Psalm 63: Thirsting For God in the Spiritual Wasteland

A Psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.

1 O God, you are my God,

earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.

2 I have seen you in the sanctuary

and beheld your power and your glory.

3 Because your love is better than life,

my lips will glorify you.

4 I will praise you as long as I live,

and in your name I will lift up my hands.

5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;

with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

6 On my bed I remember you;

I think of you through the watches of the night.

7 Because you are my help,

I sing in the shadow of your wings.

8 My soul clings to you;

your right hand upholds me.

9 They who seek my life will be destroyed;

they will go down to the depths of the earth.

10 They will be given over to the sword

and become food for jackals.

11 But the king will rejoice in God;

all who swear by God's name will praise him,
while the mouths of liars will be silenced.

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Valentine’s Day this year has caused quite a bit of controversy in Malaysia. I don’t
celebrate it for religious reasons. But it seems like a good time to show our loved ones
how much they mean to us. Except that the price of roses and romantic dinners shoots up
horribly on this day. So finally I decided not to buy any flowers for my wife on
Valentine’s Day. Mainly because Grace thinks it’s a waste of money. But suppose I did…
Suppose that I bought her a bunch of flowers and came home saying: “Dear, Happy
Valentine’s Day! Here is a bouquet of roses just for you." And she was surprised: “Oh,
for me? Thank you so much”…

Now imagine if I were to say to her: “Oh, don’t mention it. It is just my duty as a
husband. As a very responsible person, I know it is my obligation to give you flowers on
Valentine’s Day. So here you go”… What do you think? Would she be very happy about
that? Why not? Isn’t duty a noble thing to do?

You find it weird or funny if I say that because Grace is not honored by joyless duty. It’s
as if I give her flowers because I have to, and not because I want to.

Imagine a different scenario now: I gave my wife flowers and she said: “Oh for me? Why
so many roses?” And this time I replied: “Dear, because it is my pleasure to give you
gifts. It makes me happy to see you happy. I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather spend
this evening with than with you.” Ah… is that much better? Why?

Because Grace’s worth as a person is magnified and honored when I delight in her
character, her worth, her virtues, her beauty. And in case you still want to eat lunch later,
I better stop these mushy mushy stuffs. But there is a point to this mental experiment that
I borrowed from John Piper. He wrote this analogy in a poem dedicated to his wife called
“Let Me All My Pleasures Tell” in the book Desiring God.

The point is this: Many a times we relate to God in terms of rules and regulations, a list of
do’s and don’ts, of duties and obligations. Of course, there is right and wrong and holy
commandments that God has given us to keep. But God’s worth, beauty and manifold
excellencies are not glorified by joyless duty, but by our joyful, willing and obedient
delight in all that He is. We obey and serve Him because we want to, because we desire
to honor and please Him. Not because we grudgingly have to. To put it another, our duty
is to delight in God. (Psalm 37:4) The Westminster Shorter Catechism would say that the
main purpose of our existence is to glorify God and ENJOY Him forever. There is a close
and inseparable connection between glorifying God and enjoying Him forever.

And the passage of Scripture we read today from Psalm 63 has a lot to teach us about this
intimate desiring, intense longing, thirsting and hungering for God. In the life of the early
church, it was highly valued and Psalm 63 was prescribed for daily public prayers. It was
a psalm of King David, whom the Bible described as “a man after God’s heart”. He was a
great warrior and music composer. As a king, he secured Israel’s borders and established
a royal dynasty which led to the coming of Jesus the Messiah. Despite all his
achievements, the bible is also honest to tell us that king David has also committed
serious sins, not least adultery and murder. He was literally in political wilderness at least

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twice in his life. The first time, he was pursued by King Saul (1 Samuel 23). And the
second time, he was pursued by his own son Absalom who wanted to take over his throne
(2 Sam 15). It seems that this psalm was written while David escaped to the desert of
Judah, fleeing from his own son. So his life was in danger. He was hiding in a desert
where there was no life or water. And that is the context in which Psalm 63 was framed.

In spite of many dangers and the burning heat in the desert, King David seeks after God
with intense passion:

O God, you are my God,

earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.

As we reflect on this psalm, I would like to draw out three key themes about glorifying
God and yearning for Him.

First Theme: God is glorified when we are satisfied in Him

In Malaysia, we may not live in a "dry and weary land" physically. But we do live in a
spiritual wasteland. In our urban and prosperous society, we are constantly bombarded
with advertisements from all over the place telling us that our life is not complete unless
we live in a nicer house and drive a fancier car and earn a bigger paycheck. Our sense of
identity (who we are) is tied closely to the things that we buy, things that we consume or
things that we own. Our slogan today is: “I shop therefore I am”. And all of us have to
struggle daily against the omnipresent sales pitch telling us that "bigger, newer and faster
are better!" It’s about “me, myself and I”. Oh, we all know that "money cannot buy
happiness" right? But we still want more stuff that this world can offer. City folks like us
have a "standard of living" to maintain. So we are always chasing that elusive fulfillment
that the next purchase may bring us.

Yet we strangely find many urban people are living lives of quiet desperation. People
yearn for meaning and purpose in life and try to satisfy this longing by the “shop till I
drop” therapy. I must get the latest i-phone, i-pod, i-pad and other cool gadgets.

But someone once said this: "All true needs, such as food, drink, and companionship, are
satiable. They can be satisfied but illegitimate wants - pride, envy, greed - are insatiable.
By their very nature they cannot be satisfied. In that sense, materialism is the opium of
the people. It’s like drugs that for a moment dull the sense of emptiness inside. Enough is
never enough. Greater quantities are required for satisfaction and each increment proves
inadequate the next time." (Herbert Schlossberg) We simply cannot be satisfied by
materialism.

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It’s actually quite weird… Young people who chase after comfort, fun, excitement and
entertainment get bored more easily. Wanna go shopping? Nothing to do la… Wanna
watch a movie? Boring… Sky diving? Boring… Gene Veith wrote, “Boredom is a
chronic symptom of a pleasure-obsessed age. When pleasure becomes our number one
priority, the result, ironically, is boredom.”

It seems like we human beings have this infinitely huge hole in our hearts and we try our
best to fill it up with things, gadgets, sex, music, success, health, religion … you name
it… but it leaves us empty as before.

According to C.S. Lewis, "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world
can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of
my earthly pleasures satisfy (this longing)… Probably, earthly pleasures were never
meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing." Perhaps these
yearnings for meaning, relationship and purpose in our heart are clues and hints that point
us to the God who truly satisfies.

But some may say: “Well, just because I feel the desire for “fried ice cream” doesn’t
mean that I will get it. Just because we want something doesn’t mean it exists.” But
doesn’t the appetite for food in us mean that food exists somewhere? Isn’t it true that our
innate desires correspond to real objects that can satisfy them, such as sexual desire
(corresponding to sex), physical hunger (corresponding to food), tiredness (corresponds
to sleep) and relational desires (corresponding to friendship)? And we have a longing that
no amount or quality of food, sex, friendship or success in this world can fulfill. That is a
powerful clue that the vacuum in our hearts is God-shaped and only a relationship with
the infinite God can make it whole again. If our hunger points to food and our thirst
points to water, could our desire for something beyond this world be a clue to something
else? Perhaps we are made for another world beyond this material world that we can see.

And King David knows that! For him God is not some impersonal unknown Supreme
Being out there. He is not a Cosmic Force faraway, uninvolved with the world. He cried
out: “O God, You are my God”. This God is personal not an “It”, He can relate to us.

Saint Augustine said, "Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee."

And if we long and desire for God then we need to seek him actively and earnestly. To be
earnest is to be serious and determined. It’s not a hobby you do when you’ve got nothing
else better to do. Do we eagerly seek and pursue God with all our emotion, all our mind
and all our will? How serious are we in growing our relationship with God?

Sometimes, we are like that little boy who plays with dirty mud by the drain (longkang),
and Mommy comes along and says, “Come, Ah Boy, don’t play in the mud. Come,
Mommy bring you play at Sunway Lagoon instead.” And the boy refuses (“I don’t want,
I want to play in that dirty puddle of mud”) because he cannot imagine how wonderful
playing by the sea or Sunway Lagoon is really like. The problem is not that his desire is
too strong. It’s just the opposite: His desire is too weak. He settled for far too little.

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Some people also think of God as a cosmic policeman who frowns every time people
have fun and goes around making sure that people never enjoy themselves.

But that is far from the truth. Think about all the great promises in the Bible. Jesus says I
have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the bread of life. He who
comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. (John
6:34-36). At God’s right hand are pleasures forevermore. Those who lose their life shall
find it. We are promised a resurrected body and eternal life in a new heaven and new
earth.

CS Lewis said: “If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering
nature of the rewards promised in the gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our
desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around with
drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who
wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by
an offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased.” We settle for too little.

Are we too easily pleased by the temporal pleasures of this world? Or do we thirst for the
infinite joy of knowing the Creator God himself? Because only Christ alone can satisfy
the deepest longing for meaning and for love in our hearts. God is glorified when we
are satisfied in Him... when we drink deeply and feast upon His goodness.

Second Theme of Psalm 63: God is glorified when we thirst for Him

Because the Christian life is not an endless series of top-of-the-world experiences, where
everything is “happy and clappy”. Sometimes we enter into seasons of spiritual dryness
when we don’t feel any passion for God at all.

And when we don’t feel any passion for studying the scriptures, coming to church, pray
or witness, does that mean that we don’t need to do these things? Do we stop doing them
because God is not honored by joyless duty? Do we stop doing our duty because we have
no desire? What can we do then?

The answer is: No, don’t just sit around and wait for the passion for God to come. We do
what we need to do out of obedience anyway. But doesn’t that make us a hypocrite – I
don’t want to do it but do it because I have to?

John Piper has this advice: “No, you will not be a hypocrite, if you know that joy is your
duty, and repent that you don’t have it, and ask God earnestly to restore the joy even as
you do good deeds. That is not the way a hypocrite thinks. That is the way a true
Christian thinks in the fight for joy.” (When I Don’t Desire God: How To Fight For Joy)

That means we still do what we are supposed to do but do so with a heart of repentance,
asking God to restore our joy in Him, to fill us again. Because the value of water is not

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only glorified when we drink it and are satisfied. The importance (preciousness) of water
is also magnified when we thirst and long for it when we don’t have it yet. In the same
way, we honor God when we yearn for Him (even though we are not fully satisfied yet).

Some of us have been Christians for some time already but somehow we still don’t feel
satisfied in God. What could be wrong? And we all experience seasons of spiritual
dryness when we don’t feel like doing what we know we should. Sometimes, it could be
due to willful sins in our lives or idolatrous substitutes in our hearts.

Before lunchtime, I sometimes have the habit of eating tid-bits or junk food lying around
the office. While waiting for the clock to hit 12.30 pm, my hand gets itchy and can’t
resist grabbing that candy bar or munch on Pringles. So when it comes to having the
proper meal, I have already lost appetite for real, nourishing food. You can’t eat what you
really need to eat because you are already stuffed on junk food.

In the same way, satisfaction will never come if we claim to trust in God, but then quench
our souls on the short-lived, inadequate pleasures of money, power and ambition. Sin
spoils our spiritual appetite, giving us just a temporary ‘high’ that leaves us empty.

Through the prophet Jeremiah, God said, "For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to cut for themselves cisterns,
broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jer. 2:13). The people of Israel were guilty of
abandoning God, the fountain of life that truly satisfies and chase after broken cisterns
that can never satisfy.

If we do not feel a hunger/thirst to know God more (not just know about Him but a
deeper personal encounter with Him) could it be because we have lost appetite by eating
too much spiritual junk food? Maybe we need to go on a fast of TV, shopping, computer
games, others’ approval or whatever substitutes or idols we may have in our hearts that
hinder our relationship with God.

But sometimes, a season of spiritual dryness may not be due to any particular sin. Some
mystics call it ‘the dark night of the soul’. For example, it’s wonderful when you go for
prayers and God touched you in a special way that your heart seems not to be able to
contain the joy of fellowshipping with God. Wow, such a fantastic spiritual experience.
But then we can put too much attention on that experience itself, the drama of it, the
pleasing sensations rather than focusing on the Savior. When we do not feel God’s
presence, sometimes it may be a work of the Holy Spirit. When you feel God is far away
but actually He is near you, He is weaning us away from our attachment to the pleasing,
spiritual experiences so that we can love God for who He is, not for what He can give.

In the darkness of night, when he can’t sleep, King David remembers God… “On my bed
I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.” He actively recalls the
spiritual encounters he had in the past… “I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld
your power and your glory.” These memories at the temple kindle in his heart a desire
and longing for God.

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Why do we come to church this morning? Is it out of habit? Because my parents come
here? Out of obedience to Bible teaching? Because we like the music and songs? For
fellowship with friends? Because of the sermon?

When it comes right down to it, there is only one reason for coming to church. We come
to church, first and foremost, to be in God’s presence and seek His face. We come to
church, first and foremost, to meet with God. God speaks and meets with us through our
worship together, through the sacraments as we eat of the bread and drink from the cup,
through the preaching of the Word, as we pray together and in the midst of the
conversations during fellowship. To behold his power and glory in the sanctuary. It’s not
about us. It’s all about God.

When we experience God’s mercy or grace or answered prayers, do we store them up in

our memory? Can we look back at these precious moments and when things are difficult,
we can say to ourselves, “You know what? God has been faithful… God is good… He
has done great things”? Do you remember? Or do we forget too quickly?

Like King David, we need to come into God’s sanctuary with a focus to behold His
power and glory and remember His grace and mercy and goodness during the seasons of
darkness and loneliness. Because God is glorified even when we thirst for Him… even
when He seems absent or faraway.

The 3rd Theme: God is glorified when our joy in Him overflows into praise.

King David’s situation was one of conflict and danger. Enemies were bent on killing him.
It is this passion for God that kept him going. He is assured that God is able to protect
and vindicate him. His enemies will be destroyed by the sword and the mouths of those
who slandered him will be silenced.

He decided to praise God no matter what happens. Even while in danger and in the
burning desert, there is a mutual commitment: “My soul clings to you; your right hand
upholds me.”

Despite the circumstances around him, he says: “with singing lips my mouth will praise
you”, “I will praise you as long as I live, in your name I will lift up my hands”, “My lips
will glorify you” and so on.

But how can he praise God with songs when his life is in danger and his throne taken
over by force? If you ask him why? He would say: “Because God, your love is better than
life, my lips will glorify you.”, “My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods with
singing lips my mouth will praise you”, “Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow
of your wings.” Because God is his all-surpassing treasure and refuge.

In other words, praise is the overflow of a heart that is satisfied in God. And all
enjoyment naturally and spontaneously overflows into praise. Those of us who watch
football will know this. Sometimes we watch Champion’s League football at 3 am in the

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morning, and when our favorite team scores a crucial and exciting goal, what do we do?
We want to shout out: Goal! We want to sing “Glory Glory Man United!” Or “You will
never walk alone” We want to praise the scorer, turn to our friends: That was a wonderful
pass from Rooney or Gerard. That is overflow of our enjoyment of the game. Imagine if
you watch the game alone and you don’t dare to shout because you dun want to wake up
your parents/wife. Something is missing… No umph… The joy is not complete… it
didn’t lead to its climax.

So praise is the natural and joyful response of someone secure in God’s protection and
satisfied in His greatness. Our delight in someone or something is brought to completion
by praise. When we see a very beautiful sunset or breathtaking scenery, we just naturally
feel like saying “Wow, that’s so amazing!” That praise completes our joy… C. S. Lewis
wrote: “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely
expresses but completes the enjoyment. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on
telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.”
When we praise the one we love, we are completing our joy.

So when God calls us to worship and praise Him, it is not out of selfishness or pride or a
sense of insecurity as if God needs our praises. No. Rather, the act of God seeking our
praise is the ultimate loving act. Precisely because He loves us so, He relentlessly
commands us to pursue the praises of His name in our hearts. Think of what we would be
missing if God did not insist that we worship Him. We would never know the source of
ultimate satisfaction. Our joy will never be complete.

Jonathan Edwards that great revivalist once said, "The enjoyment of (God) is the only
happiness with which our souls can be satisfied…. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives,
or children, or the company of earthly friends are but shadows, but enjoyment of God is
the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams,
but God is the fountain. These are but drops, but God is the ocean."

You see… All the pleasures and miracles of life – good food, beautiful friendship, the
colors of sunset, the gentleness of a mother or the warmth of a lover, glorious music – all
these are good gifts from God that we enjoy, but even they are ultimately clues that point
beyond themselves to a greater satisfaction found in God alone.

The mark of authentic spiritual experience is that you become satisfied in God for who
He is and not what He can give you.

In Buddhism desire is considered to be the problem of humanity. Desire drives us to

attachment and binds us to suffering. Since desire itself is the problem, the solution is to
get rid of desire and attain Nirvana. But in order to get rid of desire, you must have the
desire to get rid of desire. It seems you need the problem in order to get the solution.

But for the Christian, desire is not a bad thing in itself. The problem is when we desire
lesser goods more than a greater Good. For example when we love money more than our
family, this is wrong because our family is more valuable, a higher good compared to

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money. We have sacrificed a greater good for a lesser good. And when we desire
anything in the world – be it work, ministry, family, career, ambition (things that are
good in themselves) – when we desire them more than God, it becomes a problem. It
becomes idol worship. That thing has become our true source of satisfaction and security.
It is functionally our god, no matter what we say we believe.

So the solution is not to get rid of desire per se (you can’t do it even if you try). The
solution is to have our love replaced and captivated by the Supreme Good – that is God
Himself. Only a greater desire awakened by the Holy Spirit can expel our attachment to
worldly things. Every day, we are faced with these questions: What is your deepest
desire? What is your true source of satisfaction? What gives you courage to face the
future? Denial of worldly pleasures alone is not enough. We need to have our desires
transformed, redirected and fulfilled in what is ultimately satisfying and most glorious –
in all that God is for us in Christ.

Let me close with this song by Chris Rice called “Thirsty”. The beautiful lyrics go like
this:

I’m so thirsty, I can feel it

Burning through the furthest corners of my soul
Deep desire, can’t describe this
Nameless urge that drives me somewhere
Though I don’t know where to go

Seems I’ve heard about a River from someone who’s been

And they tell me once you reach it, oh, you’ll never thirst again
So I have to find the River, somehow my life depends on the River
Holy River, I’m so thirsty

Other waters I’ve been drinkin’

But they always leave me empty like before
Satisfaction, all I’m askin’
Could I really feel this thirsty if there weren’t something more?

And I’ve heard about a River from someone who’s been

And they tell me once you reach it, oh, you’ll never thirst again
So I have to find the River, somehow my life depends on the River
Holy River, I’m so thirsty

I’m on the shore now of the wildest River

And I kneel and beg for mercy from the sky
But no one answers, I’ve gotta take my chances
‘Cause something deep inside me’s cryin’
"This is why you are alive!"

So I plunge into the River with all that I am

Praying this will be the River where I’ll never thirst again
I’m abandoned to the River
And now my life depends on the River
Holy River, I’m so thirsty

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Is it your desire to be a person after God’s own heart? Are you thirsting and longing for
God today? When we come into His sanctuary, do we come to meet with God and behold
His power and glory? Are your souls satisfied in all that He is or are we too easily
pleased with substitutes that do not last?

Are we following hard after Him? Can we say, “O God, you are my God?”

Jesus says: I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who
believes in me will never be thirsty. Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone
who believes in me may come and drink! For rivers of living water will flow from his
heart (John 6:34-36, 7:37-39)

Let us look to Christ and have our hunger filled and our thirst quenched in His presence.
Let us pray.

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