Deserts and Abundance and Seeking God

Yesterday I started meditating on Psalm 63, and again this morning it felt like a good place to start.  I love this psalm.

Psalm 63:1-8 NIV:

[1] "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. 

[2] I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. 

[3] Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. 

[4] I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. 

[5] I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. 

[6] On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. 

[7] Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. 

[8] I cling to you; your right hand upholds me."

We are told that David wrote this Psalm when he was in the desert of Judah, and that certainly makes sense with the opening line.  I like to think that there was a physical need and experience that opened his eyes to his deeper spiritual need.  I think this is often the way of our spiritual journey's ebbing and flowing as our needs are more or less obvious.  I find that in times of need my heart more easily turns toward the Lord.  I don't feel bad about that, I think it is partly the way we all operate.  

The Lord, in His communication to Israel before they entered The Promised Land, warned them about becoming complacent, and even distracted as they experienced the abundance of the land.  Here are the verses - Deuteronomy 8:10-18 NIV:

[10] "When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. [11] Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. [12] Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, [13] and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, [14] then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. [15] He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. [16] He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. [17] You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” [18] But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today."

There is something about wealth and abundance that can cause us to forget the blessing of the Lord, and He calls it out here, describing it as a sense of our own provision and strength.  Rather than being grateful and thankful for the blessings, we can so easily take on a prideful mindset, that all we have has come from our own efforts, forgetting that our gifts, talents and abilities are all gifts from God initially.

As I mentioned earlier, the times of need in our life, allow us to peel back these kind of prideful mindsets and helps us open our eyes to our need and reliance on the Lord.  We are made for communion with God, for relationship with Him,  and sometimes we need to be reminded of this fact. 

Additionally, the Lord wants to call us to a deeper place, a place of encountering Him in His Glory!  He wants us to experience His Love to such a deep level that it develops a hunger in us that can only be sated by Him!  He wants us to be changed by our experience of Him, by seeing His Glory, by gazing up on Him!  He wants us to be so changed that it is impossible to forget about Him, as He warned the Israelites. 

Oh, that we would encounter Him in this way!  Oh, that we would be changed, that our hearts would be so enflamed with love, loving Him and knowing His love for us that we never falter or fade in our pursuit of Him.  Oh, that we would be aware of His closeness, His protection and His holding us in His powerful right hand!  We are who we are because of You, because You breathed Your life into us, because You created us!  

You are my God and earnestly I seek You!!

Amen!