David Singing in The Desert

 

Everette Howard became stranded between two Cape Verde islands for eight days. After much prayer he decided to row his small boat towards land. As he started out that evening he felt impressed to play a harmonica which he had carried with him. He lifted the harmonica and started playing hymns. As he did this he prayed that God may direct his boat towards the inland. After sometime he was surprised to see a boat sailing directly towards his small boat.

The captain of boat dropped Jacob’s ladder and Everette climbed in. The captain said “ I heard the gospel hymns you were playing on that harmonica and I ordered my men to follow that music until they find the source and we found you”. Everette thanked God for answering his prayers and particularly for prompting him to play the harmonica. God used the harmonica as the means for the captain to locate him that night in the water.

Psalm 63 also known as the “desert hymn” was written by David when he was in the Desert of Judah. This could have been when he was fleeing from his son Absalom (2 Sam. 15). His own son whom he loved was attempting to kill him. David was the king (Ps. 63:11) but he had fled from the throne leaving his palace, possessions and family behind him. And it’s in that setting that this beautiful Psalm comes from the heart of David.

In Psalm 63 we see God bringing something beautiful out of David in the worst of times. Few other Psalms match the devotional expressions of this Psalm. Not many would be writing songs while under the kinds of pressure David faced at this point in his life. If they did, the song would probably contain a lot of urgent requests for help or complains to God. It is interesting to note that Psalm 63 contains no petition.

David begins the Psalm by expressing a longing for God’s presence. He says “ you, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water (Ps 63:1). In his hour of desolation David looked up from the desert to heaven and said “You, God, are my God”. Bad things had happened, but one thing had not changed, God was still his God. No trial, no sorrow and no distance could change that.

David was not vaguely familiar with God. He knew God in a personal and intimate way. He refers to him not as “our God” but “my God”. This was a very personal relationship. Even in his adversity David was confident of the Lord’s presence in his life. He had hope and assurance in his God! Whatever the circumstance or situation, he could trust in his God being there for him. To build such trust in a person would require spending hours with him over a long period of time, in a variety of situations.

Having lost everything he valued, the one thing David longed for was his God. When we are losing things, we cling to and refuse to let go the things we hold dear to our hearts. What David valued most was God. We worship what matters most to us and what we worship fuels all our actions. It becomes the driving force of all that we do. Follow the trail of your time and your energy and your affection. At the end of that trail, you will find what you worship. David was ready to lose everything else but God.

In Genesis 14 Abram had just defeated a large army (Gen.14:14-16). He had reason to be afraid; he expected an attack of retribution. He had declined a great reward offered by the king of Sodom (Gen. 14:21-24).God appeared to him in a vision and assured him that he had not lost. He said “do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward”(Gen.15:1). Choosing God and his way over any other thing is true wisdom. When we have God, we have access to everything that we will ever need in life: protection (Isa.43:1-2), peace (Phil.4:6-7), very present help in trouble (Ps, 46) and much more.

Jesus visited Mary and mother’s home (Luke 10). Mary sat at the feet of Jesus listening to him. Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. Martha was disturbed that Mary was wasting precious time. Jesus words must have taken her by surprise. He said “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things... Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:38-41). Spending time listening (reading his word) and talking with Jesus (songs, prayers) has a better and a longer-lasting value than any service we can do for him.

David said “early will I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh longs for you (Ps 63:1)”. He was committed to seeking God with both very early devotion (Ps.5:3) and earnest passion. He expressed a deep longing for God, akin to physical thirst. David already had the Lord; he called Him “my God.” But he was not satisfied, he wanted more of him. He knew that there was more to know about his God. His whole being craved it as a thirsty man in the desert craves for water. David had walked with God for years, but he thirsted for more.

Man was created with a void that only God can fill. Seeking to fill it with anything else is futile. God did this so that man would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him (Acts 17:27). Psalmists expressed deep longing for God. In Psalm 42:1-2 we read “as the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” Psalm 84:1-2 says “How lovely is your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God”.

 David wrote “So I have looked for you in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory (Ps. 63:2). Sanctuary is God’s dwelling place. Significantly, David was not at the tabernacle when he sang this song; he was in the Wilderness. Yet he knew that’s God’s sanctuary was not only a place, but also a spiritual concept that could be entered by faith no matter where a person was. David knew that God’s presence in that wilderness could make it a sanctuary. He wanted to see God’s power and glory there in the wilderness.

Wilderness is characterised by loneliness, hunger, thirst, exposure to unwavering desert heat and dangers. When we find ourselves there we are tempted to sink down in despair. But not so David; he desires to find God there in that wilderness. He longs to see God’s power and glory in that very place. There are circumstances in life that are similar to a literal wilderness.  God often sends his people to such dry places to stir up their thirst for Him. Men pray better in darkness than in light, in adversity than in prosperity.

Because Your lovingkindness is better than life. My lips shall praise you (Ps.63:3) . God’s lovingkindness surpasses even the gift of life itself. David was so motivated to pursue God because God’s love is better than life. The love of God to him was more precious than his own life. It was more meaningful to David, than life itself. What is life but a dream, subject in its brevity to numberless vicissitudes?The pursuits of life are transitory! But the pursuits of God’s lovingkindness are noble and eternal.

No matter how beautiful Life is, it’s only temporally. Job observed that a man who is born of a woman is of a few days and full of trouble (Job 14:1).“Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. If only we knew the power of your anger! Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due” (Ps. 90:10-11).

No matter what one achieves in this life, without the Lovingkindness of God there is no satisfaction. Its vanity of vanity, says David’s son Solomon, the richest and the greatest achiever in life (Ecc.2). Without eternal security the end of life will be a disaster. Jesus asked “what does it benefit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul in the end” (Matt 16:26). God’s love is everlasting and it gives eternal security. God’s love is the foundation for a secure, purposeful existence that leads to eternal life (John 3:16)

Possessing wisdom, power or riches are good, but having God is far better (Jer. 9:23-24).Paul considered them garbage, that he may gain Christ”(Phil 3:7-10). God’s love is a source of deep satisfaction that is more fulfilling than anything that life can offer. Paul said “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain...I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far (Phil. 1:21-23).Physical life itself can be lost. But God’s Lovingkindness can never be lost (Rom. 8:38-39).

In Psalm 36: 7-9 David sings “how precious (priceless, NIV) is your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of your wings. They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your pleasures (delights, NIV). For with you is the fountain of life; In your light we see light.  When Absalom took away everything that David had, he could not take away God’s lovingkindness from him.

God’s lovingkindness is better than this temporal life which we lead here below. God’s lovingkindness transcends anything we consider perfect in this natural life. God’s loving kindness is better than all the joys of this life. The wilderness is the way of God to wean us from the most precious things in the world. In the wilderness we learn that his love is better than all that this life can give. The lovingkindness of God comes to us not only with promises of present good, but with “exceeding great and precious “ promises of good things in the future.

The lovingkindness of God is better than life, because it brings us to a better life. Paul wrote “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9). The world takes Gods loving kindness for granted but not David. His gratitude is expressed in songs and praises. He would burst with praises and gratitude to God for the love and kindness that he showered him with throughout life.

The lovingkindness of the God is the greatest advantage of a Christian. All the happiness of unbelievers is confined only to this life. But, the children of God have   hope of far better things beyond this life. The lovingkindness of God is the fountain of redemption, pardon, acceptance and holiness. It is the fountain of all the streams of grace, mercy, and goodness, which enrich the valleys of life and make its deserts to vibrate with shouts of joy and praises.