“My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips.” Psalm 63:5 ESV
King David was on the run. One of his sons was leading a coup to depose him. He went into hiding in the desert canyons outside of Jerusalem. His world shattered, David was physically and emotionally exhausted. In deep hunger and thirst, He must have searched the dusty wasteland for any sign of water and food.
But even in that dire predicament, David focused on a deeper thirst and a more pressing need: “O 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” (Psalm 63:1 ESV)
He was spiritually thirsty. As his body thirsted for water in that dry land, so his soul thirsted for God. His soul needed to drink and God was the only satisfaction for his deep, soul thirst.
Though his life was in jeopardy, David’s greatest concern was for the well-being of his soul. So he fed by faith on the all-satisfying God: “So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you” (Psalm 63:2-3 ESV). He reflected on God and worshipped.
Thus David found satisfaction for his soul: “My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food” (v. 5). He had come to the great spiritual feast that is God and his soul ate and drink to its full delight. God is the only true Soul Satisfier. He had satisfied David’s soul in the midst of great life challenges.
In our own lives, we often turn to pretenders to satisfy our soul thirst. The world dangles many psuedo-satisfiers before us, but they are only temporary fillers that soon fade away. Like sweet candy, they fulfill the appetite with a rush of short-term satisfaction but quickly leave us empty with no lasting fill.
Our souls hunger and thirst for something better, something meatier than this world offers. We want that which is like an abundant thanksgiving feast that fills our every need with a lasting satisfaction. We want to drink to our soul’s delight.
This all-satisfying soul food and drink is God. He bids us to come. He invites us to feast and drink of Him.
“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live.” Isaiah 55:1-3 ESV
Why do you buy the lie of that which does not satisfy? When you feed on the world’s junk, your soul will shrivel and die. But when you delight your soul in God, your soul will be satisfied and live.
Jesus calls us to this soul-satisfaction. To believe in Jesus Christ and feed on Him by faith is to satisfy your soul with abundant food and endless drink. So He told the thirsty soul at the well: “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14 ESV).
Thus He invites us: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35 ESV).
Like King David, we all experience soul thirst. Heed the words of our Lord and satisfy your soul by feasting and drinking of Him by faith.
He is your only Soul Satisfier.
