Psalm 63. How much do I love you?
I grew up listening to popular love songs, and the first eight verses of Psalm 63 remind me of those love songs. If you take out the first ampldquoGodamprdquo of the first verse and replace it with ampldquodarlingamprdquo or ampldquosweetheartamprdquo, then the psalm could be sung by any love-smitten lover.
Iamprsquove never thought of God in the terms David describes his love for the Lord, so Psalm 63 is a shock to me. I havenamprsquot thirsted for God, my whole being longing for him in a dry and parched land (1).
I donamprsquot remember ever saying Godamprsquos love is better than life (3), but I hope I will.
Will God satisfy me more than the richest of foods (5)? I wait for that amazing day!
I do remember God as I lie on my bed to rest and sleep and sometimes wake up in the middle of the night (6), so I understand David on this point.
In desperate circumstances I have clung to God and depended on his wings and right hand to protect me, so here too Iamprsquom with David.
Overall, though, Davidamprsquos loving attitude towards God is not mine, at least, not yet. Iamprsquom missing a great deal. I lack an intimacy with my Lord that David clearly has.
Davidamprsquos feeling reminds me of Lucyamprsquos tearful cry to Aslan at the end of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, one of the Narnia stories. Aslan has just told the children that they wonamprsquot be coming back to Narnia and when they cry he tries to comfort them. This is when Lucy says, ampldquoItamprsquos not Narnia, you know, itamprsquos you! We wonamprsquot see you again!amprdquo Lucy has Davidamprsquos passionate focus on God as the desire and delight above all earthly desires and delights.
David explores and explains his relationship with God through describing the precious joys of this world because the world is where David lives, as do I. He describes his love for his God and Creator through the things his God has created. And then he goes one step further. He says to God: ampldquoyour love is better than lifeamprdquo (3).
Somehow, David feels and knows the deep truth that Godamprsquos love for him is outside the limits of life here on earth.
Touching that transcendence gives him so much joy that he writes a song like a lover.
Psalm 63 teaches me that all those popular love songs I heard and hear mean that God really is love because those songs could not be written except that they were inspired by the author of love. We donamprsquot make love, only God does, and when we express our love for each other and for God, itamprsquos going to sound a lot like Psalm 63.
Application: write a love song to my wife.
Lord, let me see you in all that surrounds me and let me desire you with a desire like Davidamprsquos.
