Savoring the Scripture

Thirsting for the Lord Psalm 63 A weary place and a weary heart make the presence of God the more desirable: if there be nothing below and nothing within to cheer, it is a thousand mercies that we may look up and find all we need. Charles Spurgeon This beautiful psalm was written while David was in the wilderness. How vividly he describes his soul’s desperate need for the Lord. In that dry place, he must’ve physically felt the yearning for water to quench the thirst of his body. He then uses the physical, desperate thirst to give us a metaphor for how his soul was thirsting, fainting, and earnestly seeking the Lord. Could these words describe your need for the Lord?  When your eyes open in the morning, are you thirsting for time with the Lord in His Word? When you go about your day, are you fainting for more of Him? Is His presence what you long for? Are you asking Him to give you eyes to behold His beauty and His power? This psalm drives me to ask these questions to myself.  ...

Thirsting for the Lord Psalm 42 Hope says, “You are my God,” in anticipation of the fulfillment of the promises, even when help is far off. VanGemeren  Charles Spurgeon famously said, “I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages.” In Psalm 42, the psalmist is struggling with despair. He has been separated from participating in temple worship perhaps because he is in exile in a foreign land. He is longing for the presence of the Lord. His tears are his food day and night. He is being taunted by his enemies. Indeed, he feels the heavy weight of God’s judgment on him as “all your breakers and your waves have gone over me” (42:7). These troubles have caused him to pant and thirst for his living God. However heavy his troubles, he does not wallow in self pity or give in to despair. He pours out his soul to the Lord, his rock. He remembers the joy of the songs of praise and the glad shouts. He knows the Lord’s character and faithfulness and that He commands Hi...