A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness 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. 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. 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 a portion for jackals. But the king shall rejoice in God; everyone who swears by Him shall glory; but the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped. (NKJV)
What do we do when we are in the wildernesses of life?
David had fled to the wilderness of Judah which runs along the eastern edge of the Judah mountains.
Of that wilderness, a Messianic teaching website writes: “Israel’s wilderness abounds with rocks, hills, and canyons. The climate is one of extremes—scorching hot temperatures by day turn to near-freezing temperatures at night. There is little water” (http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=1779).
It was from this kind of environment, away from his kingdom, his throne, his people, and all of his resources, that David wrote: “The king shall rejoice in God.” When there is nothing left, there is God and He is everything. When we have everything, there is nothing else but God, because He needs to be everything. It was a truth that David learned in those times of leanness.
David learned how to seek God in the beginning and at the end. He wrote:
“Early will I seek you. . . . I remember You on my bed; I meditate on You in the night watches.”
Early and late, David sought after the Lord. I’m an early riser, getting up as a child by 5:30 to have time for myself before demands were placed on me by my parents for chores and other family needs. As an adult, I began getting up at 4:00 when my son was born so that I would have time alone with the Lord before the demands of being a mother would begin each morning. I also go to bed early which prevents me from watching television. That discipline, instead, often allows me to read Christian books and scripture at night. Early and late. And I’ve found that doing this helps me to center my thoughts on the Lord.
When we find ourselves in those dry, lean times of life, we have two responses. We can get mad and demand from God why He would allow us to have these experiences or we can search after Him with even more effort, clinging to Him and knowing that He is everything; that nothing else matters. To be honest, dry, lean times may truly be gifts! When we are separated from distractions, we may finally understand that there is nothing else that matters except Him and His love for us.
© 2010 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
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