Church Volume Two: A 9-Day Devotional by Jesus CultureEsimerkki

I Need You (More Than Anything) - Chris McClarney

Psalm 63:1-3 “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. 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.”

Food, water, and shelter are commonly described as the basic necessities that every single person needs to continue surviving on earth. It’s easy to want to believe that once we have those things we’re all set, and can live truly rewarding lives. But, that is hardly ever the case. Because our world has been infiltrated by evil and sin, we are faced with multitudes of problems that cannot be faced when we’re solely relying on physical earthly things. But, once we become followers of Christ it soon becomes apparent that we truly need God, even more so than those basic survival necessities, and if we allow Him to, God becomes our ultimate provider, both spiritually and physically.

For many of us it is easy to understand how relying on God substantially helps cultivate our relationship with Him, but one thing that can be hard for us as followers of Christ is understanding how relying on God can meet our physical needs as well. Psalm 63, though, does work to answer many of our questions. Psalm 63, interestingly enough, talks about God as if He was water, which is one of our “basic necessities.” Now, most of us know the feeling of being out all day on a trip without access to water, getting extremely thirsty to the point of where it’s all you can think about, right? It seems like, in those moments, we would give anything to have even a small sip of water to satisfy us. In Psalm 63, David talks about God the same way. He describes his whole being longing for God so that he can finally be satisfied. The way David talks about God can teach us a lot about how He can ultimately provide everything we need. Verse 3 says “your love is better than life.” If we truly believe that God’s love is better than life, that means that His love is enough, and can meet all of our needs. Scripture tells us that, if we seek first the kingdom of God and continue to work hard as servants of the Lord, God will be faithful to us and provide everything we need, including our physical needs (Matthew 6:31-33, Luke 12:24). So, if we long for God the same way that we see David longing for Him, we’re doing it right. Not only that, but when we begin to rely on God and choose to put Him first, our spiritual relationship with Him is tended to, so that it can grow more than it ever could have if we continued to rely solely on earthly sustenance.

"I Need You" is a proclamation of our need for God more than anything else. When we sing it, we remind our souls that nothing is more important than being connected to God, and that He alone is able to fulfill our every need. Although it isn’t always easy to solely rely on God and trust that He will provide for us, Romans 8:28 reassuringly tells us that God works for the good of those who love Him, so we have nothing to fear.