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“O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is…. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips.” (Psalm 63:1, 5)

If you look up Psalm 63 in your Bible, you will probably see this title: “A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.” Have you ever wondered what “the wilderness” was like in Bible times?

One summer, Erika’s family went on vacation to the Holy Land. They spent some time in the wilderness area where David was when he wrote this psalm. Erika’s dad had a water bottle with him, and she was really glad. It was hot, dry, and dusty, and she began to understand what David the psalm-writer must have meant when he described being thirsty and longing for God “in a dry and thirsty land.” She could not see any rivers. There were not many trees or plants. What a barren, lonely desert it was!

Then, the group Erika was with visited the Dead Sea. Water! At last! But it was not the kind of water you could drink. The Dead Sea is saltier than any other ocean in the world. Erika could hardly wait to get back on the bus and grab another water bottle from Dad’s cooler. But when she opened it and reached inside, she saw that they were out of water.

Have you ever been thirsty? Really thirsty? So thirsty that water is all you want, all you can think about? That’s how Erika felt. And that is the kind of feeling David was using to describe his desire for God. He longed for God. He longed to know Him, to see His power and His glory. He knew that God was the only thing that could satisfy the empty, dry feeling deep inside–the thirst in his soul.

When their bus finally stopped at a little shop that day, Erika and her family were willing to pay any price for water. Erika hurried inside the shop and saw that there were two choices in the refrigerator—water and orange pop. Erika made a dumb decision. She looked at the bright orange pop cans and suddenly thought she’d like something sweeter and fizzier than plain old water. That can of orange pop was gone in about twenty minutes. But it didn’t refresh her. When the can was empty, she was still thirsty. Why? Because what she really needed was water.

How often do we reach out for other things to satisfy our souls when God is what we really need? Everything else is like orange pop in a dry and dusty wilderness where no water is. It might look good, but it doesn’t refresh and satisfy us deep down in our souls. Only God can do that.

Only God satisfies the thirst in our souls.

My Response:
» Am I looking for satisfaction in something other than God?

Psalm 144:1-2 “Blessed be the LORD my strength… my goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust.”

God is a stronghold for us when Satan tempts us to sin.

There is a place in Israel near the Dead Sea called Masada. It looks like a mountain with a flat, square top. Masada was once a huge getaway palace for Herod the Great. In the first century after the time of Christ, Jewish people used it as a fortress. Men, women, and children lived there for three years, hiding from the Romans who had attacked and destroyed their cities. “The Romans cannot get to us here,” they thought. “We are safe in Masada.”

But they were not safe. The Roman army built a siege ramp all the way up the side of the mountain. Day after day, the Jews saw the Romans working on the ramp, and they knew that they had only a little time.

When the Romans finally stormed up the siege ramp to take the fortress, they found all of the Jewish people dead. The Jews had decided to kill themselves rather than lose their freedom. Their Masada had not protected them after all.

The word Masada comes from a Hebrew word that is often translated “fortress,” “defence,” or “stronghold.” This word is often used in the Psalms to describe God. God is a stronghold for us as believers. Because we belong to God, we have an enemy, Satan, who is the enemy of God. Satan would like us to turn away from God and live in sin, doubt, and defeat.

But when Satan and his forces attack our minds and hearts, God is a safe fortress for us to hide in. When we believe His Word and depend on His help to obey it, He will keep us from sin. God is stronger than Masada. He will never fail or be taken by the enemy. Satan can never defeat us when we make God our stronghold. God is a stronghold for us when Satan tempts us to sin.

Am I abiding in God as my stronghold?

“And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem.” (Exodus 13:15)

When the Pharaoh – the supreme ruler of Egypt – was oppressing the Jews and refusing to let them leave Egypt, God gave him many chances to change his mind. But eventually God was done giving second chances to Pharaoh, and He told the Hebrews put lamb’s blood on their doorposts. This act of faith would protect the Hebrews from the Lord’s judgment that would visit the land of Egypt. The Bible tells us that since the Egyptians did not have the blood on their doorposts the firstborn Egyptian sons and animals died. But right next door in Goshen where the Hebrews lived, all the Hebrew firstborns were safe because they believed God and obeyed His command.

After the Hebrews left Egypt (“the exodus”), God told them that from then on He wanted the first of everything. That meant that if they had a cow, the first calf would be sacrificed to the Lord. If they had a sheep, the first lamb belonged to God. This was to be a constant reminder throughout the years that God had gone to great lengths to rescue the Hebrews from Egyptian slavery. These “firsts” came to symbolize the best or most important, which God deserved.

Even though we no longer sacrifice calves or lambs, God still deserves the best that we have. Whether it is the talents He has given to us or some money that we earn, God deserves the first and the best. Every boy or girl, man or woman who has trusted in Jesus for rescue from sin owes his or her soul to the Lord. Because of the gratitude in our hearts for this amazing gift of salvation we should give God the first and the best!

Because God has rescued us, He deserves our best

My Response:
» Do I keep the first and best for myself and give God the “leftovers”?

“He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3)

What is a “broken heart”? Have you ever had one? We use the expression when we talk about the deepest kind of grief a heart can feel. Broken hearts are often caused by a hurtful change in a relationship with another person. If someone you love dies, or if you have to say good-bye to a friend, or if someone close to you does something to hurt you deeply, you might say that you have a broken heart. But those are just the surface causes for a broken heart. Do you know what really causes broken hearts? All of the grief, death, and sadness we experience came into our world as the result of human sin.

Jesus’ heart was broken once too. Psalm 69:20 looks ahead to the time when Jesus died on the cross for our sins. “Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness.” Jesus’ heart was not broken because of His own sin; He never sinned. It was broken because of ours. All the sins of the whole world were laid on Him when He suffered and died. During those hours on the cross, He endured the awful wrath of God the Father in our place. The precious relationship Jesus had with His Father, closer and more satisfying than anything we could know, was broken while He bore our sin.

Does your God understand what your broken heart feels like? He not only understands, but He also knows how to heal it. Through Jesus Christ’s suffering and death on the cross, He made a way for you to come directly to Him with your broken heart. Your grief may be the result of your own sin or someone else’s. Or it may be the result of sin’s effects on our fallen world. Whatever the cause, God promises to gently care for your hurting heart.

The God whose heart was broken for sin will heal your broken heart.

My Response:
» Have I brought my broken heart to God for healing?