“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.2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.”
Read the whole Psalm here.
If you were to look at this passage in your Bible, it will probably tell you in a heading at the top that this was written when David was in the wilderness, so right away we know that David isn’t in the greatest circumstances and probably would rather not be in the situation that he is in. In the Bible, wilderness often represents discomfort and trials. With that in mind, it is much easier to be able to put yourself in the shoes of David as he is writing this Psalm to God. Specifically we can look at verses 1-4. In verse 1 David expresses personal, deep connection and longing that he has for God. He says, “you are MY God”. In verse 2 David reflects on the experience he previously with God in the sanctuary, where he would have corporate worship with other followers of God. David urges himself in verses 3 and 4 to continue to praise God, continue to bless His name, and continue to lift his hands in surrender, even while he is in the wilderness.
David reminds us how effective praise and worship is for us in the midst of our very own wilderness experiences. Worship can be a weapon we use to fight the lies of how we feel in the moment with the truth of who God is and what He has done in the past. It is easy to feel distant from God when we are struggling. It is easy to feel like God doesn’t care and is absent. With worship, you can choose to remind yourself that God is YOUR God. Just as much that you are His, He is yours. You can remind yourself of how God has came through for you and others around you in the past. And you can confidently and expectantly continue to praise and worship with the hope that you will see him move again, just like David.
pray
“Father, help me to have a heart of remembrance when I am in the “wilderness” of my life. Help me, Holy Spirit, to remember how You have moved in the past and help me to use worship as a weapon to fight for joy and satisfaction in You.
Amen.”
– Nick Spencer
