Today’s Bible Study, Authored by Arthur Cincotti. 11/03/2024
Listen to our Bible Study Discussion at: In the Wilderness Audio Podcast
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In the Wilderness
Ps. 63
“Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
In the day of trial in the wilderness.” Heb. 3:8 quoting Ps. 95:8
Contrast helps us to see with greater clarity. God uses many contrasting metaphors in His word to draw us into a deeper, richer, understanding of who He is to us; the Lover of our souls. This, in turn, stirs in us a desire for Him; I Jn. 4:19, “We love Him because He first loved us.”
The wilderness setting is a stark contrast to the lush and plentiful garden that God created for us to dwell in Genesis, and yet this is a typical place where His chosen vessels meet Him in a very special way. The Angel of the LORD meets Hagar in the wilderness just before she gives up all hope. Joseph is cast into a pit in the wilderness. Moses met God in the burning bush while tending his father-in-law’s flocks on the “back of the desert.” And of course, the big one; the people of Israel meet God in the wilderness where, for forty years, He provided for them and reveled Himself in majesty. John the baptist was baptizing in the wilderness, and Jesus Himself was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness where He endured temptation.
The back drop of Ps. 63 is King David hiding out in the wilderness from his son Absalom (II Sam. 15-18) David was no stranger to the wilderness. It provided a covering for him when he was fleeing from the wrath of King Saul. But he was young then. In this instance he is older and the weight of years of hardship and his own son’s insurrection must have been heavy on his soul.
Vrs. 1 is a confession and a proclamation:
O GOD, You are my God;
It’s as if to say, “let’s settle this right now!” My position in not my god, my talents and abilities are not my god, even my children are not my god.
He goes on to say:
“Early will I seek You;”
How can we miss this pattern of bringing the first fruits of our day to God. Jesus walked in this pattern of early morning prayer
“My soul thirsts for You;”
The Psalms speak frequently of this aspect of the bankruptcy of one’s own soul. In Ps. 42:1,2 we read:
“As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So pants my soul for You O God.
My soul thirst for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?”
“My flesh longs for You
In a dry and thirsty land
Where there is no water.”
The wilderness.
Not only is David’s soul vexed, which can happen anywhere, or at any time, but his physical body is suffering from want of the comforts he had grown accustom to. In the wilderness God strips us bare to get our attention and then brings us to a place of realization that our only true desire is after Him alone.
Ps. 84:2
“My soul longs, yes even faints
For the courts of the LORD,
My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”
Vrs. 2 “So I have looked for You in the sanctuary;
To see Your power and Your glory.”
The wilderness is typically a very solitary place. Even though David has companions who flee Jerusalem with him, his situation is very unique and solitary. The sense of loss and failure are personal. In a similar way, at Ziklag, (I Sam. 30) when it seemed as though all was lost, “David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.”
Vrs. 3 begins with another confession and proclamation:
“Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips shall praise You.”
David is bishoping his soul with truth and realization and it moves him to praise. Jack Hayford’s commentary on the word for praise here is:
“Praise, shabach; Strong’s #7623: To commend, praise; to adore; to glory in something; to still, quiet, or pacify someone. Shabach goes in two directions, ‘praising’ and ‘calming.’ The verb occurs 11 times in the OT, 8 of these having to do with speaking words of praise. The other 3 references speak either about calming the tumultuous sea (65:7; 89:9) or about hushing up things within one’s heart (Prov. 29:11)
Vrs. 4. “Thus I will bless You while I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.”
The universal sign of surrender!
Vrs. 5. “My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.”
This is another prevalent theme in Scripture; to rejoice even in the midst of suffering. Paul and Silas in prison at Philippi is another familiar example that comes to mind. (Acts 16:25)
Vrs. 6,7. “When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches.
Because You have been my help,
Therefore in the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.”
Remembering God’s faithfulness in the midst of past trials is a source of great comfort for the believer. It doesn’t take long to build a personal testimony of God’s goodness towards us. Meditating on this will redirect our thoughts away from fatalism, and bolster our faith. Heb. 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
And II Cor. 5:7, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
Vrs. 8. “My soul follows close behind You;
Your right hand upholds me.”
David is invoking some of the things he knows about himself and God. I wonder if the verse might read; When my soul follows close behind You; Your right hand upholds me?
Vrs. 9-11, David, I sense, is resting in God’s righteous order. He is the anointed king of Israel; established by God. No man can alter or come against that without consequences. David understood this principle. In I Sam. 24 David has an opportunity to kill Saul. In vrs. 6 he says, “The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the LORD’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD,”
Vrs. 11; “But the king shall rejoice in God;
Everyone who swears by Him shall glory.”
But the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped.”
A beautiful reminder to us of the New Covenant is Rev. 1:5&6
“To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God, and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever Amen.”
Anyone of us, at any given time of this life may be walking through, what we call a “wilderness experience,” wherein circumstances are harsh, but God is vibrant and near. Many of your fellow believers will tell you of their own wilderness experiences and declare how His presence was so rich and satisfying.
Today’s takeaway is: don’t shun those wilderness times, even if they are long, but let them shape your character, and enjoy His presence through it.
Michael Card recorded a great song that you can look up,
“In the Wilderness.” “In the wilderness, in the wilderness. He calls His sons and daughters to the wilderness. But He gives grace sufficient to survive any test. And that’s the painful purpose of the wilderness.
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Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
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