Heart of a Psalmist - Worshipping Christ Through The Psalms

to his two faithful priests, Zadok and Abiathar who remained behind as spies: “Let me know what hap- pens in Jerusalem before I disappear into the wilderness.” (2 Sam. 15:28) The wilderness is a solitary place where the only thing that grows is our spiritual life. We must remember it is the Judean wilderness, still a part of the promise land and inheritance of every believer. Centuries later, Jesus the Son of David would retreat often to the wilderness to find the comfort and revitalization of his life that is expressed in this psalm: “But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.” (Luke 5:16) We can either be ‘driven’ by our enemy or ‘drawn’ by our God to this place of solitude. “Early next morning Jesus went out into the wilderness. The crowds searched everywhere for him, and when they finally found him, they begged him not to leave them.” (Luke 4:42)

I EARLY MORNING - 1-5 David’s First Thoughts of the Day

“O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you…” (1)

“O Elohim” is the name of God used by David and is most likely in reference to the Father God. Jesus revolutionized our relationship with God in prayer and worship when he taught us to address him directly as “Our Father in heaven,…”(Mt. 6:9) “…I earnestly search for you…” has been translated also as “I seek you early..” in many older versions. Both translations carry the thought of this being the ‘dawn’ of all human desires. “My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.”(1) David’s primary spiritual desire is compared to thirst, the chief appetite of the human body. His long- ing for God’s presence eclipsed his physical thirst in the Judean wilderness. Psalm 42 was written by one of the ‘sons’ of Korah who was accompanying David at this time and wrote of the same thirsting in his soul: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God.” (Ps. 42:1,2)

“I have seen you in the sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory.” (2)

David is exiled from the place he loved the most, the sanctuary of worship in Jerusalem. Now he is forced to live out privately what he experienced corporately in that holy place. He discovered that the sanctuary can be ‘in him’ as well as he being in the sanctuary. “…don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?” (1 Cor. 6:19) The power and the glory will always belong to the Creator and will never be shared with those he has created.

“Your unfailing love is better to me than life itself; how I praise you! I will honor you as long as I live, lifting my hands to you in prayer.”(3,4)

Life is the most precious thing that we possess yet David affirms that God’s love is even more valuable to him. Human life is temporal yet God’s love is eternal. The lifting up of our hands is a valid expression of biblical worship and prayer when we earnestly seek him: “So wherever you assemble, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy.” (1 Tim. 2:8) There should be no arguments over the lifting of hands whenever God’s people assemble.

“You satisfy me more than the richest of foods. I will praise you with songs of joy.” (5)

In verse 1 David uses thirst to describe his desire for God and now he uses the analogy of satis- fied hunger to explain the fulfillment he has in joyfully praising the Lord. Just before David entered the wilderness of Judea he was given food by a servant named Ziba: “He was leading two donkeys loaded with two hundred loaves of bread, one hundred clusters of raisins, one hundred bunches of summer fruit, and a skin of wine. ‘ What are these for?’ the king asked Ziba. And Ziba replied, ‘The donkeys are for your people to ride on, and the bread and summer fruit are for the young men to eat. The wine is to be taken with you into the wilderness for those who become faint.’”(2 Sam. 16:1,2) Even in our darkest hours God is gracious to those who love him.

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