#DailyDevotion Are You Thirsty For God?
Psalm 63 O God, You are my God;
Is God, the only true and living God, your God. That is to say, the God of Israel, the Creator of all that is seen and unseen, who made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Who sent His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ into the flesh to die for your sins, rescue you from death and hell and give eternal life to you now and at the resurrection, your God, to whom you look to for every good? David calls upon God as his God. This is because God has claimed the people of Israel as His own. In the New Testament, through faith in Jesus, God calls us His people and He is our God. To be God to be that from whom we seek every good thing.
I’m eagerly looking for You, I’m thirsting for You. My body faints with longing for You, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.
Well this is particularly true where David is out in the wilderness far from the tabernacle where David was when he composed this. The arid land is like being far from God. Some people today have a rather perverted sense of being “thirsty” for someone, but as David uses the term, it is very similar though directed in a proper sense to the proper person we should be thirsty for, namely God. Some days, when we are particularly feeling everything coming down around us, we may feel this way even when we are in Church, having heard the word of God and having received the sacrament. Our situation makes us feel distant from the One who loves us and whom we love. Nevertheless, these situations call us to exercise our faith. The LORD indeed has made manifest His presence to us with His name, His people, His Word, His sacrament and His blessing. We just don’t feel it. That’s ok. Just believe it anyway. All we ever really have is His promise. Do you believe He is faithful?
2So I look for You in the sanctuary to see Your power and glory.
David at least is looking for God in the right place, where the LORD has promised to be there for him. If we are with the gathering of the saints, we are at the right place as well. David desires to see God’s power and glory. What exactly is he looking for? I know we often are looking for relief from the oppression that hangs over us. We want our spirits lifted so that hope reigns in our hearts and minds. The Word and the Sacrament do have the power and glory to do this.
3Because Your kindness is better than life, my lips praise You. 4I will bless You as long as I live, raising my hands in Your name.
The kindness David speaks of is the LORD covenantal love. In the New Testament we know it as Jesus’ agape love. It is sacrificial love. It seeks for the best of the other at its own expense. That is the love and kindness of God we see in Jesus Christ crucified. His love and kindness is better than life for this life is short lived. His kindness is eternal and carries us into eternity. For this kindness and love we bless Him, thank Him as long as we have breath. The fact He provides us with Word and Sacrament is a witness of His kindness to us. When He provides us with those who bear His name, it is a kindness to us. When all else seems to not do, we always have His Holy Spirit, whom He poured into our hearts when we were baptized to comfort us.
Merciful God and Father, may Your Holy Spirit fulfill our thirst for You through the means of grace and may He remind us in our hearts all that you have done for us in Christ Jesus when the times make us forget and make us thirsty for You. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.