According to book reviewer Gloria Whelan, one of the most significant scenes in Michael Scammell’s biography of Alexander Solzhenitsyn is the portrayal of the exiled Russian author at his home in a small Vermont town. After years of KGB surveillance and imprisonment in Russia, Solzhenitsyn lives “barricaded” behind a chain-link fence. According to Scammell, it was in a Soviet prison camp Solzhenitsyn discovered that “the meaning of earthly existence lies not, as we have grown used to thinking, in prospering, but … in the development of the soul.” Perhaps this is why he still spends much of his time writing in a small cabin furnished only with the barest necessities.
Now look at David, the author of the 63rd Psalm. Do you see any similarities? While he was in the wilderness of Judah and oppressed by his enemies, he too recognized that what really counted was the development of his soul. We read that he longed and thirsted for God. He found that knowing the kindness of God is of more value than life itself. He discovered that he could get deep, lasting satisfaction out of knowing God. The result was that David pursued with an intense urgency those matters of the heart that put life in perspective for him.
Are we as wise? If not, we need to ask God to rekindle in us a deep desire to know Him, so that we can pray, “O God, … my soul thirsts for You.” We need to make the welfare of our soul our sole purpose. – Martin R. De Haan II
My soul within me yearns for Thee,
Till Christ be fully formed in me;
Let love divine enlarge my heart,
Then all Thy fullness, Lord, impart. – Stewart
God can take the place of anything, but nothing can take the place of God.
- May 14, 1987, Our Daily Bread
For You 