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Psalm 143:6
I spread out my hands to you. My soul thirsts for you, like a parched land. Selah.
4Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me. My heart within me is desolate.
5I remember the days of old. I meditate on all your doings. I contemplate the work of your hands.
6I spread out my hands to you. My soul thirsts for you, like a parched land. Selah.
7Hurry to answer me, LORD. My spirit fails. Don’t hide your face from me, so that I don’t become like those who go down into the pit.
8Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning, for I trust in you. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to you.
Notice
Outstretched hands and parched land make longing for God tangible, with the prayer rising from a heart that has just named its desolation.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What would you want to say to God with your hands spread out?
Write on thisWhere, if anywhere, does “a parched land” fit your desire for God today?
Write on thisConnect
Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 63:1A Psalm by David, when he was in the desert of Judah. God, you are my God. I will earnestly seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you, in a dry …Both psalms say, “My soul thirsts for you,” linking desire for God with land that lacks water.
Isaiah 55:1“Hey! Come, everyone who thirsts, to the waters! Come, he who has no money, buy, and eat! Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.Thirst shapes both passages: the psalm voices need for God, while Isaiah addresses thirsty people with a call to the waters.
Job 11:13“If you set your heart aright, stretch out your hands toward him.Both passages describe hands stretched toward God, though the psalm voices a prayer and Job’s passage offers counsel.
Psalm 84:2My soul longs, and even faints for the courts of the LORD. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.Both psalms describe the soul’s longing for God, expressing desire through the language of bodily need.
Psalm 88:9My eyes are dim from grief. I have called on you daily, LORD. I have spread out my hands to you.Both prayers join distress with hands spread toward God, making the same gesture amid desolation and grief.
John 7:37Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!The psalm describes thirst for God, and Jesus addresses anyone who is thirsty with a call to come to him and drink.
Psalm 42:1–2For the Chief Musician. A contemplation by the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God.Parched land and a deer panting for water both express the soul’s desire for God through thirst.
Exodus 9:29Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the LORD. The thunders shall cease, and there will not be any more …Spreading hands toward the LORD is the shared gesture, used in the psalm’s longing and by Moses before the hail ceases.
1 Samuel 1:15Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have not been drinking wine or strong drink, but I poured out my soul before the LORD.Hannah pours out her soul before the LORD, while the psalmist describes a soul thirsting for God amid desolation.
Isaiah 26:8–9Yes, in the way of your judgments, LORD, we have waited for you. Your name and your renown are the desire of our soul.Both passages direct the soul’s desire toward the LORD, with Isaiah naming his name and renown as its desire.
2 Chronicles 6:12He stood before the LORD’s altar in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his handsBoth passages describe hands spread out before the LORD, a gesture shared by personal lament and worship before Israel’s assembly.
Ezra 9:5At the evening offering I rose up from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn; and I fell on my knees, and spread out my hands to the LORD my …Ezra and the psalmist spread out their hands toward God, Ezra in humiliation and the psalmist amid desolation.
Where this verse fits
Feeling distant from God. grief. wanting a steady prayer habit.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
You do not have to hide spiritual thirst when you pray. Here, an overwhelmed person reaches toward God while the land remains parched.
Now put it in your words.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).