In October 2013, 87 migrants from the country of Niger were on their way to Algeria when their truck broke down. They found themselves in the middle of the desert, far from civilization. Soon they ran out of water. Most died from dehydration. Only a few survived.
When David wrote Psalm 63, he was in the wilderness of Judah, pursued by his enemies, facing the scorching heat of the day, the cold at night, and thirst from a lack of water. And this psalm is what he wrote to help deal with the pressure, difficulty, and spiritual dryness.
While it is unlikely any of us will find ourselves in a physical desert without water, we will surely — at some point in our lives — go through times of spiritual or emotional desert. When we find ourselves in situations like this, what will we do? David’s response from the wilderness can help our own response when we find ourselves in a spiritually “dry and weary land.”
Long for God (Psalm 63:1-3)
David declared Elohim was his God. Despite being surrounded by polytheistic nations, David rejected that belief and proclaimed his allegiance to the one true God. This also signifies David knew God in an intimate, personal way. There is a difference between knowing about someone and truly knowing that person. Many people know about God but don’t really know Him. David desired to seek after God and know Him intimately.
Do we seek the Lord with longing? Do we look forward to coming into God’s presence to spend time with Him and get to know Him better? It’s easy to fill our lives with things other than God. Relationships. Ministry. Possessions. Careers. All these can be good, and they have their place, but they are not meant to satisfy our souls. God alone can do that.
If you were thirsty, it would be unthinkable not to drink water to satisfy your thirst. It should be the same in your spiritual life. When you’re going through a spiritual desert, you need to cling more and more to God and His Word.
In this psalm, we find David longing to worship the Lord in the sanctuary in Jerusalem. But he couldn’t, because he was in the wilderness of Judah fleeing those seeking to kill him. Yet he remembered God’s power, glory, and steadfast love, and those remembrances sustained him through this difficult time.
When the biblical authors pondered the person of God, they consistently described His character as compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, overflowing with steadfast love and faithfulness. In verse three, the word David used to describe God is hesed, translated lovingkindness or steadfast love. The core idea of this term communicates loyalty or faithfulness within a relationship. Thus, hesed is closely related to God’s covenant with His people. As to the concept of lovingkindness, hesed expresses God’s faithfulness to His people, as well as His mercy, even though they don’t deserve it. These thoughts of God were able to sustain David in the wilderness and gave him hope for the future.
Delight in God (Psalm 63:4-5)
When we see the power and glory of God, when we experience the great love and mercy of the Lord, and when He satisfies the thirst we have, our response should always be one of delight and praise. David wrote this psalm in the wilderness while pursued by enemies who wanted to kill him. He could have asked for help, but instead, he praised God’s faithfulness and steadfast love.
Meditate on God (Psalm 63:6-8)
Have you had nights when you couldn’t sleep, thinking about or worrying about things? David had many such worries. He was driven from his home and his enemies were pursuing him, but in this psalm, we see him meditating on God’s greatness, mercy, and faithfulness.
That was what David chose to think about. The process of memory recall can bring to the present both good and bad experiences of life, but the psalmist wanted to focus on the good. Satan, however, wants us to meditate on wilderness thoughts. He wants us to think we are alone. Many times, during the night when we have nothing else to occupy our minds, we think negative things.
During these times, more than ever, we should focus on God and His goodness and the fact He is with us and will neither leave us nor forsake us. Like David, we should meditate specifically on God being our satisfaction, our joy, our help, and our Protector.
Trust in God (Psalm 63:9-11)
What’s absent from this psalm is any attention to David’s earthly needs or distress. It seems his longing for and pursuit of God reflects a deep expression of trust.
David expressed his confidence God would save him from all his enemies. Do we always trust the Lord will do what’s best?
David did two important things here. First, he trusted God to exercise justice as it related to his enemies. David gave God the problem (his enemies) and trusted God to solve the problem. Second, he rejoiced in God’s deliverance. He had faith God would deliver him from his enemies.
Consider these takeaways from this psalm:
Thirst for God and Him alone. Don’t be satisfied with anything else.
Make time to spend with God. Schedule it and don’t skip it. You can’t know God intimately if you don’t make time to spend with Him.
Rejoice. When we’re in the desert, our first instinct is to complain, to be ungrateful, and to blame God or others. David rejoiced in the Lord despite his circumstances. He could do this because he remembered the Lord and meditated on Him and His previous blessings. The Lord is always faithful to us and can be trusted to get us through our difficult circumstances. So, rejoice in the Lord always, even during those desert times. When you focus on God, it’s hard to complain and be negative.
Meditate on God. When negative thoughts invade your mind, when the devil tries to raise doubts about your faith, and when anxiety and depression try to creep in, think about, meditate on, and sing about the steadfast love and goodness of God, recognizing He is the only One who can truly satisfy your thirst.
About the Writer: Tim Johnson and his wife Kristi served as Free Will Baptist missionaries to Spain for three decades. Currently, he serves as program coordinator for intercultural studies at Welch College. Learn more: welch.edu.
