

What is the first thing on your mind when you first crack open your eyes in the morning, thinking, “I really need . . .”   

A cup of coffee? A bowl of your favorite cereal? Starbucks? 

But what is it that your soul is really longing for? And how does what you are seeking “early” set the tone of your day?

King David from the old testament was the author of today’s Psalm. It says he wrote this while he was in the wilderness (or desert) of Judah. God had chosen him to be King, to take the throne from King Saul. King Saul hated David and vehemently and relentlessly pursued killing him, to eliminate the threat to his power. David hid in the wilderness.

Many of the Psalms were written as David’s honest and open conversations with God amid such distress. 

In today's Psalm, David poured out his heart’s yearnings to his God. Was David experiencing the life sapping effects of thirst, the excruciating pain of longing for water in the middle of his desert?  

Yes, and yet he recognized a deeper longing in his soul. He says, “Early will I seek You. My soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.”

Why does David’s heart pursue God early and so earnestly? Because he knew His God! He knew His mercy! He knew His steadfastness and faithfulness. He knew the relentless, zealous LOVE of his God! He knew that even if life itself were to be snuffed out, this treasure of God’s love could never be taken away.  

That is why he says, “Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You.”

Do you know God like this? Does your heart yearn for things that never seem to satisfy? 

Jesus came to show you how much He loves you. He stretched out His arms on the tool of punishing death, the cross. He suffered, bled, and died. All this He did for you.

Jesus told the woman at the well, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

“Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Jesus in inviting you to find this living water that will satisfy the deepest longs of your soul. His loving kindness is BETTER THAN LIFE!

PRAYER PRACTICE - Use Psalm 63 as a guide for writing out a prayer of lament. Begin with your trust in God, then be honest about your struggles, and finish with re-affirming God’s goodness and placing your trust in Him, even in the midst of the challenges you face.