Thirst for God-Psalm 63

            A friend told me the story of a hike she took to the upper falls of Graveyard fields on the Blue Ridge parkway.  She and her friend had already hiked to the lower falls and feeling good they decided to make the trek up to the upper falls.  They had not planned for this and did not carry water with them.  They made it to the top and it was a beautiful site but they needed water.  It was a strenuous hike though and they needed to have water.  She described being so dehydrated that she cupped her hands to drink from the river.   She understood that the water was dirty and not filtered but her body needed water desperately.  They made the trek back down to their car.  She describes her dehydrated body as being disoriented.  She described a state of confusion.  The world was spinning around her.  She had not given her body what it so desperately needed.  She wondered why she had been so senseless and not adhered to the one simple thing she knew she would need.  A substance of life-water. 

            The Psalmist of psalm 63 describes our need for God in such a way as this.  The opening line of the Psalm reads “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.”  When we are in those desert moments of our life and we try to handle it on our own without God, the substance of life, we will find ourselves in a state of confusion with the world spinning around us.  We must do as the psalmist does.  We must “look upon God in the sanctuary, beholding his power and glory.  God’s steadfast love is better than life.”  We must “praise God.  We must bless God as long as we live, lifting up our hands and calling on the name of God! 

            Don’t try to do the hikes alone my friends.  Seek God with all of your heart.  Listen for those whispers and obey.  When we try to do it on our own we will be confused and our world will be spinning.  Thanks be to God for the giving of Jesus and the Holy Spirit to sustain us! To give us life.  As John 10:10 says “the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.”  Get rid of that which steals, kills and destroys and lean into the ONE that gives you life, full life.