Psalm 63:1-11
I have about three psalms that I call my favorites and Psalm 63 is at the top of that list. All the descriptions David uses to portray his feelings toward, and relationship with God, give me a clear picture of the love and passion I should have for God. I particularly like verse 5: "My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food. . ." It totally connects with me because I absolutely LOVE eating dessert (and spend way too much time thinking about it--but that's another blog.) So, when I read verse 5 I think about this dessert my husband and I share at our favorite restaurant. It's called Chocolate Excess (that's actually a picture from one of my recent trips to the restaurant) and, let me tell you, the word YUMMY doesn't do it justice. It's a big, thick triple fudge brownie that isn't quite cooked all the way through (so it's really soft, almost gooey). It's served very warm with vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, walnuts and then big pieces of chocolate shards over the top. I don't think there's any food I enjoy more than this dessert.
So...after I recall this "dessert experience," I ask myself if I feel that strongly about God and my relationship with Him and His Word? This really gets me thinking about where I'm at with God and continuing to grow closer to Him.
So take a minute and think about what your favorite food is, and how much you crave it and enjoy it. Do you hunger after time with God and His Word like you do this particular food? Now I'd love to hear what favorite food you used for this exercise and any thoughts you had after you finished. Have fun! Tami W.
My favourite food is a Jamaican dish called ackee and salt-fish (salted codfish). Ackee is an exotic fruit that is cooked with codfish and a number of island spices to give it a flavour and taste that’s one in the world (see pic at http://www.echovibezentertainment.com/news_images/682Ackeeandsaltfish.jpg)
When I think about how a crave this dish and how I am always enthused to partake of it, I must admit that its not always like this as it relates to the craving I have for God and word. I love Him dearly and at times I do feel for Him the way I feel for ackee and salt-fish, but admittedly not all the time.
I have struggled for a long time with this recognition and often ask myself how do I fix it so that I am always hungering and thirsting after God and righteousness. Sometimes I think that I am not doing enough, sometimes I wonder if it is something that I should be doing at all (is it God who makes me hunger after Him?)
I am not sure. What I do know is that I would love to all the time strongly desire to be in God's presence all the time.
I can't help but think what my life would be like if I truly "craved" God like I "crave" chocolate. Mind boggling.
Fresh hommade bread, hot out of the oven with real butter. My mom and dad had their businesses in their home. AFter I had grown and left "the nest", I returned to work for them for several years. My mom used to make fresh bread each week. We could smell it baking all through the house and office. Makes my mouth water just to think about it. She made two loaves. One for us to slice into immediately and devour covered in real butter and one for sandwiches for her and my dad during the week. Fresh bread and butter. Awesome!
I really enjoy my quiet time in the morning with God. However, I am going to admit honestly that I do not think that I have a passion for that time like I feel for the thought of biting into a piece of fresh bread covered with real butter when I smell it baking.
My gratefulness for God's mercy comes closer to my passion for the fresh baked bread. I have such need for God's faithful mercies that are new every morning.
A beautiful discription of our desire for the Lord.
As I sit here eating my oatmeal that's so filling I'm glad not to be desirng that enticing dessert!
I just spent time w/God and did not want to just read my bible, journal and get into my day. Your passage chosen for today is the way I was thinking of God. In this new year I don't want the same old, but a newness and purpose that HE has been waiting on me to pick up. This earth really hold nothing I desire any longer. I just long to start my life in heaven w/ HIM, but I go forward to the prize of being forever w/ my Savior and Lord in HIS service.
I just finished listening to the Back to the Bible Series, "Intimacy with God: Thirsting after God" so this lesson just reiterates what the Lord brought this morning.
I love food! I love all kinds of food. I don't have just ONE favorite food. I love Chinese food, fried chicken, and all kinds of sweets. I'm sure I have a sugar high just looking at the picture of that wonderful dessert.
This lesson really made me think about my time with the Lord. My mom recently died. We shared an apartment because I was her caretaker. When she died, I had to move in with my sister because I couldn't afford to stay where my mom and I lived, so I am living in a two bedroom apartment with my sister and her husband, so finding the time and space alone is really challenging. I must admit, it has affected how much time I spend with the Lord. It is very difficult!
I pray that the Lord will provide the time and place for me and Him. I long to get a deeper, more personal intimacy with God. I know He will make a way.
My favorite food is lasagna and there are so many good ways to make this dish. Isn't that like God? Scriptures take on different meanings to different people and different meanings in different circumstances. I / we have been challenged to read 100 days of scripture that will give us a sampling all through the Bible. Each day, I desire more and more to be in His Word and to discover new truths of scripture. So many styles of this dish, so many ways to make it. May we each desire God's best for us through the reading of His Word
There's another aspect to verse 5 to be considered, too, I think. As I read that verse, and put it together with its surrounding lines in the passage (verses 2-5), I see emphasized the Lord's ability to satisfy us.
David has seen and experienced God's power (v. 2), and because he knows that nothing in this life is better (v. 3), he's determined to exalt and praise God above all else in his life (v. 3-4). As he does that, God will satisfy his soul (v. 5).
God is so powerful, in fact, that he's able to satisfy us fully with delicacies, rather than just the bland bread and water satisfaction that the world ultimately gives.
So, yummy is only one side of the coin--satisfying is the other.
Now, for me, personally, that means realizing that God and His power in my life are both sweet to the taste and enough to sustain me. I don't really need anything beyond Him. Everything else He provides--the abundant blessings--are the side dishes and desserts that make the meal extra special.
I, like so many others, can have a tendency at times to think I've got to have the side dish. The side dish represents different things to different people, but as sweet--and even good and admirable--as that side dish may be, it can never satisfy like God can. As a result, it wouldn't even be as sweet without Him as it would be when paired with Him, let alone unsatisfying. Without Him, a side dish would only be a poor substitute. When provided by Him, it becomes the perfect complement to the perfect meal.
In the Psalm alot arises out of King David and he is connected to his world through places, sights, sounds, food, but God is also part of poor people's lives who live off practically nothng.
I love this Psalm, Im not sure if it makes me crave a particular food, but it does make me crave the peace that a strong belief and trust in God offers. But it is one thing to want it, and another thing to be able to achieve it. I am learning that the peace dosent just come to you, it is something that you have to work for.
I love eating fresh vegetables and fruits from my garden.There is nothing better. I walk with Him and talk with Him out there. One day I was planting potatoes, talking and praying to God. I kept working and got so tired and hot, that I stood up and said Where are you now God? I had felt His presence but when I stopped enjoying what I was doing and got so miserable, I felt alone. Then I picked up my tools and started to walk back to the house and all the way, He was showing me these amazing wild flowers of all colors first to the right and then to the left as I walked. I felt Him all over and knew that he had showed me those flowers to show me He was still there. We don't always feel Him but He is there! May I never doubt His presence again!
Yes, I love desserts,especially ice cream and chocolate. Yes, my soul thirst for my God all the time, I can't get enough of Him!
Whereas, as a Jamaican, I too can relate to Gen with the ackee and saltfish... I just loved that Chocolate Excess that Tami shared about. I had the previldge of having one last year after hearing so much about it and I agree, yummy doesn't do it justice...
But as I thought about what I was going to type, I felt so guilty. I love the Lord and have tried to serve Him faithfully, but I cant say that I yearn for Him as I did for the Chocoloate excess, or Haagan-daz, or ackee and saltfish... As I read Psalm 64 and then Tami's comments, I felt something deep within me move and yes, I believe it is the start of a new yearning after God and His Word!