"Bernhard Langer was one of the best golfers of his generation. In the mid-eighties he was at the top of the game, twice winning the US Masters and topping the inaugural world golf rankings in 1986. He made a fortune and married an air stewardess from Florida. He said: ‘I had … won seven events in five different continents; I was number one in the world and I had a beautiful young wife. Yet there was something missing.
‘The lifestyle we all (especially us sportsmen) are leading – it is all about money and who you are and who you know and what you have and these things aren’t really the most important things. I think people who have these things, they realise that even when they have achieved all the goals they wanted to achieve and they have all the millions of pounds they wanted and all the sports cars and the homes and the places they want to go to – there is still something missing in their life and I believe that is Jesus Christ.’
The spiritual emptiness which Bernhard Langer is describing is common to all humanity. We are not simply body and mind. We are souls created for relationship with God. How then do we find this ‘soul satisfaction’?
Psalm 63:1-11
Seek God day and night
Spiritual ‘food’ is just as real as physical food and it satisfies us in a way that cannot be satisfied by anything physical.
David was in the desert. He knew what physical thirst and physical hunger were like. But he also knew and experienced spiritual thirst: ‘My soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water’ (v.1). And he knew what it was like for his spiritual hunger to be satisfied: ‘My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods’ (v.5a).
His spiritual hunger and thirst are satisfied as he worships God: ‘So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open, drinking in your strength and glory’ (v.2, MSG).
He lifts his hands as an expression of adoration, reverence and surrender: ‘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’ (vv.3–4). Lifting up hands is the oldest gesture of prayer. As Pope Benedict writes, ‘This gesture is the radical form of worship ... To open oneself to God, to surrender oneself completely to him.’
What do you do when you can’t sleep or you have wakeful moments in the night? David says that he worships and praises God, ‘I remember You upon my bed and meditate on You in the night watches’ (v.6, AMP).
As he pours out his heart in worship day and night to God, David discovers strength and support. He writes, ‘Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me’ (vv.7–8).
Lord, I seek you today. I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you. Lord, thank you so much for the way in which you satisfy my soul as with the richest of food. Thank you that you quench my spiritual thirst. Thank you that your love is better than life."
1. Hallelujah that your love is absolutely better than life. Thank You for loving me.
2. Thank You for being able to try local foods.
3. Praise You for great, sensible conversations.
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