A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.
O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night.
Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.
My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.
They who seek my life will be destroyed;
they will go down to the depths of the earth.
They will be given over to the sword
and become food for jackals.
But the king will rejoice in God;
all who swear by God’s name will praise him,
while the mouths of liars will be silenced.
My Understanding: The title of this psalm sets the stage for the words expressed therein. David was in a desert. A desert is “an area of land, usually in very hot climates, that consists only of sand, gravel, or rock with little or no vegetation, no permanent bodies of water, and erratic rainfall,” or it can be “a place or situation that is devoid of some desirable thing or overwhelmed by an undesirable thing” (Encarta). We may all, at times, experience such times in our lives when we feel all alone, abandoned, forsaken, rejected, persecuted unjustly, falsely accused, imprisoned by our circumstances, and when it appears outwardly as though all has been lost, and that we are without resources, without human rights, without the means to solve our own problems, and/or when we are lonely, afflicted, and trembling because of our situations, and/or when we can’t see the light of dawn.
David found himself in such circumstances. And, his response to his situation sets the example for all of us in how we should respond to our own desert experiences. When he was in this desert occurrence of his life, he looked to God for help. He earnestly sought the Lord. He was in a place that was devoid of physical food and water, yet his soul thirsted for God, and his body longed for the Lord. He remembered what he had learned of God in the sanctuary, and how he had previously seen and witnessed God’s power and glory. And, he placed his trust in the Lord. He believed in God’s love for him, and he chose to be satisfied with manna from heaven (the richest of foods) when his body was lacking such food physically. Instead of grumbling and complaining about his circumstances, he chose to have his lips glorify God. He praised the Lord, and he sang songs in praise to the Lord, too.
Not only that, but even at night when he normally would be sleeping in a comfortable bed in his palace, and yet he was in the desert, instead, he remembered the Lord. He thought about the Lord during the watches of the night. He knew God was his only help in this situation, so he clung to the Lord and to the hope that comes from God, and from God alone. He sang praises to God under the protection, covering, shelter and shield of God’s loving arms. And, he knew that God’s right hand would uphold him. He believed in God’s ultimate justice, and that his true enemies – Satan and his cohorts – would one day be destroyed. He believed that God would one day silence the mouths of liars, i.e. those who were coming against him, too. He trusted his life into God’s hands, and trusted in God’s ultimate justice to prevail in due time.
Paul and Silas in Jail
This reminds me of the time Paul and Silas were arrested and were thrown in jail (See Acts 16:16-34). Paul had just commanded, in the name of Jesus, that a demonic spirit come out of a slave girl, who “earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling.” This angered the owners of the slave girl, who then “seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.” They brought them before the judges and accused them falsely. The crowd of people went along with them and joined in the attacks against Paul and Silas. The judges ordered them to be stripped, beaten, severely flogged and thrown into prison, and to have their feet fastened in the stocks.
Yet, at midnight (during the watches of the night) “Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” Then suddenly there was a violent earthquake, the foundations of the prison were shaken, and all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and thinking that certainly all the prisoners had escaped, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself. “But Paul shouted, ‘Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!’” And, as a result of this, the jailer sought Paul and Silas out for how he could be saved, and he and his whole family were saved by God’s grace, and through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, praise Jesus! We never know what God has in mind with our desert experiences or how he might use us in the lives of others when we respond to our situations in a godly manner. The Lord may use our “deserts” to bring other people to Jesus Christ. Then, it will be all worth what we had to go through.
Though God does not cause evil, he does permit evil to exist. He does allow his children to suffer injustices, and to be even thrown into prison for crimes they did not commit. He will allow us to be pursued by enemies, and even to have lies told against us. God will allow us to be persecuted, hated, rejected and abandoned for the sake of his name and because we are followers of Jesus Christ. And, he does not even promise that we will experience true justice while we are on the face of this earth. Jesus died while still being falsely accused and while hung on a tree as a common criminal, although he had committed no wrong. And, Jesus told his disciples that they would be treated the same as he was treated. Yet, Jesus was resurrected back to life in conquering death, hell, Satan and sin so that we could go free from the ultimate penalty of sin (eternal damnation) and free from the control of sin over our lives.
So, justice did prevail in his death and resurrection, and it will prevail when one day he returns to judge the earth, to judge mankind, and to give Satan and his cohorts their just desserts. So, even if we don’t see justice in this life, we know that Jesus Christ is the victor, and he has already won this battle against Satan – our true enemy.
So, when we are going through such desert experiences in our own lives, we, too, can trust the Lord with our own lives and with the lives of our enemies (both human and spiritual), believing God for his justice, but also praying for our human enemies to come to Jesus Christ, and to receive him as their Lord and Savior.
Jesus said that if anyone was to follow him, he must deny himself, he must take up his cross daily, and he must follow the Lord Jesus wherever he leads him. These desert experiences of our lives, thus, can be the crosses we must take up, as we must die to what we feel are our own rights, and we must submit ourselves to our Lord, trusting him to work in our circumstances for his glory and for our good. Near the cross of Christ, in humble surrender and obedience, and in worship and praise of our Lord, we find healing for our souls. We experience God’s love and mercy, and we learn how to walk by faith and not by sight on a day-to-day basis, under Jesus’ love and protection. And, we learn to wait on God’s perfect timing, hoping, and trusting always in the Lord for him to work in and through our circumstances for his glory and for our ultimate good, in order to draw us closer to Him.
Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross / Fanny J. Crosby / William H. Doane
Jesus, keep me near the cross;
There a precious fountain,
Free to all, a healing stream,
Flows from Calvary's mountain.
Near the cross, a trembling soul,
Love and mercy found me;
There the bright and morning star
Sheds its beams around me.
Near the cross! O Lamb of God,
Bring its scenes before me;
Help me walk from day to day
With its shadow o'er me.
Near the cross I'll watch and wait,
Hoping, trusting ever,
Till I reach the golden strand
Just beyond the river.
In the cross, in the cross,
Be my glory ever,
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BasJqHsCIo4
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