Life in a Dry Place

Life in a Dry Place

Fifth after Trinity

Collect Grant, O Lord, we beseech thee, that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by thy governance, that thy Church may joyfully serve thee in all godly quietness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Psalter: 63 (Coverdale)

1 O God, thou art my God; * early will I seek thee.

2 My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh also longeth after thee, * in a barren and dry land where no water is.

3 Thus have I looked for thee in the sanctuary, * that I might behold thy power and glory.

4 For thy loving-kindness is better than the life itself: * my lips shall praise thee.

5 As long as I live will I magnify thee in this manner, * and lift up my hands in thy Name.

6 My soul shall be satisfied, even as it were with marrow and fatness, * when my mouth praiseth thee with joyful lips.

7 Have I not remembered thee in my bed, * and thought upon thee when I was waking?

8 Because thou hast been my helper; * therefore under the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.

9 My soul hangeth upon thee; * thy right hand hath upholden me.

10 These also that seek the hurt of my soul, * they shall go under the earth.

11 Let them fall upon the edge of the sword, * that they may be a portion for foxes.

12 But the King shall rejoice in God; all they also that swear by him shall be commended; * for the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.

I live with a disciplined woman. When Susan has housework to do, she will make herself a glass of ice water. But she will not take even a sip till she has finished her work. The ice water is her reward.

It’s one thing not to drink water when it’s abundantly available. It’s another to be in a dry place where there is little or no water. When David wrote Psalm 63 he was in a desert area.

1. David’s Wilderness

How did David get there? Here’s the story in brief.

• When David sinned with Bathsheba the Lord told him that one of the consequences of his sin would be that “the sword would never depart” from his household. There was a particularly distasteful instance of conflict in David’s family.

• One of David’s sons, Amnon, fell in love with a daughter of David, his half-sister, Tamar. She resisted his advances. So eventually he tricked and raped her. Immediately he despised her and banished her from his house. Tamar had a full-brother, Absalom. He was enraged by what Amnon but he bided his time and two years later he tricked and murdered his half-brother. He was banished from Jerusalem, and he was gone for 3 years.

• David loved Absalom and eventually allowed him to return. He did not see him for 2 years, but then he allowed Absalom to return to the court. But Absalom had his eye set on better things that life a court. He wanted the throne. So he tricked his father and worked at winning over people’s hearts.

• When Absalom thought he had won the the loyalty of enough people, he went to a place called Hebron and proclaimed a coup. Leading the army he had raised, he marched on Jerusalem the capital city to take the throne of the kingdom.

• David assessed the situation and concluded it was unlikely he could defeat Absalom. If he tried to defend Jerusalem, he and his people would be killed and the city subjected to a bloodbath. So he abandoned the capital taking with him his advisors, his general, and the army that remained. There is a poignant scene of David’s climbing the Mt. of Olives, weeping, barefoot, and his head covered - all acts mourning. David and those who followed  went as far as the fords across the Jordan River where they rested. Then they crossed the river and went into the Judean wilderness.

• There David composed this Psalm.

2. David’s Longing

David longs for God.

• David does not long for the unknown - “someone in the great somewhere.” Nor does he long for help - for deliverance of his life or restoration of his kingdom. There’s a difference between “wife” and “my wife” and so it is with God. David says, “Thou art my God.”

• God himself is David’s most urgent need and deepest desire. A child wakes up early on Christmas morning because he can’t wait to find out what Santa left him. So David wakes early in the morning with God on his mind. In this land where there is little vegetation and no ready supply of water his whole being - soul and flesh - longs for God. David’s relationship with God is not a purely spiritual thing, but a whole person thing for he is made body and soul in the image of God. As person longs for water and seeks after water in the desert, so David seeks after God.

• What would you miss most if you suddenly had to leave Roanoke and go live in a tent in the Arizona desert? Right now, it might be airconditioning! There is your house and all its comforts. And there are all the advantages of living in a city with ready access to medical care, food, clothing, cultural activities. It is interesting that though David is sleeping on the hard ground in a tent David does not mention his palace with its luxuries and servants or the other advantages of life as a king.

Rather the thing David misses most is the sanctuary, the tabernacle dedicated to the worship of the Lord,  where he has seen God’s power and glory. David thinks about the place of worship where the priests carry on their ministries of sacrifice and prayer, where the Lord reveals himself in the Most Holy Place by filling it with the bright cloud of his glory. What David misses is public worship.

When you thought about leaving your home and going to live in a desert, did you think about missing gathering with God’s people here at Covenant Church to share with them in Morning Prayer and Holy Communion, to hear God’s Word, to sing God’s praises, to offer prayers? Did you think about missing the unique friendship and fellowship of God’s people? The truth is that public worship is the principal thing, the most important thing in our lives if we care about God and our own welfare.

• The reason David has such an intense longing for God and desire to worship at the tabernacle is because he has found that God’s lovingkindness - or God’s steadfast, unchanging love - is better than life itself. There is nothing David more important to David, nothing more valuable to David, nothing more delightful to him than the love of God. The truth is that unless we know that God loves us every other joy is empty and if know will not, cannot stop loving us, every sorrow is mitigated. David’s loves to say and sing the praises of the Lord and his lovingkindness.

3. David’s Comfort

As David’s longing is for God, so his present comfort is in God. David feels acutely the loss of public worship at the tabernacle, but that does not mean he without fellowship with God and comfort from God.

• David finds comfort in worshiping the Lord in the wilderness  where he is in the ways he can when he cannot go to the tabernacle. He blesses the Lord and lifts up his hands to the Lord in praise and prayer. This is an aspect of the life of faith we often miss. One of the best ways to experience the comfort of the Lord is not just to ask him to help and comfort us, which we should do, but to praise him for himself and for his goodness to us. Remember that St. Paul said, “Fret not about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6,7 KJ21). We often ignore the “with thanksgiving” and thus we do not experience the peace of the Lord as we could.

• Because the Lord is his God whom he blesses, he finds that his soul is satisfied “as with marrow and fatness.” I am afraid that David did not know about the food rules of avoiding things like fat. For people like his day the marrow and the fat were the best parts of the animal. So he says, “Just as my palate is satisfied with marrow and fatness, so my soul is satisfied by the communion of God I can experience even here in the wilderness. Because he is satisfied by the Lord he praises him with joyful lips. One of the reasons we deprive ourselves of the comfort of the Lord is because we look things that cannot satisfy long to satisfy us. But when we learn that the Lord truly can and will satisfy our deepest and most persistent needs and praise him for that satisfaction we experience that comfort.

• Because David finds satisfaction in God his thoughts go to the Lord when he is wakeful during the night. There are few things I hate more than not being able to sleep. I hate it when I can’t go to sleep, and I hate it when I fall asleep, then wake up and can’t go back to sleep. David was well past his years as a young warrior when he had to flee to the wilderness. He found it hard to sleep on the hard ground. But when he was wakeful, rather than becoming anxious about what was going to become of himself and his kingdom, he turned his thoughts to the Lord, and there he found something to stay his mind.

• He knew by faith that the Lord was his helper, so he felt safe and could sing the praise of the Lord. A little bird finds shelter beneath his mother’s wing. When winds are blowing the the rains is falling outside, he is in a warm and safe place, so for him the weather might just as well be calm and sunny. So for David and for believers when we take shelter in the Lord, we can feel safe even when the storms of life are raging. The Lord is our Helper, our Protector, our Security, our Comforter.

David finds comfort in knowing that the Lord whom he worships at the sanctuary is with him even in the wilderness.

4. David’s Confidence

Despite David’s precarious position - Absalom in Jerusalem and soon to pursue him, David in danger of losing the kingdom and his own life - David is confident.

David clings to the Lord, and the Lord’s powerful right hand supports him. David knows that those who seek to take his life will fail, will be totally defeated, and David will triumph. How does David know this? It is not just because he is David but because he is the king of God’s kingdom, and God’s kingdom will not be defeated but will always be victorious.

When you and I are in the life’s dry places and wildernesses, we cannot know how things will turn out for ourselves personally or in the short term. What we can know is this: We are citizens of Christ’s kingdom, and Christ cannot be defeated. His kingdom is forever and must be victorious. So, if we are Christ’s we cannot be ultimately defeated or destroyed. We must win because Christ wins.

And though this world, with devils filled,

should threaten to undo us,

we will not fear, for God has willed

his truth to triumph through us.

The prince of darkness grim,

we tremble not for him;

his rage we can endure,

for lo! his doom is sure;

one little word shall fell him.

That Word above all earthly powers

no thanks to them abideth;

the Spirit and the gifts are ours

through him who with us sideth.

Let goods and kindred go,

this mortal life also;

the body they may kill:

God's truth abideth still;

his kingdom is forever!