Quench Your Thirsty Busy Soul

The turkey leftovers have been packed away, the house cleaned up. The season of fall and Thanksgiving are already moving towards the back of our minds, finding a niche in our memories. For us Canadians, it is already a distant memory as our Thanksgiving is a month passed, but along with others, this weekend in my mind seems to scream out that the Christmas rush is now upon us. And the traffic on the way to church on Sunday morning only confirmed that the shopping crunch had truly arrived.The whole focus of seemingly everyone and everything around me seems to be one of the count down to Christmas, with each day passing adding more stress. Gifts that need to be bought and wrapped, the tree to be trimmed, the house to decorate, baking to be done, menus to be planned, concerts & dinners to attend, schedules to juggle. The focus and heart of thanksgiving gets more and more buried beneath the hectic schedules. It all gets very overwhelming. And I start to get weary even as my heart and soul start to get increasingly thirsty. Thirsty for the presence of God. And sometimes in the rush, I don’t even realize that it’s happening to me. I just know I’m out of sorts and stressed and the joy has disappeared out of doing the fun things of the season. I can totally relate to David in this Psalm.

“O God, you are my God,

earnestly I seek you;

my soul thirsts for you,

in a dry and weary land

where there is no water.”

Psalms 63:1

Yesterday, our church had “Hearts of Worship” night. It is a night totally dedicated to worship. Five glorious hours of continuous worship to the one whom the season is all about. No announcements, no talking or preaching. Just worship. We can come at anytime and leave when we need to. And what a refreshing to spend some time in God’s presence. What joy when you left that place having glorified our God and Savior. What a wonderful way to kick off the Christmas season with putting our focus squarely on the Lord.

“I have seen you in the sanctuary

and beheld your power and your glory.

Because your love is better than life,

My lips will glorify you.

I will praise you as long as I live,

And in your name I will lift up my hands

My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;

With singing lips my mouth will praise you.”

Psalm 63:2-5

And I know, I’m totally slow on the uptake. But it occurred to me, that here was the secret to avoiding the stress. No I couldn’t avoid the shopping crunch or the baking crunch, or the schedule crunch, but I need not be thirsty. God has said that if I come, he will quench my thirst. I just need to come. I just need to take that time to come be in His presence, to sing with my voice, to drink of Him and His goodness. To praise Him with my lips and worship Him with my heart. It need not be five continuous hours. Just some time each day. Not just at church on Sunday or in a worship setting. But bringing it home to my everyday. Letting Him fill me. Keeping my focus on Him.

“On my bed I remember you;

I think of you through the watches of the nigh.

Because you are my help,

I sing in the shadow of your wings.

My soul clings to you;

Your right hand upholds me.”

Psalm 63:7-9

And that it was here, in His presence, that He could strengthen me for everything that needed to be done. I, like David in the Psalms, can go forth praising Him. And so can you. I encourage you to sing in the shadow of His wings, praise Him with singing allowing your lips to glorify Him because He is your Help, the lifter of your head, and your strength giver for all that needs to be done.