“You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you” (Psalm 63:1-5).
The Bible tells us that David wrote the words above when he was in the Desert of Judah.
He was literally in a dry and parched land where there was no water . . . and he wasn’t longing for a cold, refreshing drink of water. He was longing for his God.
Why?
Because David had seen his God in the sanctuary—God’s house. David had witnessed God’s power and his glory—in David’s life and in the lives of other believers. David knew that God’s love is better than any food or drink—even life itself.
How often I forget those truths.
Physical wants and needs consume my attention. Hopes and worries and fears about what’s happening in my life and the lives of my loved ones steal my focus. And just like that, I fail to seek my God earnestly. I fail to thirst for him, to long for God with my whole being in a dry and parched land where there is no water.
I haven’t seen God in the sanctuary and beheld his power and his glory in the same way David did. But God is present in his Word and sacraments—the means of grace, visible and tangible ways that he shows his children again and again what he has done for us with his power and glory in Christ Jesus.
God shows his love—love that is better than life itself—in the person and perfect work of Jesus, who lived, died, and rose again for me. For you. God has forgiven all our sins. He has restored our relationship with him. He has opened heaven’s doors, where, as the prophet Isaiah wrote:
“[God’s people] will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water” (Isaiah 49:10).
Those truths help shape our attitude; they shift our perspective on this life and the world around us.
Do physical wants and needs still matter to us? Absolutely. Do we struggle at times to have the proper perspective on those wants and needs—especially as they relate to our spiritual needs? Absolutely.
That’s why going back to God’s Word and sacraments, again and again, is how we get through life in this dry and parched land without water. God promises to work through such means to strengthen our faith and grow us closer to him.
Dear Christian, God’s grace-filled presence in our lives fully satisfies our spiritual hunger and quenches our spiritual thirst. Jesus himself said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
No matter what happens, no matter what life looks like here on earth, we have God’s love—completely and entirely because of our Savior Jesus.
What’s left for us to do but sing and praise our God as long as we live?
If you’re looking to learn more about God’s Word and sacraments, these books from the People’s Bible Teachings series are your go-to resources:
- Baptism: My Adoption into God’s Family
- Bible: God’s Inspired, Inerrant Word
- Lord’s Supper: The Lamb’s High Feast
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Alex Brown is the marketing and content copywriter at Northwestern Publishing House and a 2023 graduate of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree. He enjoys reading, writing, and spending time in God’s creation with his family.
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