Psalm 63
Psalm 63
is just what the doctor ordered today. A
few minutes ago I posted a comment on my blog post on Psalm 60-61 about how
remembering to praise God is sometimes difficult for me. Praising God is not difficult; remembering to
praise Him is difficult. Sometimes I get
so caught up in my life: the schedule, the routine, and the things that get me
off-track and behind schedule. Sometimes
I simply forget to praise God.
No sooner
did I finish writing that comment when I turned to Psalm 63 and heard about how
easy it is for David to turn to God and give Him praise. So I paused for a second and I asked myself,
“Why?” Why can David seem to praise God
whenever he wants?
I think I
found an answer. Certainly not the
answer, because I believe there are many reasons as to why some people have an
easier time praising God than other people.
But I do believe I found an answer: David – like Jesus – saw an
opportunity to get in touch with God in everything around him. {I realize I may be giving too much credit to
David – but not Jesus! David certainly
had his moments of flawed weakness.}
Look at this
psalm’s title. This is a psalm when
David is out in the wilderness running for his life. Had I been there, it would have been easy for
me to say, “Woe is me. I’m thirsty. I’m hungry.
My life really isn’t going that well.”
And I’m probably not giving myself enough credit here, but I am trying
to make a point.
It is far
too easy to focus on our own life and how our life is affecting us. It is far too easy to forget that God is with
us in the dark times as well as the good times.
Remember that classic reflection called “Footprints in the Sand” about
when we look back and only see one set of footprints in the sand? It is at those times that God is actually
carrying us!
That’s
what I love about this psalm. David has
an incredible ability to look at his thirst and his desolate surroundings and
turn it into a reminder about just how much he thirsts for God! David turns his
wilderness experience into a reminder of just how much he is satisfied with the
fullness of God’s presence. David is a
master of spinning life back onto a reflection of God – especially through his
poetry in the psalms. In today’s
vernacular, David is a Spin Doctor for Spirituality.
So why
shouldn’t we praise God? Why shouldn’t
our soul thirst for Him and be satisfied by Him? Why shouldn’t we bless His name? Why shouldn’t our hands be lifted up in
praise to Him? Why shouldn’t our lips
sing His praises? He is a great and
mighty God, worthy of all our praise!
Psalm 64
As we now
turn to Psalm 64, the focus is now completely different. Psalm 64 is not a psalm of praise. It is a psalm of petition. David needs protection, and he is not ashamed
to ask of it from God!
As with
most psalms of protection, we also hear a great perspective on humanity. How does David speak about the human beings
around him? Human beings plot secretly
amongst ourselves. We wet our tongues
with bitter words. We ambush the
blameless with no concern for what we are really doing. We hold fast to our evil ways. We lay snares for one another. We seek out injustice.
That’s not
really a very cheery perspective on humanity – which should be no surprise to
us. Without God, human beings are pretty
rough creatures. When our
self-centeredness is allowed to rise up to the surface we can absolutely be
difficult people to be around. One of
the reasons that I love psalms of protection is because they all become healthy
reminders of why we need God in our life.
We all need to be reminded of the people that we become when God is not
present in our life.
Of course,
it is also healthy for us to remember that God can and does protect us. He does fight our battles for us. He does give us the strength to fight with
Him. He does foil the plots of the
enemy. We can and should take refuge in
Him!
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