Psalm 63:1-8
This coming Sunday’s Psalm portion we hear this coming weekend is a beautiful piece of devotional writing, one that one again focuses on the foundational characteristic of God (and one we are therefore called to emulate as children of God) being chesed, or loving-kindness, giving oneself fully, with love, mercy, and compassion.
The psalm offers a vivid admission of vulnerability but also the loving trustworthiness of God. The first 8 verses of this psalm work both as a thanksgiving and as a plea for intercession. You could summarize it as three emotional and spiritual responses: desire--“I want and need you” (v. 1-2); worship— “I praise you” (v. 3-5), and confidence— “I trust you to protect me (v. 6-8).” The most important descriptors used for our relationship with the Almighty are a hunger and thirst for God, one that God completely satisfies.
At the center of the verses we see, we move from the metaphor of thirst to hunger, and we suddenly are no longer in the sanctuary but in the humble home, concentrating upon God as we lie awake in bed and as we wander about the house in the middle of the night. Thus worship is not merely tied to a particular time or place (10:30 on a Sunday morning, for instance) but to the commonplace moments in our lives—every activity is an opportunity to praise God, an outlook in which Brother Lawrence was a famous exemplar. The faithful life is described as one of hungering and thirsting for God – and always finding satisfaction and abundance, even feasting on God’s provision and presence. For while we are hungering and thirsting for God, yet still we are held tenderly in the palm of God’s hand.
Sounds good, right? But if we know what we don’t see, Psalm 63 becomes even more of a comfort to us where we are right now. The superscription for this psalm claims that it was written by King David in the Judean wilderness. David was on the run—because his son Absalom had staged a coup and rather than strike down his son, he and his followers had fled, as described in 2 Kings 15. The three omitted verses ask God to powerfully protect the king from those who seek his life.
Most of us may not be dealing betrayal of the level of Absalom against his father. But we certainly should all be able to relate to the disorientation and prolonged anxiety of being in the wilderness, and of feeling a significant amount of vulnerability and lack of control as we deal with war, division, and pandemic.
How would it change our perspective as we continue to navigate this wilderness if we took seriously the reality that God is always with us, and that we can use every moment to praise and worship God, to dedicate each moment—even the pandemic ones—to God? When we wake up in the night, to practice breath prayer—such as the Jesus Prayer, which can remind us to lean into the feel of God’s hand beneath us. Especially for Lent, the Jesus Prayer works:
(inhale) Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,
(exhale) Have mercy on me, a sinner.
Or, the beginning of the 23rd Psalm:
(inhale) God is my shepherd,
(exhale) Therefore I lack nothing.
Or this simple focus on the physical breath:
(inhale) I breathe in love.
(exhale) I breathe out peace.
As we continue through this season of Lent and beyond, I want to encourage you to lean into the knowledge that God is filled with lovingkindness and is always alongside us. And perhaps you could try using a breath prayer. And make time for worship and devotion, mindfully, each and every day.
Image: "Woman Lying Awake in Bed,"1635-1640 and "Young Woman Sleeping," Rembrandt, both from the British Museum.
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