The God in the desert Part -3

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 We finally come to the final part in this series, in the study of Psalm 63 which I called the God in the desert. First, we determined that the God in the desert was a personal God because of David's reference to Him as "My God". Second, we studied that the God in the desert was a God whose love was better than life. In this instance, we learned that his love caused us to have four attitudes: an attitude of praise, an attitude of blessing, an attitude of satisfaction and an attitude of remembrance. What a marvelous God we have!

Now, in verse 7, David says that "the God in the desert is a God who helps". If you closely read the previous verse, you can clearly see that David remembers God also, because His continuous, uninterrupted help in his life. He delivered him from death itself, when Saul and his own Son Absalom were trying to kill him. There are many people in the Bible whose lives were greatly helped by God, but David's life is a mighty example where God's help was greatly displayed. David can testify to that! There's no doubt about it!

Why is God a God who helps? It is because He offers protection. The expression "in the shadow of your wings" means protection. Psalm 91:1-2 gives you this idea: "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!” and the rest of the Psalm goes on explaining the protection of God in our lives. Do you doubt God's protection? Sometimes fear interrupts our trust in God but at the end of the day, there's nothing we cannot trust about God. He's infinitely wise, infinitely powerful, infinitely loving. We are the "apple of His eyes". How much more protection do we need? Nothing more. God covers it all! His protection causes joy in my life; it causes my soul to cling to Him. It causes my soul to seek an even closer relationship with Him because He is able to provide that protection that no one else can offer.

David makes a contrast in verse 9 with the word "but". He is saying "my Lord is going to help me but he is not going to help you!"( Talking about his enemies). God will fight our enemies. He expresses this in statements like: "You will go into the depth of the earth", "you will be delivered over the power of the sword" and "you will be a pray for foxes". These are pretty strong statements against his enemies, specially when one of them is his own son Absalom. While David was in a very  desperate and dire situation, he knew God was his ultimate help, but he also knew that He is not very fond of "those who seek to destroy our lives". He can strike them at any minute. God will protect you in many situations that you can't even comprehend. That's why He is Almighty God, our Strong Tower, our Refuge. Our trust should be in that kind of God, the only One God of Israel and not in our fears and mistaken perceptions.

David ends the Psalm talking in the third person. He says in verse 11: "But the king will rejoice in God". The God in the desert is a God in whom we should have joy. This is another striking contrast with the word "but". Contrasting the context of the previous verses, David is saying: "God is going to take care of my enemies but I, the king, will have joy in my God". How is your joy when you're in your desert? How is it affected? Do you keep it or you turn it into sorrow and complaint? Do you strive to maintain it or do you succumb to your feelings of desperation? It sounds like a conscious decision when David says: "I will have joy in God". I'm not saying we will never have feelings of desperation or abandonment. In fact, this Psalm gives you a very good picture of the kind of desert David was going through. In other Psalms, David, out of the bottom of his heart, expresses sorrow, desperation, depression,abandonment, physical illness and many more experiences he has gone through. However, he chooses to have joy in the midst of his desert. That's why Paul was able to say in a very dark and solitary dungeon: "Rejoice in the Lord always. Once again I tell you, rejoice!". He made the decision to rejoice. His joy was so profound in the Lord, that he even "prayed and sang hymns of praise to God" (Acts 16:25) in the midst of his trial. Wow! What a lesson! We should observe how we act under pressure or under extremely stressful circumstances. That will surely give an indication of who we are and whom we belong to. It will show us also what we are made of and, it will also reveal the areas of our lives that need some improvements.

The God in the desert is awesome. He's a personal God, a God whose love  is better than life, a God who helps and a God in whom we should have joy. Sometimes we need to be in the desert to know that God more intimately and to know ourselves more intimately too. "What a mighty God we serve.What a mighty God we serve. Angels bow before Him.Heaven and earth adore Him.What a mighty God we serve". I hope you enjoyed and were blessed by this series. Remember, our God is always in your desert. May God bless you abundantly.

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