Lenten Reflections #3

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The Psalm at church last weekend was Psalm 63. It is a psalm about desire and longing and about deep satisfaction and worship. As soon as I think about this psalm, my memory takes me to a fire escape on the back of an old three story house in the Glebe in Ottawa. (It was on Fourth Avenue for all you who know Ottawa.) The year was 1993 and I was on my first summer assignment as Campus Crusade staff and I felt my need for God. As I sat on that back stairwell, I read, prayed, meditated on, and memorized verses of this psalm and I experienced something real, something deep and lasting.

Psalm 63:1-5 (NASB – since that was what I was reading at the time)
1O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;
My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,
In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.
3 Because Your lovingkindness 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 in Your name.
5 My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.

What has stayed with me these 20 years?
  • God is God and He is my God.
  • Seeking God is essential in my life but my seeking is often motivated by an thirst, a longing, a lack. Feeling like I need more of God is a good place to be even if it doesn't feel good.
  • We “see” God in worship. I need to keep making time to worship with others.
  • God's lovingkindness is better than life. Knowing His love really is the most important thing in life. And it is steadfast and everlasting. Always there no matter how my life is going.
  • Worship is the response to God's love for us.
  • As I find my deepest satisfaction in God, it “tastes” as good as eating very rich food. (NIV translates verse 5 “the richest of foods” - guess everyone doesn't think that bone marrow and meat fat is the best thing you can think of tasting!)
  • Praying these words over the years has helped me to continue to grasp these amazing truths.

I'm glad I “came across” this psalm this Lent. It helps me direct the feelings of longing I have and can give clear guidance when we feel like we are in a desert (spiritually speaking). So, as we continue along on our Lenten journeys, I encourage you to let the neediness you feel for God, lead you to a place of knowing His love for you.

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