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| David Mourning the Death of Absalom | Gustave Dore (1832-1883) |
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Desperation takes prominence in life more often than we might see or want to admit. Our external circumstances of material comfort or relational safety may shield us for a time, but the distance between our parched souls and a feeling of personal wholeness and satiation is always lurking just beneath the surface of what we portray to the outside world. Perhaps surprisingly, this is no different for one who has become an adopted child of God.
Here, David reveals desperation as he figuratively “seeks” his God and “thirsts” and “faints” for his presence. But more than figuratively, it reveals David’s actual desperation for God’s presence while also desiring his justice and protection as he flees those who want him dead (Ps. 63:9-11), enemies not from nations antagonistic toward his God, but from within his own kingdom and household(1).
What is one to do with such desperation, with such inner soul sickness and fear of death? David continues in praise and worship in this Psalm because of his intimate knowledge of God’s completely satisfying love for him. He could do this because he had tasted the other waters of comfort or power or revenge that claimed to give wholeness and satisfaction and he found them wanting. And we, the recipients of God's secure and unearned love in the gospel, can do the same.
Experiencing rejection and vicious attacks from enemies both from other nations and from his own people, Jesus, God-in-flesh, withstood them all and gave his all, his very life on a cross. According to John’s Gospel, his final words give us the assurance that he had completed his unparalleled task of absorbing the wrath due to us for sin – “It is finished” (Jn. 19:30). But right before he gave up his spirit on the course toward resurrection, he uttered these words, “I thirst” (Jn. 19:28; Ps. 69).
His thirst equaled our refreshment, and our refreshment in his life-renewing grace gives us the gratitude and joy to worship and love Him and be truly satiated, knowing with certainty that we are perfectly loved, even in our utter desperation.
"Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." (Proverbs 25:25)
(1) Tremper Longman, Psalms, Tyndale Old Testament Commentary (2014).
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