Psalm 63:1-5 (NIV): O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.
Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
David’s hunger and thirst for God were tangible. He found himself in a place where he had absolutely no place else to turn; no other help was even a possibility. He literally had the most powerful man in the land after him, and knew that if God didn’t act on his behalf, he was history. But that was not the main reason that he hungered for God. Anyone can turn to God when they are in a crack, but David actually hungered for God’s presence more than His power; for His fellowship more than His fireworks. David mostly wanted assurance that God was near, because if He was, then David was going to be fine, no matter how things turned out. David had lived in God’s presence since his youth – he had experienced God’s deliverance working through him to kill lions and bears, and even a giant. He had seen & felt God working on his behalf in many ways up to that point, and knew that God had a plan for him that did NOT include his early death. But he also knew that, apart for God Himself, those plans would never materialize. And so he wanted God to assure him of His presence; to let him know that He was with him, and the he had not stepped outside His plan for him.
Father, we should ALL be as focused on Your presence as David was. We need to know that same hunger and thirst, not for your gifts, but just for YOU. Lord, help us to shift the core of our lives in Your direction, so that our hearts beat in time with Yours, and so that we care more about walking in Your paths than about anything else.