The Gift of the WildernessSample

Verse 1(b): Seeking God Early

“Early will I seek you. My soul thirsts for you; my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1 NKJV.

Think about what you do when you first wake up. Do you check your phone? Get on social media? Turn on the TV? What if you woke up and the first thing you wanted to do was to talk to God?

In Mark 1:35, we find Jesus, “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” 

Jesus had a regular, disciplined time to be alone with his Father to pray. Quiet time with God was intentional for Jesus, and it must be intentional with us. It has to become a priority and it requires effort. Before you allow anything else to clutter your mind, before you surrender to the hectic pace of the day, find the resolve to put God first in your heart and in your schedule.

David’s desire to be in God’s presence was so robust that he was compelled to seek God in the early morning. He didn’t want to wait until the sun was high, or the routines of the day were complete; David’s yearning to be with God was the alarm clock that awakened his spirit and then his body each morning.

One commentator says it like this, “Communion with God is so sweet that the chill of the morning is forgotten, and the luxury of the bed is despised. The morning is the time for dew and fresh manna.”

Remember, when the manna came to the Israelites every morning while they were in the wilderness, it was covered with dew. Manna, God’s heavenly food, must be collected early, or it dissolves. 

David was hungry and thirsty in a dry land where there was no water. But his deepest desires were not physical, they were spiritual. This spiritual appetite can only be satisfied by Christ. Jesus is the bread of life to fulfill the longing of the flesh. Jesus is the living water that quenches the thirsty soul.

Tim Keller says, “We can know if we have encountered the real God if we are deeply hungry and thirsty for him. The sense of his absence, the dissatisfaction with his absence, is evidence that he has touched you.”

David could say with Jesus, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never thirst.”

David could say with Jesus, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”

Seek God early and catch all that He has for you. Lap up the food, refreshment, and truth God deposits on your heart, just as He deposits the droplets of dew on His creation.

Don’t wait until the sun evaporates the dew and spoils the manna.

Seek him early!