As You Go – Pray 5/04/20

Unleashed – As You Go – Pray

“My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.”  Psalm 63:8

“If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire; if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them. They are not a sort of prize which God could, if He chose, just hand out to anyone. They are a great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at the very centre of reality. If you are close to it, the spray will wet you; if you are not, you will remain dry. Once a man is united to God, how could he not live forever? Once a man is separated from God, what can he do but wither and die?” C.S. Lewis

Sitting with David in Psalm 63 this week, I couldn’t help but marvel at the determination, worship and contentment as I read this Psalm. David composed this beautiful and powerful Psalm “when he was in the Wilderness of Judah.” Today, we seemingly find ourselves in a wilderness. Our wilderness is not of our making nor of our choice. Today we are facing challenges and problems we never imagined a few months ago as we “shelter in place” from an unseen enemy. What Psalm will we write in our wilderness?

David’s determination in this Psalm is expressed so powerfully as he writes, “O God, you are my God, I seek you,”.  You will not find an ounce of passivity in David because he is fully focused and determined to find God. I hope you are emotionally and spiritually encouraged and that your only desire is to be for God and you can say “my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

We have all found ourselves thirsty but few where our flesh faints as in a dry and weary land. Hiking the majestic and beautiful Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa years ago I understood this imagery in a real way.  Our water had run out during the hike and there was no water in this “dry and weary land”. No longer did my backpack feel so heavy, no longer did I focus on my tired body, no longer did I see the unbelievable beauty of the mountain range. No, my every thought became, “I need water.”

David still finds himself in his wilderness but his wilderness has been turned into a sanctuary.  He didn’t sit and mourn but actively sought God until he could say, “So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.” David may still be “sheltered in place” in his wilderness but the sound of praise and adoration comes from him as he lifts up his hands and calls on the name of God singing “because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.”

Wilderness life can be hard as I found out that afternoon struggling off the trail, tired and weary. Never had a bedroll and bottle of water been such a marvelous gift. David found contentment and hope in his wilderness and was able to write “my soul is satisfied as with a rich feast, and my mouth praises you with joyful lips when I think of you on my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.”

David understood he could mourn and complain because he was in a wilderness, or he could praise God. He chose to seek God and worship. We didn’t choose to be in our “wilderness,” but we can choose our reactions and actions. We can mourn or rejoice.  We can weep over what we have lost or seek God as one whose “soul thirsts.” In our seeking God, we can rejoice and shout, “for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.”

God is great,

Pastor Lynn Burton