Psalm 63, How To Worship God In The Wilderness
1. Seek God Before You Get There (v1-2)
2. Consider God’s Nature (v3-5)
3. Meditate On God And His Work (v6-8)
4. Trust God For Future Victory (v9-11)
Psalm 63, How To Worship God In The Wilderness
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Here, as we look at Psalm chapter 63.
This evening I've titled the message.
How to worship God In the wilderness.
How to worship God in the wilderness.
We're told in the prelude to the Psalm.
We're introduced to the author.
It's King David, but we're also told a little tiny bit of the circumstance behind the Psalm.
It was when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
Now there's some wrestling and discussion you could have, perhaps about when exactly in the time of David's life this was we see at the very end.
In verse 11, he refers to himself as the king, so presumably this is written in David's reign during the time of his reign over is.
Real and so most Bible commentators and scholars believe this Psalm was written during the time that his son Absalom, revolted and LED a rebellion against David, kicked him out, took over the throne, and David was on the run again in the wilderness of Judah.
Of course, David was not a stranger.
To the wilderness of Judah during the reign of King Saul, and when David was a young man, he was.
Running for his life every day for about 10 years in the wilderness of Judah.
But this is now after he has become king, and whether it's the incident with Absalom or some other incident, he is in the wilderness again.
And perhaps it's bringing up some old memories and reminding him of some previous times with the Lord.
And as he is out there in the wilderness again, it's a time of death.
Press and the the wilderness kind of pictures that and so the the wilderness really kind of speaks of not just the terrain in which he was sitting, but but the condition of his situation and the the trial that he was experiencing.
And so it was a wilderness in location, but also in circumstance.
And in the midst of that wilderness, in the midst of the distress and and the the struggle that he was going to both externally and internally, he records for us.
He writes down this.
Psalm and captures a little bit of what's happening in his heart in the midst of this trial and difficulty that he was experiencing, Pastor Warren Wiersbe says about this faith transformed David Wilderness experience into a worship experience.
Faith transformed his experience.
From a wilderness experience to a worship experience, and I I think that's a a great way to to capture the thought and to to really meditate on and consider that as we encounter and have our own wilderness experiences as we go through the the trials and difficulties that we go through too.
Really be encouraged by David and inspired by David to transform.
Turn that wilderness experience into a worship experience, and so we want to look to David as a good example here and learn how to do that, how to worship God in the wilderness, and so we're going to dive into the chapter here, breaking it up into four parts.
The first part we'll look at is in verses one and two.
Here's point number one.
Seek God before.
You get there.
Seek God before you get there.
How how to worship.
God in the wilderness well.
You need to back up a little bit before you get to the wilderness.
Seek God, check out verse one.
Again, it says, oh God, you are my God early will I seek you my soul thirst for you my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land, where there is no water.
Here is David pens this Psalm he is reflecting on where he's at and using it as an illustration of what he's experiencing in his circumstances.
And as he does, he looks back to God.
He kind of re centers himself.
He starts out saying, God you.
Are my God.
If it is the case that Absalom had taken over the Kingdom at this time, and David is on the run for his life, he he might be able to say.
Something like the throne of the Kingdom is not my God, the the power and the authority of being king.
That's not my God.
The autonomy and ability to have all the luxuries.
That I had in the the palace.
That's not my God as he as he's going through this situation and and heading out into that wilderness again.
He re centers himself and says God, you are my God.
It's a very common experience for us to in the wilderness experience.
Call out to God and be reminded that God is our God and and it's important to understand that.
Then when we're out of the wilderness experience, well, we can become very comfortable and complacent.
It was the common story in the pattern for the children of Israel after well before David.
If you look at the time of judges where there was the times of oppression.
And great crushing really upon the nation of Israel.
And then they would cry out to God, repent of their sins.
And God would send to deliver a judge to deliver them from the oppressor.
And then they would walk with God for as long as the judge was alive.
But but then this pattern would resume once that judge was off the scene.
The people would gravitate back to a life of sin, a life of pleasures, not putting God first, putting.
Other things first, making other things their God and they would fall into a time of oppression again and so.
It is necessary for us to have these times where we call back and remind ourselves God you are my God and the times of luxury perhaps, and the times of the palace living, that that we would not be so caught up with and enamored by the temporary blessings and goodness.
And forget that God is our God and when we begin to trust in our wealth or riches or security or position or power, or you know whatever we put our trust in, we put ourselves.
In a vulnerable position for the next wilderness experience.
And so David here starts out, just re centering himself, reminding himself of where he's at.
What's really going on, no matter what's happening on the outside, he's saying, God, you're my God.
All those things are not my God.
I'm not worshipping a false God, I'm I worship the true and living God, I'm in your hands.
And because you are my God, he says, continuing on in verse one early will I seek you.
Will I seek you now this word early?
Really speaks to us about an urgency or a priority to consider it in that way.
You perhaps have heard, and I'm sure it's it's been shared around.
You know, sometimes there are those.
Occasions where someone will kind of get caught up in the idea of early and attach it to the time of the day.
And perhaps, you know, give four or five six examples of great people throughout history who always, you know, started their day at 3:00 AM or 4:00 AM.
And and there's.
Many times kind of a building a case to say you must get up before dawn and that's what this means to early seek the Lord.
And perhaps that is.
Something the Lord would want to speak to us and I wouldn't knock necessarily.
The encouragement or exhortation that that people might share in that, but at the same time I would also acknowledge that.
Getting up early.
Before dawn is not a secret recipe and a secret formula for then having a real relationship with God and then really having success in victory in your life like that.
That's not the formula, right?
The idea here of early will I seek you?
Is that there's this urgency?
There's this priority, no matter what time of day I get up your first God, you know.
And so I'm I'm putting you first in my life and I'm putting you early in the priorities so that I make sure that you are first and foremost in that list.
Pastor Charles.
Virgin puts it this way.
The word early has not only the sense of early in the morning, but that of eagerness and immediateness.
He who truly
Longs for God longs for him now.
And so you can kind of think of early in contrast to later.
I will seek you early, not leader.
And how many times?
Are we kind of putting it off until leader?
I know I need.
To seek God about.
That and I need to hear from him about this, but leader and and making it early that we seek the Lord is is really the idea here, David says I'm seeking you early right now and.
And always you are first and foremost in the list of priorities.
David goes on to explain in verse one my soul thirsts for you.
And so he's now going to kind of shift into a little bit of an illustration, and it fits into what he is experiencing in his context, because again, the intro intro to the Psalm tells us it's.
Taking place in the wilderness of Judah, and so, here's a quick look at what the wilderness of Judah looks like.
Of course, this is just one picture, one snapshot of it.
Generally speaking, the wilderness of Judah is a desert going out of Jerusalem down to Jericho.
It's dirt, it's rocks.
It's a lot of that.
Over and over and over and.
Over again.
And so David is in this context, he's in the.
Desert, sometimes you know when I think of wilderness I think of Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, you know like forests, and you know that kind of thing.
But but wilderness, biblically speaking, typically means the desert.
It's barrenness.
It's you know, it's going out to Death Valley, or, you know, the high desert.
It's it's that kind of environment.
And of course, what is one of the major things associated with the desert?
Is thirst because in the desert the desert is a desert because there's not much water there, and so thirst is always an issue.
And always something that has to be contended with and dealt with in the midst of the wilderness in the midst of the desert.
And so here in the wilderness.
Looking at the physical scenario, David looks internally and says my soul thirsts for you.
That the thirst that he's talking about here is not the physical thirst. He's not concerned about. You know the physical H2O necessarily.
He's using that and recognizing this is a really powerful picture when you're in the desert and you're really thirsty and you're craving water and and you're desperate for a drink.
To be refreshed and renewed in the midst of the heat and dust and barrenness.
David says that is an apt picture.
For my soul, thirsting for God just as much as my body needs water, God my soul needs you and God what I need is your presence and I I need you to be with me.
He says my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.
This dry and thirsty land the desert, the wilderness.
There's no water there, and as your body would long for that.
And so of course you have the situations where people will be tricked by their minds and see mirages and and hallucinations of water out in the environment because they're dehydrated and and they're starting to see things and the the desert is playing tricks on them because they're they're so thirsty.
Their body, their mind that it's all messed up.
David is saying God, that's that's how much I need you.
I'm thirsting for you my my flesh longs for you just like my body longs for water and thirst for water and and God if I don't get you I'm going to be all messed up I'm going to be hallucinating I'm not.
Going to be seeing.
Things accurately or clearly, my soul thirsts for you.
In this dry and thirsty land, David sees this as a vivid picture of where his soul is and how much he needs God.
Verse two goes on to say so.
I have looked for you in the sanctuary to see your power.
And your glory.
Now here's what I'd like you to pay attention to here in verse 2.
Notice David is now speaking in the past tense.
So I have looked for you in the sanctuary.
I have looked for you as David is experiencing this wilderness experience as he's walking through this difficult trial and affliction.
It isn't that now.
Oh my goodness, here is a really tough situation and so God, I'm thirsty for you because I'm so afflicted right now that's not the picture that David is painting here.
David is saying look, I was thirsty a long time before I was in this wilderness experience.
I was thirsty a long time before I was in the.
Wilderness of Judah.
I've been thirsting for you, God, because you are my God, and so that's why I spent so much time looking for you in the sanctuary in the days, weeks and months leading up to.
This wilderness experience.
So I have looked for you in the sanctuary because I am thirsting for you and this is really where I begin to develop the point here.
Seek God before.
You get there.
And it's not to say that you can't seek God.
You know that you, if you blew it and didn't spend time with God and you're not seeking out God and then all of a sudden find yourself in a trial and difficulty and wilderness experience that you can't start.
Then of course you can.
You can start right now to seek God, even if you never have before, no matter what's happening in your life.
But the best preparation for that wilderness experience is not right now.
The best preparation for it is in the days and weeks and months leading up to it.
And what David is reflecting on here is God.
I've been thirsting for you.
So so that now as I head into the wilderness experience, I have a little bit of resources to draw from and my seeking you now in this.
Great difficulty is simply a continuation of the pattern that has already been developed. These verses speak of David's manner of life, not just his current predicament.
Pastor Warren Wiersbe says it is our regular worship that prepares us.
For the crisis experiences of life.
And think about that.
It's our regular worship that prepares us for the crisis.
Experiences of life.
When we lose.
Someone that we love.
It's pretty natural for us to begin to think about the last things we said.
What if you know there had been more time?
If I had known that time was so short, I would have said this differently or I would have added that I would not have said that I would have, you know, taken these steps or not taken those steps for us to kind of reflect after the fact if I would have known.
That it was just that.
Short of a time, here's what I would have done differently, right?
This is similar to the crises that we experience in life.
If we had known.
The afflictions and difficulties that we would face.
Perhaps we would have prepared a little bit more.
And we could in that time start to think well.
Why didn't God warn me what if?
Our time of worship.
By worship I mean our time of singing tonight.
What if that was our last opportunity?
To worship before the next crisis hits our life.
And would there have been the occasion where we would look back and say?
If I would have known that was my last opportunity to sing my heart out to God and to spend time with him and worship in that way, I would have done it differently.
I would have showed up for church.
I wouldn't have just watched online.
I would have thing out loud and not just, you know, sat there quietly to myself I I would have you know whatever you might have said.
You might say I might have gone somewhere else.
I could enjoy some real musicianship in worship and and you know, we, we might look at that and say if I would have known there was this crisis coming, I would have sought the Lord.
I would have prepared myself.
Enough and in the midst of the crisis, we might be tempted to think, well, why didn't God warn me?
So I could have prepared more in advance.
Why didn't he let me know about it and?
I would suggest you that he did.
The fact that crises hit our lives.
Are not surprises really?
They are to be expected.
Think about what Jesus taught in Luke chapter 6.
He thought about the importance of hearing his words and then doing what he says, taking him seriously and putting into practice the things that he says.
And he says the person who does this is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on the rock.
And then when the floods rise, the stream beats vehemently against that house.
But it cannot shake it because it's founded on the rock.
Here's what Jesus is telling us.
Here's your warning.
There's going to be storms that beat against your house and try to take it down.
Now he goes on to.
Talk about the foolish person.
Who builds their house upon the sand?
They don't take the time, they don't put in the effort to dig down and lay a foundation, and so then when the storm comes their house.
Collapses and is washed away.
Here's Jesus saying, let me warn you in advance, you're going to experience wilderness experiences.
You're going to go through great affliction and trial and difficulty.
There's going to be storms and like vehement attempts.
To knock down your house and to take you out.
And so here.
If you didn't.
Get the warning before this.
Take heed to the warning this.
Is going to happen.
And so.
We need to have this thirst for God.
To prepare us so that we are seeking the.
Lord in advance.
So that we are digging deep to lay our foundation in the rock so that we are establishing ourselves fully and securely in the Lord.
So that then when the storms come, they are going to come.
That's guaranteed.
It's part of this life that we experience.
And so.
We really can't and we.
Shouldn't be so surprised we don't really get to justify our like I'm so surprised I'm so shocked.
You know this crisis hit my life.
It's kind of like I remember Harvey telling me one time.
I don't remember his exact words, but they were very wise.
It was something along the lines of you can't really be surprised when your car breaks down.
Because over the course of time that's going to happen, you kind of have to count.
You have to build your life on the fact that at some point my car is going to break down and so you have to save for that.
You have to prepare for that.
You have to maybe learn skills for that.
Like you have to know that that's going to happen.
It's not a surprise cars breakdown every day and.
Even the best cars you know with the best maintenance plans.
They break down and so you you have to have some level of expectation.
In a similar way, crises are going to come.
To your life.
And the best time to prepare for those.
Is before they even start.
And David here is reflecting on his pattern of life.
God, you're my God, and I seek you early and that's why I've spent so much time looking for you in the sanctuary looking to see your power and your glory looking to know you looking to spend time with you.
Seek God before.
You get there.
And we can wrestle with, well, why didn't God tell me, or?
How am I supposed to know?
Well, you should expect it now.
Here's here's the next thing that that I would ask us to consider in this and that is to identify your thirst because.
If you're not seeking God before the wilderness experience.
You still have a thirst.
You're still in the wilderness.
In regards to your soul.
Before you get into the wilderness of the difficult situation that the external situation, right, the soul still is thirsting.
And so if you are not seeking God before you get there, if you don't look at verse one and identify with that and say yes.
David and I were were, you know.
We're fellows in this same kind of mindset.
We have the same kind of desire for God.
Yes, early I seek the Lord and my soul thirst for him and my flesh longs for him.
Like yes, I identify with verse one that that describes my pursuit of God.
Yes, absolutely.
If if we don't look at verse one and go, that's that's exactly.
My experience.
Then what I would suggest you is that we are attempting to satisfy this thirst of our soul with something else.
And again, that was.
Perhaps David's temptation is to be satisfied.
Satisfying the thirst of his soul by the power that he had, the luxuries that he had in the palace.
You know the the things that he could experience there.
But he went back and said, no God, you are my God, and he maintained that that role of God in the rightful place in his life.
But sometimes what happens to us is we we experience the thirst of our soul.
But instead of allowing God to be the one who satisfies that thirst, we try to satisfy that thirst.
We try to meet that need, that we have, that the internal thing that's happening in our.
Goal with other things.
And so we try to, you know, establish ourselves in the workplace or in our family.
We try to have you know certain luxuries or certain things reach certain goals, have a certain weight or height or hair color or whatever.
Like we we try to satisfy our thirst.
With other things, and so if you're not seeking God before you get there into those wilderness experiences, I would encourage you.
You need to probably spend some time identifying.
What it is that you are pursuing and using to try to quench the thirst of your soul so that you're not seeking God early?
And so that you're not filling yourself with God.
In that way you remember Jesus talking to the woman at the well, and he kind of spoke with her along those lines.
Go get your husband.
Well I have no husband.
Well that's true you.
You've had five husbands but the guy that you're with right now he's you're not married with him and so you are going from well to well, to well, to well, trying to satisfy your thirst with these people in your life.
And you continue to find yourself thirsty.
But Jesus tells her in John Chapter 14.
Verse 13 and 14.
If you drink the water that I give.
You you will never thirst, you keep drinking from this well.
The physical water.
You'll thirst again.
You keep drinking from.
This well, the people that you're trying to get that.
Soul satisfaction from you're going to thirst again.
You're not going to be satisfied.
When you're thirsty, Jesus says you need to come to me.
Because I'm the only one who can really satisfy that thirst.
And that idea of satisfying a thirst is something that John hits a few times in his gospel.
And of course, one of those occasions is in John chapter.
11 on the last day, the great day of the feast, people are very religious, trying to quench their soul thirst with religion and ritual, but absent the relationship with God and Jesus said, hey, if you're thirsty as they're performing this ritual of pouring out the water in the midst of this really important and joyful ceremony, Jesus.
Interrupts everything, disrupts everything and says if you're thirsty.
Come to me and Drake.
And he was Speaking of the Holy Spirit that he would give to those who came to him.
But the point is, we can be looking at religion.
We can be looking at people we can be looking at all of these things to try to satisfy the thirst of our soul.
And if we allow ourselves to ourselves to pursue those things, you know things might go OK in the easy times when it's not so difficult.
But we will be ill prepared for the wilderness experience.
So how can we maintain that condition of worship?
That state of worshipping God even in the midst.
Of our wilderness experiences that will come, they're guaranteed we should expect them.
They are going to happen.
Storms are going to try to sweep us away.
So how do we maintain that heart of?
Worship in the midst of it.
Well, we need to prepare in advance.
And even when we're not in.
The midst of the storm.
To be seeking God to be thirsting God and to be allowing every thirst that we experience internally to be a trigger to drive us.
To God.
And that we would invite him and ask him.
To quench that thirst to satisfy our soul.
Well, again this is not to say that.
Well, if he didn't prepare ahead of time and you find yourself in the midst of the wilderness that it's too late, you know, and you should just give up hope and die right there where you're at now.
That's not what David is saying, and that's not the point here.
You can right now seek God, and it will prepare you for the next crises and and you might experience the beginning of a crisis.
And think, you know, I wasn't prepared for this.
But at least it's not going.
To get any worse.
But guess what?
We experienced crisis and then.
The crisis gets worse.
And so seek God now, even in the midst of a crisis, even if you.
Haven't before this because, well, there's.
More intensity coming.
It's not too late.
To look to.
God set all other things aside in priority and passion and say God, you are my God.
And I'm going to seek you early and I'm going to put you first, and I'm going to thirst for you, and I'm going to use this picture of a dry, dusty land.
And how thirsty it is for water?
How it wishes there was water.
I'm going to use that as a picture that I am the dezza
And God, I need you to be the water that refreshes that fills, and that produces growth in my life we're moving onto versus 3 through five. We get the second point to consider this evening. And that is to consider God's nature.
Hopefully we've prepared ourselves before the trial, but still in the midst of trial, there's some things to do, and so here David spent some time thinking about the nature of God.
In verse three, he says.
Because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips.
Shall praise you.
Thus, I will bless you while I live.
I will lift up my hands in your name.
My soul shall be satisfied, as with marrow and fatness.
And my mouth shall praise you with joyful lips.
In verse three, we get David considering.
The lovingkindness?
Of God.
And then the rest of these next couple verses just flow out of that consideration of this aspect of God's nature and character.
Because your loving kindness is better than life.
Once David's response, my lips shall praise you.
My lips shall praise you because your loving kindness as as David considers God he considers this aspect of God loving kindness.
Loving kindness, of course, speaks of God's love for us. It also speaks of God's kindness toward us, right?
Loving kindness, it's it's the ideas of mercy and grace.
A little bit combined, the grace and the mercy that God has for us and his goodness towards us.
All of these things are wrapped up in and used.
That way, in different contexts throughout the scriptures, your loving kindness is better than life.
Now here David is.
Understanding a little bit of the eternal nature of his relationship with God.
And recognizing even if I don't experience any.
Good things for the rest of my life.
Your loving kindness toward me is better than life.
And so no.
Matter what wilderness experience I go through?
But your relationship to me and your approach towards me.
Your goodness in my life.
Your kindness and your love.
Cause for me to praise you my lips shall praise you why, because your loving kindness is better than life in the wilderness experience David is recognizing.
I can still praise you.
I can still.
Say good things about God.
I can still lift up the name of God.
Exalts the name of God, thank God and tell people about God goodness.
My lips shall praise you.
Because your loving kindness is better.
Than life.
Again, this is a man who has experienced a thirst for God and a seeking of God, he.
He's not just speaking, in theory, he's not just, you know, thinking hypothetically.
He's saying I've experienced your loving kindness.
And it's better than life.
And so my lips shall praise you.
I'm going to continue.
To exalt you with my lips, right?
Like not just in my heart, not just internally.
But my lips out loud.
I'm going to say good things about God and tell people about God.
And I'm going to sing about God and to God.
I'm going to praise God.
Verbally, physically, audibly with my lips.
Notice verse four, he.
Says thus I will bless you while I live.
I will lift up my hands in your name.
Thus, I will bless you.
Why will I bless?
You because your loving kindness is better than life.
And because your loving kindness is better than life while I live, thus, I will bless you. You see the the connection here is he's reflected on who God is in God's relationship to him.
And it's put him in his states.
Of praise.
Of blessing God, as long as he has life.
While I live, I will bless you.
My lips shall praise you, and I will lift up my hands in your name.
The lifting up the hens.
To the Lord is, perhaps Speaking of praise.
Perhaps Speaking of surrender, different people kind of take it different ways, and so you can kind of.
Wrestle through that a little bit and and come to your own conclusions.
Maybe it's both all of the above.
You know, that's usually how.
I like to look at things but.
But the idea here is David saying I'm gonna praise God.
I'm gonna worship God.
I'm gonna surrender to God I'm gonna exalt God.
I'm going to sing to God.
His loving kindness is better than life.
So no matter what I experience in this life, there's still reason.
To pray Scott, it's kind of like how James said to consider it joy when you go through various trials and difficulties all at the same time when when you face those things you can count it all joy because.
You know that God is doing a work and.
Because of God.
's work and and establishing you and perfecting you. You can take joy in the midst of that in a similar way. David's like your your goodness to me is better than life.
So there's no thing that can happen to me in this life.
That would take away this need for me to praise you to bless you and to lift up my hands.
In your name.
Pastor Warren Wisby says in an hour where David might have been discouraged, he was excited about God and in a place where there was no sanctuary.
Priestly ministry.
David reached out by Faith and received new strength.
From the Lord.
He was away from the sanctuary, now away from the Ark of the Covenant.
If it was the situation of Absalom's rebellion, there was an attempt by the priest to take the Ark with David into the wilderness, and David said.
No, no, put that back, but let the people.
Continue to seek the Lord where?
He belongs like that's that needs to stay where it belongs.
The the Ark of the Covenant is not my only access to God out here in the wilderness.
I can praise God.
I can bless God, and I can lift up my hands.
In his name.
He was.
As words, besides excited about God.
In a place of wilderness and a trial, a difficulty.
Again, a great model.
An example for us.
Verse five my soul shall be satisfied, as with marrow and fatness.
And my mouth shall.
Praise you with joyful lips here he looks.
To the future.
That expectation my soul shall be satisfied.
Even when I thirst.
I look to God.
And I have this expectation doesn't always happen immediately.
The issues of my soul are not always resolved overnight as I
Want them to be?
But my soul shall be satisfied because I know God nature.
He's loving and kind to me.
And as I seek him as I thirst for him.
He's going to satisfy me and and the idea here of the more on the fatness.
It speaks of an abundance, not just like here's a little, you know, meager portion, but.
But it's the best of the best portions.
He expects his soul.
To be overflowing with God goodness as he seeks him, and calls out to him, and so consider God's nature. You want to worship God in the wilderness experiences of this.
Make sure you have a keen eye on who God is and have a great understanding in what he's like and what he says.
His view on you and on everything around you.
Moving on to verses 6 through 8, we get the Third Point to consider this evening and that is to meditate on God and his work.
If we want to be able to worship God in the wilderness.
We continue to consider God not just his nature, but also the things that he has done versus 6 to 8 says this.
When I remember you on my bed, I meditate on you in the night watches.
Because you have been my help.
Therefore, in the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.
My soul follows close behind you.
Your right hand upholds me.
David here is describing.
Something we're all probably familiar with.
Sleepless nights.
Going through difficulty in affliction.
And sleep.
Flees from us.
In the midst of.
The turmoil that's happening.
The wilderness experience.
David says when I remember you on my bed, I meditate on you in the night watches.
All throughout the night, David says, I wake up and my mind comes back to you.
And I meditate on you.
And instead of wrestling with the problem, you know, worrying and stressing about all of the details.
My mind goes back to you.
And I think about you, God, I think about.
Not just who you are and some of your nature.
And character, but.
But also what you have done and the impact that you've had in my life in verse 17 says because you have been my help.
And so, so there you can see David kind of reflecting and replaying, perhaps in his head.
He's out there in the.
Wilderness, and he's.
Perhaps just reliving some of those experiences with Saul.
Chasing him in the wilderness.
And he's.
Thinking about, remember that one time where we were camped out and Saul's army went around on one side of the the hill to go to catch us.
And Saul sent the other half of his forces around the other side, and they're about to go right on top of us.
And and we're going to be trapped.
Remember how that happened?
And then God delivered us out of that midst of that situation.
Or that one time where there was a giant calling out blasphemies against the Lord and his armies, and.
You know David could recount so many experiences where God has been his help.
And so instead of allowing his mind to be focused on and consumed with the wilderness.
He's remembering God in his sleepless nights.
Again, the the first of his soul.
He's he's directing his soul to God and looking to God for the answer and the solution.
To satisfy the issues of his soul in whatever form or shape they take.
Because you have been my help.
In the shadow of your wings.
I will rejoice.
David is coming to the conclusion here I can rejoice.
I can rejoice now in the victory that will come, and I expect there to be that victory where I'll be able to rejoice because you have been my help.
I have the history, the experience of the things that you've done.
And so here's what I'm going to do.
And now he goes into another illustration.
Therefore, in the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.
And the shadow.
Of the wings.
Is that visual illustration of how a mother bird will protect and cover and shelter?
Their babies.
Here's a quick example of that.
The the bird they're covering and sheltering and and there is the you know, the placing the the wings over.
They're they're chiclets, right?
So that so that they can protect them and you know, even chickens.
I was watching a a video real quick as I was thinking about this of a chicken protecting its babies from crow from a crow, and I I wouldn't have expected a chicken to win that fight, but boy did that chicken win that fight and and she just you know basically took.
Not like, I mean, it was kind of like whoa who go easy on the crow after a while.
I was like feeling bad for the crow that was trying to attack the chicks and so.
This idea here this picture just just puts this this really good visual of the closeness of the protection that God is providing.
And David says, that's me right there I, I'm there with you.
God, I'm just close to you in the shadow of your wings I'm I'm close to you I'm sheltered by you and there I'm going to rejoice.
I'm not gonna go try to solve this on my own and leave the shelter of the wings and go try to fight this battle on my own.
'cause then the picture will change and and it's not going to be the the same comfort in strings right then.
It'll be chicken wings with Buffalo sauce, and they're quite tasty, but that's not what I want for my life, right?
So saying.
I'm going to stay under the shadow of your wings and and have your protection and there I'm going to rejoice.
I'm not going to run ahead and try to solve this myself and and bring these things to a conclusion.
On my own.
Verse eight he says, my soul follows close behind you.
Your right hand upholds me.
My soul follows close behind you again.
Notice David here is talking about his soul a lot, his soul thirst for God.
Now his soul follows close behind God, it's.
Describing for us this posture, this position that David had in his life of always urgently seeking after God, always having God as a passion, that that he was pursuing God.
In fact, that's how I often like to describe that phrase that we know David, for he's the man after God's own heart.
And for.
Probably most of my years on this earth. I heard that phrase and I interpreted that as David had the heart of God, he's the man after God's Own Heart, he has automatically, without any effort. He has God's heart.
But years ago now when we studied more in depth through first and Second Samuel on Wednesday nights.
It really opened up my understanding and developed it a little bit further to understand that the idea that David was a man after God's Own Heart doesn't mean that he automatically had guts.
Part that he was a man who was always in pursuit of God's heart.
And sometimes he didn't have God's heart and he was off base and God had to correct him. But as soon as he heard God, say David, my heart is different on this than what you think then.
David would.
Readjust his thinking.
Adopt the heart of God and then continued to pursue it, right that that there was this repentance and change that that he was allowing God to instruct him and and so he was always seeking God seeking to know God, seeking to to experience more of God, seeking to have a better understanding of God and better worship of God.
He was.
In his soul, thirsting for God and seeking after pursuing.
Pursuing God, think of it like a high speed chase, right?
He's just like with all that he has, he wants to be as close to God as he possibly can.
But then also David, here in verse 8 recognizes, but it's just not all about me and my efforts.
He says your right hand upholds me and so you can see here the the the way that God works with us collaboratively.
There is the need for us to do our part and we do need to have a heart for God and and to put ourselves in a position where we follow God and we're seeking out God.
But also it's not just all up to us and it's all you know, the full burden of The thing is is on our shoulders.
God right hand upholds us.
That's the hand of his power and his strength.
It's a another picture of visual that is often used in the scripture to to talk about that the hand of might, the hand of power and and God, you're the one who's going to sustain me.
I'm seeking you and I'm trusting you to uphold me and to sustain me.
I'm seeking you following close behind.
Knowing that you are going to hold me upright.
The commentator.
Derek Kidner says this.
The longing of these verses is not the groping of a stranger, feeling his way towards God.
But the eagerness of a friend to be in touch with the one he holds dear.
He's not following close behind God because he has no experience with God or doesn't know God.
The idea here is I I'm I'm staying close.
I'm sticking with you because I know you and I can trust you.
I I was kind of likening it in my head to perhaps being with someone in a foreign land.
Right and and you don't know the way, but they know the way.
So what do you do?
Because you know them and trust them.
You stay close or or perhaps in the midst of a crowd you know and and that that intimidates you, perhaps.
And, and so you, you're looking to someone else to kind of like push through the crowd and lead the way and and so you're like I'm I'm right behind you, I'm sticking.
On you, because I, I know you and and that's the idea here that that David says my soul follows close behind.
To you.
Not because I'm trying to catch up 'cause I don't know you and I don't know anything about you because I know you so well.
I trust in you I'm comfortable with you and so so I'm doing my best to stay with you to stick with you.
No matter what happens, and I trust that your right hand will uphold the IT exposes the reality of the the friendship and relationship.
That David already had with God.
And so again.
How to worship God in the wilderness.
It really starts before you get there seeking God and having this heart and this relationship with God and immersing ourselves in the.
Things of God.
To prepare us for those wilderness times.
And then as we experience the afflictions as, it starts to intensify and things mount up, we consider God nature His love, his kindness, his goodness towards us.
We meditate on how God has worked previously and how he has delivered us and brought us forth. And then finally verses 9th or 11 give us point #4 and that is to trust God for future.
Victory Verse 9 says.
But those who seek my life to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
They shall fall by the sword they shall be apportioned.
For jackals.
But the king shall be Joyce in God.
Everyone who swears by him shall glory.
But the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped.
Here is.
We wrap up the Psalm.
David is.
Commenting a little bit about this wilderness experience, it's not just the idea of being in a desert place.
But there's.
People seeking his life.
And deliberately.
Taking steps to try to destroy David and what he has built and all that he has done.
But as David.
Worships God.
Reflects on who he is and.
What he has done?
He comes to the conclusion here in verses 9 and 10, those guys who are coming against me.
They're not going to be victorious.
They shall go.
Into the lower parts of the earth.
They're going to die.
Because they're fighting against God, David is saying, look I'm I'm close to God.
And my soul is wrapped up in the heart of God.
And so when people come against me.
Well, I'm under the wings of God and so they can't come against me without coming against God.
They can't attack me without trying to attack God.
That's not going to be successful.
And as much as they seek my.
Life to destroy it, they can't.
They're going to fail.
And so they shall fall by the sword.
Their bodies will be cushions for the.
Jackals out in the wilderness.
They're not going to be successful in this attempt.
When we align ourselves.
With God in that way, when we put ourselves in the will of God.
We have this great security.
So that we can trust and rest those those who come against those who try to destroy it doesn't matter how much they want to destroy or how much power they have or how many friends they have or how many people they've got.
Convinced you know to to join with them on their mission.
That doesn't matter because.
I'm under God's wings.
In his will.
They cannot destroy.
What God wants to do in my life.
I'm sticking with God.
God gives us this promise in Isaiah Chapter 54, verse 17.
He says no weapon formed against you shall prosper.
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment, you shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from me, says the Lord.
This is the heritage.
This is the birthright.
Of the servants of God.
Now it's not a promise so that.
Nothing bad happens to our lives.
But the promise is that even in the midst of it, again quoting James, you can count it all joy in the midst of various trials, because you know that in the midst of those trials God is doing something good.
And God will bring good from it, and so.
From certain perspectives or just a limited scope, we might think he that weapon formed against me prospered, but here's the promise from God.
No, you stick with God.
You see God, you direct your soul anytime it's thirsty to look to God for the satisfaction and resolution to that thirst.
And when you are looking to God to fulfill your life and to meet your needs and you're looking to glorify God and walk with God and be in the center of God's will and know what he wants and and to.
Be walking.
In that you can rest in this promise, no weapon formed against you shall prosper, and anyone who attacks you is attacking God.
It's the heritage, the birthright of the servants of the Lord.
And God says their righteousness is from me.
So it's not that.
We have to be perfect, but.
We're clewed than the righteousness of Christ.
That's our heritage as servants of the Lord.
And so these attacks are going to fail.
They're not going to succeed.
But then verse 11, he says, but the king shall rejoice in God.
They're not going to succeed.
They're not going to rejoice.
But I'm going to rejoice.
I'm going to have victory in the end.
Because I have attached myself to God.
But I like how David here includes us.
This isn't only for David.
Verse 11 goes on to say everyone who swears by him shall glory.
We all shall rejoice in God and praise God.
When we follow the example.
And attach ourselves to God like David did and seek after God and thirst for God like David did.
The mouths of those who speak lies, they're.
Going to be stopped.
And and you could think about speaking lies not just as like deliberately telling an untruth, right, but.
Speaking lies because we are deceived.
Those mouths are going to be stopped also.
Speaking lies because we have been lied to.
Those males will be stopped speaking lies because we don't know God and because we've been trying to satisfy our soul with other things and and so we're off base and and our our compass is turned around backwards and we think up is down and down is up and right is wrong and wrong is right and we're we're so confused about the insight.
And so we're speaking lies, not because we're deliberately trying to say something false, but we're speaking lies because we don't know God.
And people who don't know God speak lies.
Because God is the one who has the truth.
And you can't.
Do anything else but speak lies when you don't know God, everything is upside.
Down and backwards.
When you're not attached to.
Walking with.
And thirsting for.
The creator of the heavens and the Earth, and so this is how we worship God in the wilderness.
Yes, in the most difficult things in life.
We can worship God and praise him.
Because of our relationship with him.
His goodness and kindness towards us.
His work in our life previously gives us great confidence to know there's going to be a future victory, and God is going to bring about joy.
In the midst of these situations.
I want to finish up with one last quote.
This is from Charles Spurgeon.
He says David did not leave off singing because he was in the wilderness.
Neither did he go on repeating psalms intended for other occasions.
But he carefully made his worship suitable to his circumstances.
And presented to his gaudy wilderness, him.
When he was in the wilderness.
And this is something.
That always strikes me.
Working through the Psalms is.
The genuineness.
Of the psalmist.
Being real with what he's going through.
Being real with the emotions and feelings.
That are being experienced in the midst of it.
And so David here doesn't try to pretend.
Let's just sing a happy song that.
Is not really relevant to the situation.
He says no.
Let me write a.
New song that deals directly with this I'm in the wilderness.
But God, I've been seeking you.
And I'm thinking about your nature.
I'm reflecting on what you've done previously.
And I'm trusting you for future victory.
So God, I'm really in. It's hard, it's difficult. I'm not. I'm not saying it's not, but this is the reality. This is where my heart's at and I'm looking to you.
In the midst of this situation, and so worshipping God in the wilderness, our highs or lows, our victories or defeats, we can walk with God in the midst of all of those, and be real with him and have real relationship and real worship in the midst of it.
Lord, we thank you.
That you don't call us to be phony and require us to put on a show, but Lord, you allow us to come to you.
With the real condition of our hearts and minds.
And so, Lord, I pray that.
You would help us to do that.
Or that we wouldn't try to.
Make ourselves acceptable.
But Lord, that we would come to you.
And ask you to make us acceptable in the beloved, by your son and by your work on our behalf.
But I pray that you would help us to seek you early.
Would that you would be first and foremost?
That you would be our passion, that you would be our desire.
And Lord, that you would come before everything else.
And Lord, I pray that you would help us.
Give us great discernment right now into our own hearts and lives.
But if they're a thirst that we have that we've been attempting to satisfy.
By some other means.
More the thirst has driven us to.
Binge watching all kinds of stuff.
Or diving into.
Substances to ease the pain and to distract from the thirst.
If the thirst has caused us to pursue a course in this life a career.
Some person, Lord.
We've been trying to be satisfied with something else besides you.
But we'll find that it's always going to fail, and so help us.
To realize that early.
And to abandon all of those dead paths.
To come to you with all of our thirsts.
All of our deficiencies every time we feel empty every time we ache within.
Help us to.
Come to you to seek you early.
And to let you satisfy the depth of our soul.
Would we thank you for your goodness towards us that we can count on you and rely upon you?
Thank you that we have this.
Promise of joy.
And final victory.
We pray this in Jesus name.