Better Than Life | Psalm 63
How many of you are dehydrated? Most people are dehydrated. 60% of your body is water. Water is necessary for temperature regulation, nutrient transport, waste removal, organ and muscle function, and overall health. According to medical research, between 50-75% of us are chronically dehydrated. (pee test; this could save your life) Mild dehydration can cause fatigue, headaches, poor concentration, mood swings, and dizziness, even before you feel thirsty. By the time you feel thirsty, you are already behind, and your body is paying the price. You can look fine on the outside but still be dehydrated. Why so much dehydration? Because we are “hydrating” on the wrong things. I love Coke Zero and Chickfila milkshakes, but they don’t help my hydration like pure water. On average, most people drink about 44 ounces of water daily (kids 23 ounces) when the recommended amount is 88-104 ounces. Just as a lot of people are walking around physically dehydrated, most of us are walking around spiritually dehydrated. We have faith in God but have lost our feelings towards God. We look fine on the outside, but inside, we are running on empty, exhausted, spiritually dry, and defeated. We are hydrating our souls with quick sips from the world: we got a drinking problem; we are drinking all the wrong things thinking that they will satisfy our thirsty souls: relationship, success, career, money, sex, buying stuff and fame. You know that you are dehydrated but you don’t care because you are OK right or you just like sipping on the things of this world. Nothing quenches our souls’ thirst like God.
Psalm 63 is written by David while he was living on the run in the Judean wilderness from his son Absalom who was trying to take the throne from him. (2 Samuel 15-17) He was in the desert both physically and spiritually. Physically, he was living in extreme conditions under daily threat to be killed, and spiritually, he was away from the people of God in the house of God. He was dehydrated. Yet, David writes another song that gives us the secret to having satisfaction even in the desert. David knew what his soul was thirsty for and that nothing else will do. Psalm 63 teaches us that the secret to satisfaction in life is to always be desperate for God, delight in God and depend on God.