“I lie awake each night thinking of You and reflecting on how You help me like a father. I sing through the night under Your splendor-shadow, offering up to You my songs of delight and joy! O God of my life, I’m lovesick for You in this weary wilderness. I thirst with the deepest longings to love You more, with cravings in my heart that can’t be described. Such yearning grips my soul for You, my God! I’m energized every time I enter Your heavenly sanctuary to seek more of Your power and drink in more of Your glory. For Your tender mercies mean more to me than life itself. How I love and praise You, God! Daily I will worship You passionately and with all my heart. My arms will wave to You like banners of praise. I overflow with praise when I come before You, for the anointing of Your presence satisfies me like nothing else. You are such a rich banquet of pleasure to my soul.
With passion I pursue and cling to You. Because I feel Your grip on my life, I keep my soul close to Your heart. Those who plot to destroy me shall descend into the darkness of hell. They will be consumed by their own evil and become nothing more than dust under our feet. These liars will be silenced forever! But with the anointing of a King I will dance and rejoice along with all His lovers who trust in Him.”
Psalms 63:1-11 TPT
Do you know where David was when he wrote this Psalm? One would think reading this that he was on his palace rooftop. But my friends he was not. He was exiled in a Judean wilderness Hiding from those who sought his life. But listen to the tender words he spoke to the Lover and Keeper of his soul. Even in the midst of a chaotic situation, he found time to reflect on the goodness of God. Where do you go in your times of testing? Do you recall the Lord’s faithfulness and bless Him? Or do you shake your fist and yell at the heavens?
David is teaching us how to respond under pressure. By remembering and rehearsing the Lord’s goodness we can find peace and clarity in our worst of times. We may not be being chased into a desert by our enemies, but the pressures of life in a chaotic world is enough to send us underground. But quiet reflection can help to center us. David used the desert to his advantage. Instead of panicking, he found solace, and used the quiet to worship Jehovah. It allowed him to get a godly perspective on his situation.
Let’s read verse one. I lie awake each night (in the desert) thinking of You and reflecting on how You help (protect) me like a father. What’s he doing here? Calming his soul. He’s erecting a divine barrier between himself and the elements around him. He continues; I sing through the night under the shadow of Your protective wings. He’s in an open desert yet securely confident that God has built a shelter for him. A casual acquaintance with God cannot produce this interaction we’re privileged to read here. This is speaking of something much deeper. It makes me want more. David went on to say, “there is no water here. But my soul my whole being thirsts for You more than for natural water.” My God! No wonder he’s known as the man after God’s own heart.
Who responds like this in a desert? Who responds like this when your life is being hunted like a criminal? Only one who knows intimacy with God. My friends, David is not unique, he’s just passionate about his God. He went beyond the surface of religion to discover pure love. God’s love. He went beyond head knowledge to heart encounter. He didn’t just know about God, he met and knew Him. What he discovered made him hunger and thirst for more. Is that how you view your life in Christ? Is your desire for more of Him, or are you satisfied with the perifere? The outer fringes? Jesus desires to feel virtue being pulled from Him. Don’t get close and leave empty. Draw on and from Him. David found the joy of reaching His heart and never stopped feasting. You read it right there. He discovered something that is available to all of us.
In a desert place he was refreshed, protected and full of praise. May we like David, find rest in our struggles. Turning the pressures of life into spontaneous worship. A time of reflection on the goodness of our God. May we go deeper.
Deeper, deeper in the love of Jesus
Daily let me go;
Higher, higher in the school of wisdom,
More of grace to know.
Charles Price Jones. (1900)
Today, instead of me leading you in prayer. Why don’t you cry out to Jesus on your own. Bring your own words to bear on all He’s done for you.
Written by permission of the Holy Spirit
W. Tennant
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