Psalm 63:1-11

O God, you are my God; early will I seek you: my soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land…

tells us that amongst the primitive Christians it was ordained that this psalm should be sung every day. If we do not follow that Custom, it is not because it is unsuitable. The psalm may be said or sung all the year round. In all the seasons of the soul, its spring, summer, autumn and winter. By day and by night. But the psalm especially belongs to those who, through any cause, feel themselves to dwell in a desert land, The stages of Israel in all their history, in Egypt and out of it, and onwards, are gone over in our spiritual history. And even when we are in Canaan, we may, like David, be driven, out of our home, and find ourselves in the wilderness again.

I. TRUE SAINTS ARE SOMETIMES IN A DRY AND THIRSTY LAND, where no water is. For —

1. All things are changeable, and living things most of all. A man of stone changes not, but the living man must sorrow and suffer as well as laugh and rejoice.

2. And in some senses, to a Christian, this world must always be a dry and thirsty land, We are not carrion crows, or else might we float and feed upon the carcases which abound in the waters around our ark. We are doves, and when we leave the hand of our Noah we find nought to rest upon. Even when the world is at its best, it is but a dry land for saints.

3. And we carry an evil within us which would cause a drought in Paradise itself if it could come there (Romans 7.), We may have been so unwatchful as to have brought ourselves into this condition by actual faults of life and conduct.

4. Sometimes it is brought about by our being banished from the means of grace. Poor as our ministry may be, there are some Christians who would miss it more than their daily food if it were taken from them. It is a sore trial to such to be kept sway from sanctuary privileges. 6, And by denial of the sweets of Christian intercourse. David had poor company when he was in the wilderness, in the days of Saul; his friends were not much better than freebooters and runaways. And sometimes God's people are shut up to similar company.

5. Sometimes a man may be treated with gross injustice, and endure much hardship as the result. David did; so may we.

6. Domestic conditions, and health, and physical conditions, may grievously depress the soul. Thus, there are many reasons why the best of saints are sometimes in a dry and thirsty land.

II. BUT GOD IS THEIR GOD STILL. "O God, Thou art my God." Yes, he is as much our God in the dry land as if we sat by Siloa's softly flowing brook. God is the God of the wilderness. Was He not with His people there?

III. WHEN WE ARE IN A DRY AND THIRSTY LAND, OUR WISEST COURSE IS TO CRY TO HIM AT ONCE. When you feel least like praying, then pray to Him the more, for you need it the more. Do not, any of you, practise the sinner's folly: he declares that he will tarry till he is better, and then he never comes at all. Seek the Lord at once, Practise the Gospel principle of "Just as I am." Say, "I must have a sense of His love, and I must have it now." Make a dash for it, and you shall have it. Therefore, do not be afraid to cry out to God. Our heavenly Father loves to hear His children cry all the day long. Rutherford says, "The bairn in Christ's house that is most troublesome is the most welcome. He that makes the most din for his meat is the best bairn that Christ has." You may not quite agree with that as to your own children, but it is certainly so with our Lord. Desire, then, and let those desires be vehement. Jesus will joyfully hear you. Only be thou careful that thou be not content to be in a dry and thirsty land, away from God. Do not get into such a state, and certainly do not stay there.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)