thirsting for god - psalm 63 - 16th week friday

Thirst is an insatiable longing.  You cannot let go of thirst the way you let go for example of a beautiful clothes or things, objects of your desire.  You cannot let go of thirst the way you can let go with much pain an attractive person you love or homesickness.  Thirst can only be satiated by water and unless one drinks water it just won't let go.  Why?  Because thirst is associated with something essential for survival.   You can mask it for a while like distracting oneself or swallowing one's saliva but in the end the person cannot do but yield to its power.  And so it is with God, "O God, you are my God whom I seek; for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water."

Today we read one of the most beautiful psalms, so beautiful in fact that St. John Chrysostom decreed that not a day should pass without singing this psalm.  Today we sing this psalm every Sunday in our morning prayer.

For the psalmist the person who seeks God has inner joy. The psalmist's world may be falling apart what with so many pressures, so many difficulties, but still there is joy in his heart.  Again proof that joy is not based on one's circumstances but on the knowledge that the Lord is with you – "You are my help, O God, and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy."

Whoever seeks God clings to him the psalmist says. "My soul clings fast to you." The word clings calls to mind the relationship of man and woman in marriage in the book of Genesis – the man clings to his wife.  So too must our relationship with God.  Like marriage it must have passion and like marriage it must have commitment.  Not just passion because feelings fade.  And not just commitment either otherwise the relationship becomes dull and dry.

Seek the Lord always as we pray Psalm 63.