Psalm 63: 1-8

"A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah.
1 O God, you are my God, 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.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands and call on your name.
5 My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,*
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
6 when I think of you on my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7 for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me."

Introduction

This is an enormously rich Psalm of longing for God and for the satisfaction that comes from finding God. The entire focus of this essay is on the first verse, even the first nine words. (ten words below). Commiting that verse to memory and meditating on it will help bring focus to our frenetic lives this Lenten season. The exposition that follows is taken from my 1993 book: Longing for God: Prayer and the Rhythms of Life (with Glandion Carney; InterVarsity Press). In fact, my treatment of Psalm 63 was in the first chapter of the book. Here we go.

In the Academy Award-winning film Amadeus there is a scene where the lesser Viennese composer, Salieri, reflected on why Mozart's music was so powerful. He said, with a combination of jealousy and wistfulness, that what characterized Mozart's music was such a sense of longing and yearning, such an unfulfilled desire that cried out through his music. It seemed as if Mozart was hearing the very voice of God and was striving with every fiber of his phenomenal genius to express musically what he had heard from God. He was a man who longed for another world, and his music was a result of that yearning.

David's Yearning

The first line of this psalm illumines the yearning of David and illustrates the path of our whole journey of faith. "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you." These ten simple words capture the essence of our initial step. First, David starts with a general cry to God. He simply says, "O God." I cannot hear the tone of his voice, but it is a general cry, the plea of a heartsick and longing person who knows that salvation lies outside of himself. "O God" is a cry that I need to be able to make. It is not exactly a confession of faith in God; it isn't a declaration of discipleship. Rather, it is a call from the depths of my being, where deep calls to deep, a call that captures in its intensity all the tangled webs of my sadness, sickness and yearning. "O God" are the first words of our spiritual formation. They come from desire. They are directed outside of myself. They can be said with desperation or anger or calmness. They need, however, to be said. Spiritual balance begins when I recognize that the first cry I make in the morning is really a cry for God. "O God" means that I instinctively recognize that the source of my life and the fulfillment of my needs come from God. "O God" takes me no further than that, but the cry gets me on the right path."

Second, David continues with a personal cry to God: "you are my God." He makes a huge advance with these words, by willingly claiming God as his God. This is not an easy step to take. To say, "God," all I need is a voice. But to say, "you are my God," I need something else. I need a sense that God can be trusted. In addition, it means that I believe God is concerned about my condition. Many people will confess that God exists and that he even hears their cries, but fewer really believe that this God is personally interested in their lives.

What does it mean to say, "you are my God"? It means I agree that God deserves not just my cries of desperation but also my will and my heart. Another psalm captures this perfectly: "I said to the Lord, 'You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing'" (Ps. 16: 2). Saying "you are my God" is a willingness to stake my present and future on God and God alone. When doubting Thomas saw the wounds of the risen Christ and was invited by Christ to place his hands on them, to attest to their genuineness, Thomas could only say, "My Lord and my God!" (Jn. 20: 28). These powerful words capture two distinct acts: I cry out to God. And I put my trust in God.

Third, the psalmist says, "Earnestly I seek you" (I was using the NIV translation for this book). These words fit perfectly with the preceding, because they give a direction to my will. I move from trust to seeking God. I now have not only a step on the path but also a direction; it is the direction of seeking God. Not only do I cry out to God and express my trust in him, but now I tell the world and my soul and God that I am seeking him. I trust him and I seek him. Trust may be compared to putting one's weight on a boat, while seeking is actually turning on the engine and setting out in the desired direction. I am not pointed in a direction, and I am ready for guidance.

Conclusion

These simple 10 words, the focus of our meditation for today, get us started on our journey. We are convinced that new worlds of understanding sometimes contained in small portions of a verse, and we encourage you to use this method of exposition to read the rest of Psalm 63 closely and prayerfully. See how by the end of the psalm David expresses his confidence that there is a loving, just and active God who not only hears him but is worthy of David's trust and complete confidence.

Here is the starting point for us in our spiritual life. Learn to long for God. Don't wait until everything is "under control" in your life. Say to God right now, "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you."

May David's yearning find a responsive chord in your life.

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