Aug-22-0496-Satisfied fully in God
496_Satisfied fully in God Psalm 63 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. 3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4 So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. 5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, 6 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; 7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. 8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. 9 But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth; 10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword; they shall be a portion for jackals. 11 But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped. There’s a story about a man named Nicholas Herman, a 17th-century French soldier who later became a Carmelite monastery worker. We know him today as Brother Lawrence. He was assigned to the kitchen, often doing mundane tasks like peeling potatoes and scrubbing pots. Yet in those very moments of ordinary drudgery, he discovered that he experienced the presence of God not only in church or in moments of ecstasy but in every hour, in every breath, in every dish washed. He wrote, “We should establish ourselves in a sense of God’s presence, by continually conversing with Him.” For Brother Lawrence, God was not another of life’s compartments, but its very center. In Him, he was fully satisfied. Psalm 63 echoes this deep contentment. It is not the psalm of a man ruling in a palace or reclining in luxury. It comes from the desolate wilderness of Judah. David was in one of his periods of exile—either during Saul’s reign, or perhaps during Absalom’s rebellion. Stripped of comfort, security, and companionship, his soul still sings with joy as he remembers God, his power, and love. “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Thirst is a terrible thing in a land without water. This is how David felt when surrounded by wickedness and unfaithfulness. In response, his mind and heart leapt to the God he had seen in the sanctuary - the God of power and glory, the God of steadfast love. He knew that this thirst could be satisfied only with the presence and the salvation of God. Truly, nothing in the world can satisfy the deepest hunger of the soul. The desire for meaning and significance cannot be filled