Thought for the Week - 11th October
Lloyd HopkinPsalm 63
O God, You are my God;
Early will I seek You;
My soul thirsts for You;
My flesh longs for You
In a dry and thirsty land
Where there is no water.
So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.
Because Your loving kindness is better than life,
My lips shall praise You.
Thus I will bless You while I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.
When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches.
Because You have been my help,
Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.
My soul follows close behind You;
Your right hand upholds me.
But those who seek my life, to destroy it,
Shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
They shall fall by the sword;
They shall be a portion for jackals.
But the king shall rejoice in God;
Everyone who swears by Him shall glory;
But the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped.
In this Psalm, David speaks of his soul and a body thirsting and longing for God. He is a man who is hungry for the things of God.
We too come to God with a hunger. But all too often, life can often crowd around us to the point where we lose some of that hunger that brought us to God in the first place.
Hunger isn’t an “on and off” thing – in spiritual matters, we can find ourselves in the position where we are a little hungry or a lot hungry. But this is our God… why would we not be so hungry for more?
The fact is that sin and life itself get in the way. But the amazing thing is that we can actually choose to be hungry. We can turn to God to make us more hungry. And this passage shows us how:
- “early I will seek you” – we should seek God early in all things. Whether it’s early in our lives (as young people), early in situations that would otherwise harm us and others (such as hurt and temptation), or early in the morning, when we start the day off in the presence of Almighty God. We must learn to rely on God first in all things. When we make this choice, we build within us a mighty hunger.
- “dry and thirsty land” – there are times when we can feel dry, when it feels like we’re walking through the desert. But even in those desolate places, it’s vital that we thirst for God.
- “My soul shall be satisfied” – the enemy tells us so many lies when it comes to God and a life with Him. But the very real truth is that God satisfies! If we put our faith in Him and follow His path, we find that He will satisfy us more than even our greatest ambitions.
- “My soul follows close behind You” – we need to stay close to Him and He will protect us in the shadow of His wings. He holds us and He gives us strength.
When our hunger fails us, we need to turn to God, for He alone is able to revive, renew us and put that hunger back into us. As it says in Psalm 37, we must “Trust in the Lord” and “wait patiently… wait confidently for Him“.
Ask Him today to revive you. Be honest with Him and ask Him to renew that hunger inside your soul.
Enjoyed the word for today…