I. Intro
A. Most of us have watched enough scary movies or TV shows to be able to imagine how scary it would be to be outside being hunted by someone who wants to kill you. Most of us can also imagine how painful it would be to have a child grow up and turn away from the path we set before them. But imagine the pain of a child not only going his own way but setting himself against his parents, to oppose them in every way.
1. This is the kind of circumstance under which this morning’s psalm was written.
B. Circumstance or occasion of Ps.63
1. Some psalms give little indication of their circumstance, others give a lot. This Psalms seems to give us enough information to isolate the very night in David's life when this Psalm was penned:
a. There is an introductory note which says: "David when he was in the wilderness of Judah"
b. Verse 11 refers to David as the king.
c. Only one time we know of when David as king went out into the wilderness of Judah — and that was only for a few hours, when David’s son Absalom took Jerusalem and David had to flee for his life.
d. This is confirmed by his reference in v.9 to “those who seek to destroy my life.”
e. So, the only conclusion can be: David when he fled into the wilderness before Absalom.
2. They stopped in the wilderness near the Jordan for the night.
a. But then in the very early hours of morning they got an urgent message to cross over the river immediately, and they did so before daybreak.
b. It seems that David must have written these words as he sat up in the night, hours before dawn, desperately crying out to God.
c. This corresponds to v.6 “I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night.”
3. As David left the city, 2Sam.15:30 tells us he was weeping as he went, and was barefoot and had his head covered.
4. So, we’re meeting a man at one of the lowest moments of his life.
a. the ultimate rejection (by his own son)
b. driven away from home, everything he had
c. His position was lost and he wandered around homeless.
d. He lived in fear: Absalom and all his followers were after him to kill him.
e. Embarrassment for how his son had turned out and all the harm he was now bringing to Israel.
(1) It was partly his fault. He was reaping what he had sown.
II. Explanation
A. v.1 “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”
1. I once thought this Psalm and others like it were referring to great passion for God, a overwhelming appetite for His presence, a godly hunger for the One he loves.
2. But that’s not really the point here. Chaos has broken out in David's life, and David knows he desperately needs God.
3. David's thirsting here is a fainting, desperate thirsting. What we have here is a spiritual 9-1-1 situation.
B. v.2 “So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.”
1. David is reminded of his times of sweet communion with God at the tabernacle, and of the sweetness of God's favor toward him that was so real to him at that time.
2. David had seen the power and glory of the Lord displayed in the sanctuary and now longs to see again. This is what he thirsts for and yearns for and now seeks after: To see Thy power and Thy glory, for this is His comfort and His strength.
C. v.3 “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.”
1. David’s life is threatened. But he knows that God's lovingkindness is so precious that it is even more important to him than the continuation of life on this earth.
2. Because David has gone to the Lord in his danger, His mind is not in a panic. He is not paralyzed by worry and anxiety. He is able to perceive the love of God, and he is able to give praise to God for it.
D. v.4 “So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.”
1. God’s lovingkindness is better than life and therefore as long as I live I will bless the Lord.
2. These might be the last hours of my life, or I may live to be an old man. Either way, I’m going to spend my life lifting my hands up to the Lord.
E. v.5 “My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,”
1. "My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food"
a. This is in contrast to v.1 "my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you"
b. God is the richest of foods for the soul.
F. v.6 “when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;”
1. "the watches of the night" or "the night watches"
a. The wording here implies that a significant amount of time is involved.
b. This kind of perspective correction doesn't always come easily.
c. It takes time. It takes meditation.
d. It sometimes takes staying awake in the middle of the night to deal with God.
G. v.7 “for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.”
1. He is confident in God's help partly because of the faithfulness that God has shown him in the past.
2. "in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy" He knows that although he appears vulnerable that he is in the hands of a mighty God who will shield him from the scorching blast of the enemy.
H. v.8 “My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.”
1. "clings" — Same word as in Gen.2:24 "cleave to his wife"
a. Clinging to God with all of his might, yet it is ultimately not his hand that holds on, that keeps the bond intact. Rather, it is
2. "Your right hand" that "upholds" David, and he clearly knows it.
I. v.9-10 “But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth; they shall be given over to the power of the sword; they shall be a portion for jackals.”
1. Here we see David's confidence that God will deal with the wicked who attack him.
2. This was not based on something that David could see. It did not look like this at all.
3. It looked as if Absalom and his cohorts had won the day.
4. But because of God's promise, David knew better.
J. v.11 “But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by Him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped.”
1. A summarizing, concluding statement: The king will rejoice in God even in this tragedy.
2. Indeed everyone who is committed to Him will glory...
3. because they know that God will not allow the wicked to continue on forever, but that He will bring justice to those who speak and do evil.
III. Life is a wilderness.
A. Sometimes when I read these desperate passages in the Psalms I’m not feeling desperate.
1. But you know something? The fact that I don't feel desperate is a misperception of reality!
2. I am desperate, I am always desperate. Desperately in need of God's grace. Desperately in need of His help and His guidance and His protection and His provision and His sustaining power.
B. In one sense we are always in the wilderness, even though it doesn't look like it. There is nothing here for our souls to drink. There is nothing here that can ultimately satisfy. We get tricked into thinking that there is security, that there is happiness in earthly things, but it is insanity, it is deception!
C. When everything begins to quake around us, when we begin to feel like the whole world is insecure and like things are shifting underneath us, at that moment we have the most accurate perspective of the world. That is the time when we are beginning to see things as they really are.
D. The question isn't: "Are you walking through a barren wilderness right now in your life?" Of course you are! That's all there is down here! This whole world is a wilderness. And the man who looks at it and sees a paradise — or even a potential paradise — is a fool.
E. God has graciously made sure that nothing in His creation is ultimately dependable or secure, whether job or body or even friendships, family and church.
F. Why? Because He does not want to lead us into temptation, the temptation to trust what is not trustworthy.
G. He wants us to understand that there is nowhere else for us to go except to Him.
H. If we can’t find strength in God even in the midst of hard times, usually it means we haven’t yet come to grips with the insecurity & instability of this world. We’re still looking for hope & fulfillment in this earth.
I. In John 6, after many depart from Him, Jesus turns to the 12 and asks: "Do you want to leave me too?"
1. Peter answers: "Where else do we have to go? For no one else has the words of eternal life."
J. Is it bad when you’re happy in life: job, family, dreams? It can be. But it isn’t necessarily bad. It matters. If you receive blessings as from the Lord, and put your ultimate hope in the Giver not the gift, then it’s OK.
1. But it is hard to put our hope in the Lord when all goes well. In fact, as you observe his life you can see that David was much better off, spiritually-speaking, in the wilderness than he was in the palace.
K. In the news I read a quote from the victim of a hurricane. This woman and all her loved ones had survived but they had lost most of their stuff. "There is no hope left in me, there is no prayer left in me. I cried to God but He does not listen. There is no answer."
1. Such a sad reaction! Why did they survive? Because of God's protecting power from the storm. And yet she interpreted the fact that God allowed her house and possessions to be destroyed as God's falling down on the job, or maybe He just really isn't there.
L. So often this is the way we are. God works magnificently in our lives both to take care of us and to show us that earthly things are not dependable and we blame Him for not caring.
M. But unless we see God providing, we conclude He is not.
N. Beloved, the only God that truly exists, the only living God is not a God whose main concern is to provide comfortable lives for all mankind, and to make sure they never suffer any loss or hardship, and gives them whatever they desire.
O. He is a God who cares more about our eternal existence than our earthly comfort.
P. And He sometimes withdraws our blessings and disturbs our comfort, not ultimately to hide Himself, but to reveal Himself by clearing away our false securities and worldly distractions.
IV. God is our oasis in the midst of the wilderness.
A. When everything collapses around him, David knows to run to God.
1. David could’ve kept wandering. He could have put his hope in some strategy for regaining his throne. He could’ve cursed Absalom for what he was doing. But David knew the thing he needed was God.
B. The question isn't: "Am I walking through a barren wilderness?"
C. The real question is: "Who am I walking with through this wilderness? Who is sustaining me? Am I drinking of the Water of Life?"
D. If I feel like this world is a dry and thirsty land for me right now, if I feel I’m wandering through a wilderness without seeing much hope on the horizon, I need to realize that the thing I really need is not to find a happier place, it’s not to strike it rich or get a good job or find a spouse or overcome a health problem or see a change in a relationship.
1. What I need is God. He is the water of life. He is the quenching of your soul-thirst.
2. John 4:13-14 Jesus said to woman at well: "Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."
3. Everyone feels a desperate need in the midst of a crisis. But the two questions for each of us are:
a. When we’re in a crisis, feeling desperately needy, do we recognize the thing we desperately need is God?
b. And when we’re not in a crisis, do we still know we’re desperately needy for God?
V. The sanctuary is the place to get yourself ready for the wilderness.
A. We see that David had learned to communicate with God in the sanctuary so that when he was out in the wilderness, it came naturally.
B. The worship service: like police academy or military training. If you don't take it seriously, you will be ill-prepared for the times of testing.
C. Devotional life: only when needed? Don't fall into that trap. Your dark night of fear and grief in the wilderness might well be coming soon. Don't be so foolish as to put off preparing for it until you can sense its closeness. David didn't.
D. I live on a gravel road and have a gravel driveway. And over the years, I’ve learned a lot about managing a gravel road.
1. Rain is the enemy of gravel roads. Rain can do more damage in an hour than traffic can in a year.
2. I've learned that the hard downpour is going to come, and that’s it’s better to prepare in advance.
3. And I've learned that the water has to go somewhere, so it's not a matter of whether you are going to have trenches but who is going to dig them.
4. You don’t want a flat road or driveway. On a flat road, the water goes wherever it wants — and erodes.
5. I've learned that it is better if I decide where the water should go rather than letting the water itself decide. I've learned that I can direct the water by building channels where I want the water to go.
6. And I've learned that if I don't build channels like this, then the water creates a big mess of my road when it rains hard.
E. Well, that is the way it is with tears, and with fears and with hurts.
1. If I don't establish channels for my tears and fears and hurts when I’m not in a crisis, they’ll make a mess of my life because they will just flow in any which way.
2. David had spent many hours in the presence of God digging channels for his tears, so that when the tears flowed, they flowed to God.
F. How about us? In the peaceful seasons of life are we busy digging channels for our tears so that they will flow to God instead of wreaking havoc on our lives?