The superscription of this Psalm, which reads “A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah”, helps us to understand the unique circumstances that were going on in David’s life when he wrote the words of this Psalm. Whenever you see the word “wilderness” in the Bible it usually means “desert”; like the hot, dry, desert, wastelands found in places like Texas, and New Mexico, and Nevada.
A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. 1O 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. 2So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. 3Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.
5My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, 6when I remember you upon my bed, and mediate on you in the watches of the night; 7for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
8My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. 9But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth; 10they shall be given over to the power of the sword; they shall be a portion for the jackals. 11But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped.
Most commentators believe that the circumstances surrounding David’s location in the desert of Judah are most likely set during the rebellion of his son, Absalom, when David retreated from his throne in Jerusalem to hide in exile in the desert.2 If this is true, then David has been forced out of his hometown, he has been ostracized from his family and friends, his wives have been taken advantage of in public, his own son is hunting him, and he is hiding in the hot, dry, wasteland of the Judean desert.
I am pretty sure most of us have never been exiled to a hot, dry, desert, wasteland. But I bet we can all identify with what David must have been feeling and longing for under these circumstances. If I put myself in David’s shoes, I would be willing to bet that he did not feel loved, he probably did not feel safe, and he was probably dealing with some strong anxiety. When was the last time you felt unlovable, unsafe, and fearful?
What do you do when you feel like David did, when your soul feels depleted, empty, and alone? What do you turn to when you feel unloved, unsafe, and fearful? Here is the reality for us, while most of us will never be exiled to a desert wasteland, our lives on this earth can feel like we have been wandering around aimlessly in a desert. For those of us who are following Jesus, we know that this earth is not our home and that this earth is infected with sin and that we are merely aliens living in another world as we travel towards our eternal home in Heaven.
The things we experience in this life are just like what David experienced in his life. We know the pain of rejection from those who should have loved us. We know the horror of being persecuted or taken advantage of by people we once called friends. Most of us know what it is like to live with the fear and anxiety of never getting the good things we long for in this world. We all know what it is like to go through dry spells in our relationship with God; times where we question his love for us, or wonder if he is even with us, or fear that maybe he is not as good as we hear he is.
Sometimes it feels like our souls are constantly being bombarded with reminders of what we have lost, or what we have not gained, or what has been done to us. How do we find nourishment for our souls when it feels like we are lost in a hot, dry, wasteland of rejection, uncertainty, and fear? Three times in our passage, David references the condition of his soul and the adversity he is facing (vv. 1, 5, 8).
Adversity such as this – feeling unloved, unsafe, and fearful – has a way of depleting your soul very quickly. I think David knew this and I also think he knew how important it was to nourish his soul as he lived in exile in the desert wasteland of Judea. But what did David do as he faced this horrendous adversity in his life? It seems to me that David allowed this adversity to draw him closer to God; to thirst for God, to hunger for God, to ultimately seek after God and to cling to him in the midst of this difficult season of his life.
As one commentator says, “God orchestrates adversity in our lives to make us thirsty for him, to drive us to him, to keep us from wandering away from him… to test our faith, and to weed out those whose faith is insincere”.3 That same commentator goes on to say that “the problem of most Christians today is that, having sought satisfaction in the world, they have lost their appetite for spending time with God”.4
It is far too easy to look for love, comfort, and security in all the wrong places and to be left more dehydrated, more starved, and more anxious than ever before; especially when we seek to satisfy those cravings with anything outside of the life giving presence of the living God in the person and work of our crucified, risen, and returning Savior. This is why David begins by quenching his thirst with the steadfast love of God.
#1: THE LOVE THAT QUENCHES A THIRSTY SOUL (VV. 1 – 4)
Being in a desert would be like mowing your yard on a hot day when nothing seems to quench your thirst. On those days it is almost as though no amount of hydration will keep up with the heat that is pounding down on you. The same thing happens when we face adversity in this life and we become thirsty for something to quench our thirst, to give us relief from the heat of that adversity.
David, realizing that his soul is parched from the heat of adversity, cries out in verses 1 – 4, 1O 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. 2So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. 3Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.
Notice that David is seeking God “earnestly” in verse one and that he remembers seeing God “in the sanctuary” and admiring his “power and glory” there in verse two and then then he commits his life to God as an act of worship because of God’s “steadfast love” in verses three and four. This is a picture of a man who is enduring intense persecution, he is experiencing deep loss, he has found something to quench the deep thirst inside his soul, and because he has found something to quench his thirst he cannot help but to praise God despite his circumstances.
Commentators note that the deep never-ending glass of refreshing water that David found in his desert circumstances is nothing less than the steadfast love of God that is displayed in power and glory through the local gathering of believers in his hometown of Jerusalem.5 It is the never-ending love of God in Christ Jesus that brings nourishment to a soul that has been parched by the adversity of this life.
What would it look like for you to quench your thirst in the presence of God’s steadfast love for you? What would it look like to actually sit in God’s presence, contemplating his great love for you in Christ Jesus, until your thirst is quenched, until the temptation to drink deeply from the well of substitutes is gone?
The steadfast love of God is the only thing that will quench your thirst for acceptance and love in this world. No created thing will ever satisfy your thirst for true love, only the Creator can satisfy your cravings.
Speaking of thirst reminds me of the appetites that drive us to do what we do. We will do almost anything to quench our thirst, but we will also do almost anything to feed our hunger. In the next couple of verses, David feeds his hungry soul on the comfort that comes from being in the presence of God.
#2: THE COMFORT THAT FEEDS A HUNGRY SOUL (VV. 5 – 7)
In verses 5 – 7, David says, 5My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, 6when I remember you upon my bed, and mediate on you in the watches of the night; 7for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. When I read David’s initial words about being “satisfied” I am reminded of a line from a Rolling Stones song where Mick Jagger sings “I can’t get no… Satisfaction” and it reminds me that we often look to feed our hungry souls in places that do not satisfy.
Weather it is a bottle, or porn, or food, or belongings, or good old-fashioned power and control, nothing will satisfy your weather-beaten soul like the comfort of being in God’s presence. New friends, a new church, a new spouse, a new job, a new belonging, a new house, will all leave your soul hungry in the end. If you look for satisfaction from anything on this earth, you will be left to sing the words of that Rolling Stones song for eternity.
The only thing that will ever fully satisfy your hungry soul is the life-giving, comforting presence of the living God. David knows this and this is why he can say that he finds full satisfaction from a tasty meal in the dark hours of the night when he meditates on the fact that God has been his helper and that he will “sing for joy” in “the shadow” of God’s wings. The shadow of God’s wings is the image of the comfort that is found by little chickens who hide under the mother hen’s outstretched wings.
True comfort is the presence of absolute satisfying peace when the world around you is going to hell in a hand basket. True comfort is like walking through the darkest storms of your life completely reassured of who you are, whose you are, and that your eternal destiny is secured. True comfort is not found in momentary created things. True comfort is only found in the presence of the Creator of all things.
The adversity of the desert wastelands that you and I walk through may hurt and it may be scary but everlasting comfort can be found in the shelter of the presence of our crucified, risen, and returning Savior. When you really think about it, the bloody cross secures your identity as a child of God, the empty tomb secures your victory over Satan, Sin, and Death, and the promised return of Christ secures your eternal destiny.
The question is, what does it look like for you to find satisfaction for your hungry soul in the comforting presence of God? What would it look like for you to seek the presence of God until your soul is completely at rest in the comforting arms of the One who gave his life to secure your identity, your victory, and your eternal destiny?
Speaking of the One who died to secure your eternal destiny, can you imagine how fearful and insecure David must have felt out there in his desert exile? I know for a fact that when I am faced with adversity – especially in the realm of relationships such as the one David was facing with his own son – that I get really fearful, insecure, and full of anxiety. What David needed in this moment, was to be reminded of the truth that God is a just God.
#3: THE JUSTICE THAT SECURES AN ANXIOUS SOUL (VV. 8 – 11)
Think about how the truth, that God is just, can bring peace to your anxiety and fear. In those moments, where I am feeling anxious and fearful, I need something to reassure my soul that everything is going to be alright; that one day, everything will be made right and that I am alright. This desire for things to be alright, to be made right, and to be assured that I am alright is nothing more than a desire for justice and justification. Justice is the act of making things right and justification is the act of making someone right.
David knows that things are not right between he and his son Absalom and somewhere deep down inside he probably wonders if everything is going to be alright and if he is going to be alright. He is longing for things to be made right, and he is longing for reassurance that he will be made right in the end.
To know that everything will be made right – himself included – David looks to God for His justice and His justification so that he can find a sense of security for his battered soul. This is why David proclaims in verses 8 – 11, 8My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. 9But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth; 10they shall be given over to the power of the sword; they shall be a portion for the jackals. 11But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped.
David knows that the justice and the justification of God the Father is the only thing that will secure his soul in the desert like a good anchor on a boat in the midst of a storm. When he says, “My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me” (v. 8) he is confessing that he is placing his hand in God’s righteous right hand of justice and justification to steady his feet and to stabilize his journey in the midst of the fear and anxiety he is feeling.
The rest of what he says in verses 9 – 11 about his enemies getting buried in “the depths of the earth” being destroyed by “the power of the sword” being devoured by hungry “jackals” and how “the mouths of liars will be stopped” is a way of trusting that God will execute swift justice soon enough. This knowledge of God’s justice and his justification, secures David’s soul in the midst of his fear and anxiety and moves him to “rejoice in God” (v. 11) which is the often-uncanny posture of believers who cling to God amidst their darkest trials.
Do you feel fearful, anxious, or insecure about something in your life? What would it look like for you to rest your weary soul in the justice and justification of God? What would it look like for you to stop working your fingers to the bone trying to change or control your circumstances?
How often do you meditate on the justice and justification of God in the cross of Christ to the point that your soul feels secure and all fear and anxiety leaves? Meditating on the justice and justification of God is meant to bring security to the soul of any believer who is walking through the desert wasteland of adversity.
It is the cross of Christ that gives the believer full security in the face of great adversity for at the cross of Christ, justice was served for those who would be justified by grace through faith. It is also at the cross of Christ where enemies of God and his people stand condemned to face the full and just wrath of God for their rebellion.
To know that you have been justified by grace through faith and to know that justice will be served against all who reject Christ and abuse his people, to know these two things, is to know total and complete security for all of eternity.
CONCLUSION…
In conclusion, there is no stability in self-preservation, self-promotion, or self-reliance but there is eternal security for those who have trusted in the justifying work of Christ at the cross of Calvary. There are boundless amounts of comfort to be found in the person and work of Jesus Christ. There is a love that surpasses all other earthly loves, and it can only be found in our crucified, risen, and returning Christ.
So, whatever you have been facing, whatever desert you have been walking through, know… that if you have trusted in Christ crucified, risen, and returning, that you have been justified – made right – and that your justification was secured for all eternity at the cross of Jesus because of his great love for you! You can cling to this truth and find lasting comfort in your darkest hours in whatever desert you find yourself in.
If you cling to this truth – that by grace through faith, you have been justified because of God’s great love for you in Christ Jesus – then you can nourish your soul on the truths of God’s ever-present comfort and steadfast love for you.
What more could your thirsty, hungry, insecure soul need right now other than the life-giving nutrition of the steadfast love of God in Christ Jesus? The bloody cross reassures us of his steadfast love. At that cross he showed us the extent of his love in that he died for us while we were still his enemies and then he called us to himself, saved us, and is transforming us in the desert wastelands. We would all do well to drink deeply from this well.
What more could your thirsty, hungry, insecure soul need right now other than the constant comfort of our Savior? There is much comfort to be had in meditating on the truth of the empty tomb. All our enemies were defeated the day that stone was rolled away. Satan’s days were numbered on that day. Sin’s teeth were kicked in on that day. Death was gutted with a gigantic meat hook on that day. What greater comfort could we find outside the doorway of that empty tomb?
What more could your thirsty, hungry, insecure soul need right now other than the promise of complete justice for those who have rejected God and persecuted you along with the promise of justification for you? Think about it, as you thirst, and as you hunger, and as you seek after, and as you cling to your crucified, risen, and returning Savior, he promises both justice for your wounds and justification for your sins. One Day those promises will be completely fulfilled when he returns in glory. The promise of heaven is not merely the promise of escape but it is also the promise of the Day when God makes all things right once and for all. What more could you and I ask for other than the hope of Heaven?
All your loss, all your hurt, and all your fears will be made right once and for all on that Day when Christ returns. In this truth, your soul can rest secure. On this truth is where your fears can die a thousand deaths and your soul can be nourished in this desert wasteland we call earth. It is the steadfast love of God and the overwhelming comfort of God and the promise of justice and justification from God that nourishes our souls as we make our way through this desert wasteland. – Amen!
1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).
2 Richard, Philips, Psalms 42 – 72, Reformed Expository Commentary, (Phillipsburg, New Jersey: P&R Publishing, 2019), 217 – 218.
3 Ibid., 219 – 220.
4 Ibid., 223.
5 Ibid., 220 – 223.