Our Hope in a Dry and Thirsty Land

Our Hope in a Dry and Thirsty Land

The book of Psalms is an anthology of 150 different songs and poems and all of the psalms have one main collective focus, and this is: passionate worship towards the Lord. The psalmist expresses his worship in many different ways. Shouts of awe, wonder, confusion, and anger can be heard from both an overwhelmingly joyful spirit, as well as a spirit of agonizing helplessness. Worship rings throughout the psalms and echoes the truth that somehow, even in our desperation we can not only trust that the Lord is near, but we can also worship Him in our storms. Many of these poems, which are broken into numbered sections, were written by David. When wondering who David is, the most accurate thoughts that one can have are as follows. David was the second king of Ancient Israel. He was the boy who, in the name of the Lord killed the Philistine giant with a pebble (1 Samuel 17) but he was also the man who committed adultery with a married woman (2 Samuel 11). David was a strong man, who trusted in the Lord, but was also a sinner nonetheless.

Psalm 63 is a song written by David titled "My Soul Thirsts for You: A Psalm of David, When He Was in the Wilderness of Judah." A common question that arises when we see this title is "why is David in the wilderness at this point in his life?" David could either be running from Saul who is the first king of Israel, or he could be running from his rebel son Absalom. Both of these events occurred, but either one could be what was occurring at the time David wrote this song. Personally, I believe that the latter is a more accurate interpretation because in Psalm 63:11 David calls himself a king and he was only king during the latter event. So is David the psalmist only speaking literally when he cries out "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water." (63:1). I would propose that he is not. Throughout this passage, as David cries out about his soul's thirst, we see that David isn't simply crying out to the Lord in a physical wilderness, but also and emotion and even spiritual. If he was only speaking of physical things then he would have never mentions his soul (vv. 1, 5, and 8) at all. This point is the main reason why I chose this passage, because honestly, many of us wake up in the wilderness every day. As John Piper so perfectly puts it, "When you are driven into the wilderness by tragic and painful circumstances and you begin to suck for air in the quicksand of your own emotions, can you cry out among the jackals and the snakes, "O God, thou art my God!"? The covenant stands! There is a rock beneath and it will rise in time."

This passage is utterly relevant to healthcare because not only does the world wake up to the wilderness every day, but even more than that, health care worker wakes up to many patients who are in very dry and thirsty lands. Their souls are thirsting for truth and hope and anything that could feel like a rock beneath there flailing feet within the quick sand of a bad test result, or an unexpected car accident, or the loss of a child, or the loss of a spouse. The quicksand can go on for days, months, and even years but this passage reveals hope. So where is hope revealed? In verse 3 scripture says that "Your Loving-kindness is better than life." This shows us that God love in our lives is better than life itself! Verse 7 declares that God is our help and when we follow His, His right hand will uphold us (even in quicksand.) Verse 9 shows us that the Lord has ultimate victory over everything. He will destroy all of our enemies in the end. Whether broken relationships, sickness, pain, disease, or even death. None of these things get the final say. This is what Psalm 63:9-10 has to say about what seeks to