O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory. Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you! I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy. I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night. Because you are my helper, I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your strong right hand holds me securely.
Psalm 63:1-8

Dear God, I think the most remarkable part of this psalm is the context. At the top it reads, “A psalm of David, regarding a time when David was in the wilderness of Judah.” This psalm came out of David not out of a time of abundance, but a time of struggle. We don’t know which wilderness story for David this is. Was it when he was running from Saul? Absalom?

Of course, the last three verses of this psalm are the reason I struggle with Psalms. David shift from praising you to hoping for your wrath for his enemies:

But those plotting to destroy me will come to ruin. They will go down into the depths of the earth. They will die by the sword and become the food of jackals. But the king will rejoice in God. All who swear to tell the truth will praise him, while liars will be silenced.
Psalm 63:9-11

The truth is, Jesus want me to love my enemies and hope for their reconciliation to you, even if it costs me. David didn’t know that and so he sometimes took his love for you and his humility before you and linked it to his disdain for his enemies. Of course, I don’t know what it’s like to have both the number of enemies David did and the types of enemies he did.

Father, help me to worship and praise you in all circumstances. Help me to glorify you in the midst of my victories and my defeats. Help me to love everyone around me and yearn for their joy and peace to be found in you, whether they are a friend or a foe. And thank you for everything. I do worship you as my God. You are worthy of all of my praise.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen