The Thirst




Georgia O'Keeffe, "Easter Sunrise"

Psalm 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 lovingkindness 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.

Salvation always begins with a thirst.

...Or a hunger, or a longing, or some kind of desire for a greater fulfillment. It can be thirst for righteousness, justice, provisions for those in need, knowledge of God, peace with your fellow man, life after death and even more basic things like protection from danger. At least the latter one is what it started out as for King David in this Psalm. Tradition holds that it was written as he fled from his nemesis King Saul, who pursued after him to take his life. One can imagine that as he traipsed through the Palestinian wilderness he found scenery like the majestic desertscapes that artist Georgia O'Keeffe found in New Mexico. Just like O'Keeffe he found an oasis in the desert. O'Keeffe found an artistic refuge in the Southwestern desert where she could paint cow skulls long before over enthusiastic Texans could mount them on their car hoods and abstracted studies of flowers' bathing suit areas. King David would find a refuge in God's protection of his life.            

This Psalm is a poem that sets out the basics of salvation that we don't think about. It is an understanding that at some level you are empty or without. It is a need to be saved. At its core salvation is just that: being "saved." Some of you may be familiar and comfortable with words like "saved." Others of you may just be familiar with it as one of those phrases that you hear Holy Rollers say all of the time, like "redemption", "personal relationship with Jesus" or "my doctor just told me that I have Diabetes." Not everyone is familiar concept of salvation but everyone is familiar with a spiritual thirst of some level. Honestly all spiritual thirsts lie at the beginning of salvation. This is because honestly God saves us from several things (not just sin). Greater than anything he saves us from is what he saves us for. God saves us for love. God saves us for Love because God is Love. All of the spiritual thirsts that we experience are a longing for a part of God.   

Don't worry, I'm not going to follow that up with another corny line like "there's a God shaped hole in all of us" (even though I think it’s true). I'd much rather talk about more pertinent issues like the time I turned on MTV and discovered a Hasidic Jew who sings roots Reggae, raps and beatboxes all while in his standard Orthodox black hat, suit and tallit prayer shawl tucked under his jacket. His name is Matisyahu and unlike most things in popular music his presentation was not a gimmick. I have included his song based on Psalm 63 to discuss a final point about the thirst: it demands a response. Matisyahu starts off this song (which focuses on verses 2 & 3) in traditional Hebrew (I assume. I apologize if it actually in Yiddish) but half way through the recording he switches to English and the tempo of the song switches to Reggae. Why? Because it is his personal response to what the scripture (in Hebrew) has communicated to him about God.

David rejoiced in God's rescue of his life by penning a poem. Georgia O'Keeffe responded to the beauty of God's refuge of nature by seeing the light of the Sun as the symbol for God's Son (the cross). She painted the sunrise that symbolized the Son's rise. Matisyahu responded to the testimony of the ancients by singing the praises of the present times. How do you choose to respond God? How do you answer your spiritual longings? How do you plan to quench the thirst?