Psalm 63 - A Longing That Leads to Confidence
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
I've been learning recently more and more about parenting, which is just, I think the de facto state of mind that I have as she grows up, I'm learning more and more. But one thing I'm learning is I really want her to know, I have one daughter by the way if you don't know, she's five years old, I want her to know how capable she is. I think some kids are out there and they just are more confident than others and so maybe parents are saying more like, "Hey, they're trying to bring them back, rein them in a little bit, those kids are fearless and they just go with it and they're just, it's fun for them." Our kids a little different, she's a little more timid and I find myself often saying like, "You can do it, you go ahead, like try it out, and and she has to be given that confidence. And so I'm sure you can remember a time where you you did more than you initially thought you could, and the kind of accomplishment that you feel, and the surprise that you might have felt like, "Oh my goodness, I did do that. That's great. I was capable. I didn't know." Sometimes that happens in fun situations. Lauren, Pastor Lauren and I have had the privilege this summer to take the youth students on a couple outings where we students or leaders are finding out that we're capable of doing more. So we did high ropes course a couple weeks ago or last month up in Tahoe and you're 60 or 70 feet up in a tree walking across a wire you're harnessed in. Don't worry we didn't is all safe and everyone came back alive and uninjured. But it was terrifying and students are learning on the fly in that tree I can do this and they don't think they can but then they once one step at time and they're able to. This past Monday we went to Six Flags as a youth and I learned, this was my lesson, that I can do roller coasters. I do not like roller coasters. I've never liked roller coasters. Becky will attest that I am the one that says I'll stay I'll stay back with Kinsley. You guys go and do that fun stuff. I'll stay on the ground with two feet. But high school students are different and there's a pressure that they put on you and I feel like I couldn't say no and so I found out that I was able to and it was fun. There I won't go back and do them all ever again. There's maybe one I'll do again. But it was a great time, but I found out that I was more capable than I initially thought. And so sometimes, again, we learn that we're capable in fun scenarios. Other times, we learn that we're able to do more in difficult situations. Sometimes in the midst of pain and suffering and loss, on the onset of that tragedy or that sorrow, we think we can't do this. I can't go on, I'm not gonna be able to make it. I don't wanna go through this situation. And yet, we do. Those feelings are very real, the thoughts of I can't do it, I can't make it. But by God's grace and by his provision and through the Holy Spirit sustaining us, we're able to do more than we initially thought we could. And through the power and mercy of God, we're able to move forward, to get through a moment after moment after moment, day after day, turns into weeks after weeks, months after months, and God has helped us get through so much of life in the midst of challenges or after something happens.
And as that, as God does that and as God sustains us, it builds a confidence that we can have. That out of something so challenging and so hard, out of lament, God can help and can make us stronger, can make something beautiful happen or can help us learn something beautiful. But that initial moment seems hopeless and we're left wondering, can I do this? I know we've all gone through a situation like that, some of us more recent than others, maybe some of us are in that right now. We're gonna talk today about what to do moments like these and why our soul should pray and yearn for God in these experiences. We're in a Summer of Psalms series and again the purpose of Psalms is this massive invitation to pray and commune with God in any situation that you're going through. The book of Psalms served as the prayer book for Israel and many Christians even today still pray through a Psalm a day. The scholars over at Bible Project, they say this, it says, "Hoping for the Messianic Kingdom, as the book teaches us to do, will create a lot of tension as we look at the tragic state of our world and our own lives. The Psalms teach us to neither ignore pain nor to let it determine the meaning of our lives. Biblical faith and prayer is always forward-looking, anticipating the day when God will fulfill his promises and praising him for this ahead of time. The Torah and Messiah lament and praise faith and hope this is what the book of Psalms is all about. So one of our focuses this summer as we go through Psalms is to develop healthy biblical God-honoring rhythms in our lives to help us in these moments of tension that we face. And today we're going to focus on a rhythm of longing for God in the good times and the bad. Because when we have this rhythm of longing for God present in our lives, we can do more than we think we can. David, the author of our Psalm today, learned this firsthand and from a few experiences. He writes about it on multiple occasions and there are several Psalms where he is longing for God out of desperation.
So David teaches us how to have a rhythm of longing for God that leads to a confidence in God. Before we get to reading our psalm, we're gonna be in Psalm 63 today. I want to explain what David is going through as he writes this because it's a lot. This could, this, it's not found in Psalm 63. So if you're trying to read, it's not there. It's somewhere else in the Bible and I'm gonna tell you all about it. But it could be a movie, this what David's going through, and it would not be rated PG. It would be an epic. It'd be worth watching because it's from the Bible. But it would, there's a lot of, a lot of tension in here. So, buckle up for this. All right, David is king at this time and he's king over Israel. We know that David isn't perfect, which is why we love him, right? He's relatable. He's king and he's the man with the heart after God, but he also messes up and his messy life is comforting to us because our lives are messy. So David is king and he has three sons at this time. Amnon, Kiliab, and Absalom, as well as a daughter Tamar. And at some point in life, Kiliab dies. And so he's left with his oldest Amnon, the youngest Absalom, and Tamar the sister. Now, Amnon, the oldest, commits an awful atrocity against his own sister, and it leaves the family very divided, and King David knows, the brothers, and everyone knows, and it's awful, and Absalom takes in Tamar after that tragedy, and says, "You can stay with me," and never speaks to Amnon again. He's just so mad and fed up with what happened. He's like, "I'm done with you." Two years go by and this is festering in Absalom. He's getting, he's still angry, hasn't talked to his brother, and ends up killing his brother Amnon over this issue. After he kills him, he flees. He's like, "I don't want to face the consequences of my actions." So I, he leaves. Absalom leaves and he's gone for three years. It's a long time. And during this time, we know that David is longing to see his son. David, we have to reckon, there's so much happening in his eyes. His own, in his own family, his oldest brother did something wrong to his daughter, or yeah, the oldest son did something wrong to the daughter, and then his other son killed his son, and now he's just left with Absalom, who is fled out of the country, and a daughter who's been hurt. So David has got, he still wants, I mean, he's mad, but he also doesn't want his son to be gone. So he's processing all these emotions and finally he says to his most trusted man Joab, Joab can you go get my son back, bring him back. So Joab brings Absalom back to the royal residence, the palace, and he's there for Absalom, he's back for two years, but he doesn't see David. So he's back, I don't, again this is a lot of tension here in this family, so he's back in the house but they're not talking and they're not seeing each other. And it's like that for two years.
So he's gone for three years, fled, comes back. He's living in the same palace as David, but has not seen his father or the king for two years. And finally, Absalom wants to do something about it. And so he goes to Joab, who David's most trusted man, says, "Joab, can you arrange where I could see the king/my father?" Absalom sent a messenger. He didn't do this himself, he's kind of above that royalty life. And Joab doesn't respond. So Absalom sends another messenger, says, "Hey, I would like a meeting with my father/the king." And Joab doesn't respond. So then Absalom does what anyone would do. He lights Joab's field on fire. And he says, "Will you answer me now?" And Joab comes out of his house, and he's like, "Why'd you do that?" And Absalom says, "You weren't texting me back. You didn't say anything." I needed to know if I wanted to go see my dad. And so Joab arranges it, and so after five years of Absalom and David not talking to each other, not seeing each other, they meet. And Absalom bows before David, and David embraces him. But soon after that, it was not a happy ending. That was not the end of the story. During this time, while Absalom is away, while he's fled and then while he's in the palace, not seeing his dad, something has stirred within him and has grown inside of him and it's the desire for him to be king. And so soon after he's welcomed back, Absalom begins to incite rebellion among the people and turn people's hearts from honoring and seeing David as king to, wouldn't it be nice if I was the king, people? Wouldn't it be better if I was king? And if you're noticing, this sounds familiar, This is a common thread of sin throughout the Bible of, that's what God wants, but wouldn't this be better if I had it my way? And also, if you're getting tones of prodigal son, the first half of the story, it's very much it where Absalom the son says, I want my inheritance. He was gonna be king after David, but he wants it now. And he's thinking, it doesn't matter if it means treating my father like he's dead. I want what I want and I want it now. So rather than quelling the rebellion and killing his own son, King David leaves the royal city, and he heads into the wilderness. And he brings his entourage, his royal, his faithful men, and he keeps to make some arrangements to keep up to date. And he's like, "I'm heading out, but you messenger, just keep me up with what's going on with Absalom, what he's doing.”
And And David leaves. And he's gone through something similar before, having fled Saul and heading into the wilderness, having been said that you are going to be king, you're not king yet, back when he was doing this with Saul. And so this is a familiar thing for David, to be heading out into the wilderness, to trust God, saying this is getting pretty crazy, and I'm gonna go out here, and I'm gonna have to depend on you and wait on you as you figure this out, God, because I don't wanna have to do what may have to be done. I don't wanna have to kill my son. I don't wanna have to go through this whole rebellion, so I'm gonna come out here into the wilderness and I'm gonna rely on you. Absalom makes this royal procession through the city now that his father's left and he says, I'm king. It's me now, guys. And he assumes his father's throne. He does some other terrible things to convey that he is king. Again, it would not be rated PG. But meanwhile, in the desert, Yahweh ensures that the needs of David and his entourage are met, so God is sustaining David, and this is the point where Psalm 63 is written. David's out in the wilderness with his men, Absalom is king, and nothing has gone well. Now I'm gonna finish the story just so we know how it ends, but our Psalm is just in this moment.
But in case you don't know the story, Absalom realizes that to seize full control over king, he will have to kill his father David. And so they go to battle and God gives David the victory. And in that battle, Absalom dies. And David comes back to Israel with every emotion that you can think of. It's not that he didn't want to be king. I'm sure there was joy in the fact that he gets to be king again or recognized as king. But he also lost his children. He lost his sons. So there's so much tension and and grief and emotion in David's life. And I wanna come back to that quote from Bible Project where it says that Psalms teach us to neither ignore pain nor to let it determine the meaning of our lives. But in that tension, to find God, to be with God. And so we wanna talk about having that rhythm of turning to God. And again, we'll see in David's longing in the wilderness, he develops a confidence in Yahweh. So now, with all that in mind, let's go ahead and read Psalm 63. You guys can follow along as I read aloud. It says, "You, God, are my God. "Earnestly I seek You, I thirst for You. "My whole being longs for You "in a dry and parched land where there is no water. "I have seen You in the sanctuary "and beheld Your power and Your glory. "Your love is better than life. "my lips will glorify you. "I will praise you as long as I live, "and in your name I will lift up my hands. "I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods. "With singing lips, my mouth will praise you. "On my bed I remember you. "I think of you through the watches of the night. "Because you are my help, "I sing in the shadow of your wings. "I cling to you. "Your right hand upholds me. "Those who want to kill me will be destroyed. "They will go down to the depths of the earth. "They will be given over to the sword "and become food for jackals. "But the king will rejoice in God. "All who swear by God will glory in him "while the mouths of liars will be silenced." David went through a lot.
I think sometimes when we read a psalm and we know that there's categories of praise psalms and lament psalms, and we just think it's just lament or it's just praise, and sometimes that's the case, but there's other psalms that it's got a little bit of everything. There's some praise, there's some lament. And I think this is one of those where there's a lot of emotion here. And now understanding the story of what David is going through, we understand where there is joy in Yahweh, there's also mourning over what's happening around him. So I wanna go line by line and see David's longing for God and how it leads to confidence in God. Verse one says, "You, God, are my God." David begins by affirming his relationship in God. With all that's going, I'm sure, I'm projecting a little bit, but I'm sure David has his own frustrations, being back out in the desert. God already did this one time with Saul. Now I'm back here again. I am the king, why am I not on my throne? Why is this happening to my family? Why can't my son be like those other good Israelite sons? Why is he trying to kill me? Thankful to not have that thought. He says, earnestly I seek you. "I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you "in a dry and parched land where there is no water." I mean, you can imagine him out in the wilderness. He's using the physical setting around him to say, "This is what I know what it's like to thirst, God. "I'm living it right now, and that's how I feel about you." Have you ever been in a hot, dry place with no water for a long time? Longed for your thirst to be quenched? I not like David. This story is not at all like David, but it's just small.
I was thirsty one time. Okay, I was in Boy Scouts long ago and we went to, it was advertised, my Boy Scout troop, we're going on a five mile hike. It was a great five mile, we all packed for a five mile hike. Well, around mile 10, we're wondering, we're not bad. It's supposed to be a loop. We're farther away than we've ever been, and it doesn't look like we're going back. And we all ran out of water. And I don't remember where we were, somewhere here in the foothills. But we're far away. We started at Folsom Lake. We were far away from the lake. And so there is no water out here. It's hot. It's a summer day. And all of us, we've all shared water. And we're just out of water. And we were all so thirsty. And it must have been like 10, 11 years old. And I remember heading back, we finally, someone figured out, one of our troop leaders figured out where we're supposed to be going. We saw civilization again because we started being behind people's houses. And we saw, we're on the fence line, just heading back to a parking lot. And we're Boy Scouts, so we're, you know, very honor, Scout's honor, we're great. But all of us had never been more tempted to just jump someone's fence, grab a hose, and just like guzzle down as much water as we could. And they had all the fences where you can see through. It's just like the bars like that out there. And we're just like, there's a hose. There's a hose. There's a hose. That sprinkler's on. And we're just like, we're thirsting for water. And so that's like, we got water, and we were fine. Nothing happened. No one had to go to the hospital.
So I don't even have an experience of being dehydrated to the point of hurting. But I see David's words here, I thirst for you. And it brings me back to that point of like, that was one of the thirstiest times I've ever been. And he's saying that physical feeling of thirst, that's what he has inside for God. David is longing to be in God's presence. Because we have to remember that God's presence was tied with the temple back in the city. David's palace was in the city, and in the same city was the temple, the tabernacle. God's presence was, and so he's far, he's out in the wilderness now, and he's like, I'm no longer near you, God. I wanna be near you again. Verse two says, "I've seen you in the sanctuary "and beheld your power and your glory." David's writing from, he's like, "I know what you're like, God. "I've been near your presence." And he knows that nothing is of greater worth. And so the message to us today is, if you are in the good times now, then take note. Be present, remember what this is like. Take to heart what being in a good place in life, in a good stage of life with God is like. So that you have a foundational memory so that you can be when you're in the wilderness, when you're going through something hard, you can, these words will be true for you too. God, I know what it's like to be near you in the good times. I know what you're like when life is good, when you've blessed me. I witness and experience your presence, your power, your provision, and I've beheld your glory, God. We want that to be our prayer. So take inventory, take mental note. Remember what it's like to be in God's presence.
Verse three says, "Because your love is better than life, "my lips will glorify you." Because your love is better than life. This word that David uses for love is the Hebrew word hesed. It means steadfast love, faithfulness, loyalty. It's a love that is merciful and kind, yet covenantally attached to people. It's an essential part of God's character. It's the word that God uses in describing himself to Moses on the top of Mount Sinai. It says, "Moses, I am," and he uses the word hesed. It's a covenantal love. God remaining faithful to Israel despite everything that Israel does to rebel against him. It also speaks to God's mercy. When Moses appealed to God to pardon the sins of the people, he appeals to God's hesed. When Israel confesses their sins to Nehemiah, they remember that God did not forsake the people in the desert because God abounds in hesed. John Berry, a theologian, points out that hesed is a characteristic that God desires of his people. It's something that in Hosea he desires over sacrifice. He desires us to have hesed. Zechariah instructs the people to show hesed to one another. Micah explains that God requires justice, hesed, and humility. The psalmist shows that God takes pleasure in those who trust in his hesed, his covenantal love. Proverbs often encourages hesed along with wisdom. God's hesed, his covenantal love, is so important, so vital, so primary to who God is. And David understands that God's hesed is better than life itself.
David shows confidence in God by trusting in God's hesed and it leads David to praise. says in verse four, "I will praise you as long as I live, "and in your name I will lift my hands." David's confidence in God's steadfast love leads him to worship, and not just for a moment. Not just, hey, I had this moment in the wilderness and it looked really beautiful and I thought of you, and I'm just gonna praise you right now, God. I mean, he's out there for a long time, and through it all, he is praising God. Our praise and worship of God shouldn't be temporary or momentary, but it should be ever-present in our lives, no matter what's happening. And really, if we think about it, as believers, we're going to be praising God for the rest of our lives into eternity with Him in heaven. And that holy perspective is beautiful, and it should bring hope and courage to whatever situation you're going through. that the praises that you're singing in the hardest of times will be the same praises that you're gonna say when you're with God in his presence in heaven. And that perspective is only possible having been loved by God and received his mercy and grace. And once you have received, once you've felt God's love and you've received his mercy and grace, there is no other response than to praise him, to give him your worship. We wanna be able to look at the present, however difficult, and also look forward and realize that God is worth praising now and in the future. We wanna have a posture and a rhythm of praising God during all times, just as David did.
Says in verse five, "I will be fully satisfied "as with the richest of foods, "with singing lips, my mouth will praise you." This now contrasts with his current situation. He's in the desert with limited food and resources, but he's saying, "I'm gonna praise you "as if I had all the food and the best food "like I did when I was king back at the palace." Also, good food and singing, this sounds like a party, right? These are key elements of a great party. And David's saying, by the way, God loves parties. There's a lot of parties and celebrations in the Bible. It's also why we have rhythms of family meals and morning blends, 'cause we wanna have that too. It's good times with each other, celebrating what God is doing. And so he's saying, this is, I'm in the desert right now, but I still have reason, still have reason to praise you. Just like I do when we have these big celebrations. David is recognizing a truth that we might say, but given his circumstances, he is living it. And that is that God is all he needs. We say that sometimes, like God is all I need. But then, you know, you go on a 10 mile hike, you're like, I also really need water right now, along with God. But he's saying out in the wilderness, God is truly all that I need. Because God will provide for any of my physical needs, my spiritual needs, my emotional needs, God will provide for everything. Even when we don't necessarily have it right before us, in front of us, we can trust that God will provide.
Verses six through seven read, on my bed I remember you, I think of you through the watches of the night, because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. Again, this is just reflecting a situation. His entourage are on the run, so they have night shifts, making sure that no one's coming after them. And he's saying, even in those moments, full of stress, moments of anxiety, God, I'm praising you, and I can sing about you. He's comforted by remembering God's faithful protection.
Verse eight, it says, "I cling to you, "your right hand upholds me." And this is speaking to God's power and authority. This is speaking to God's power as creator and the savior. David knows that the only one who can save him is God. And being at the right hand always speaks to the power of the leader, it symbolizes power. And so you think of another passage in the Bible that talks about the right hand of God is in the New Testament when the disciples are arguing, hey, who's gonna be at your right hand, Jesus? We wanna be at your right hand. And so we just know that being at the right hand or God's using of his right hand with you means you're in a good place. You are experiencing his power and his authority.
Verses nine through 10 read, "Those who want to kill me will be destroyed. "They will go down to the depths of the earth. "They will be given over to the sword "and become food for jackals." If we didn't know the background of the story, we may think, yeah, David's enemies, you're gonna die. Terrible, and we're just like, we're so Team David when we read Psalms. Like, yeah, David's mad at someone, we're all so mad at them. But this is David's son. He's writing this about his own son. And I, honestly, I can't begin to fathom the tension that David's writing this with. That he's recognizing that God, God is the one who's gonna exercise his justice. He's confident that God will deliver him and destroy his enemies. And he writes, "Those who are eager to the sword," His own son. And I think, he thinks back to his time with Saul, who's also in this mindset of being power hungry and selfish and no longer walking with God. And he knows, he knows from Saul, he's like, "Son, if you are gonna continue down this path, "it will lead to your death." That mix of emotion, the tension in this verse, the heart of David. Confidence in God and yet sorrow and mourning for what it may mean for his own kin. And maybe you've experienced something similar with a friend or a loved one where they are going down a path that will lead to their destruction. And you have confidence in God's truth and the fact that God will have judgment and will uphold the consequences of their sin. And yet at the same time, your heart is breaking for that person. It's more complex than that, but we recognize that God is still God in the worst situations, even with people that we love. And even when it means that, yeah, they're going into something that may lead to their death. God is still God. He ends in verse 11 by writing, "But the king will rejoice in God. "who swear by God will glory in him "while the mouths of liars will be silenced." David is saying, "I'm the king, and I will rejoice in God." By destroying the wicked, God protects his people and his anointed. Remember the context of Absalom lying to the nation saying that he's king. So David's saying, "The liars are gonna be silenced." But David recognizes that God will do the silencing. He doesn't have to do anything. This is in God's hands. God will take care of it. I think that tells us that we don't have to worry about the judgment coming for those who are doing wrong against us or against God. God will take care of that. He is more than capable. He has the authority and the right to handle those situations. And in the midst of that we can rejoice and praise God.
So at the end of our Psalm, Psalm 63, we see David in his longing to be with God, to be in God's presence. He's also led to a confidence in God in what God can do and what God will do. And again, it's a psalm that comes from deep inner turmoil, psalm of David that was a personal journey of reaching for God, expressing deep, deep longing, and David exercising a necessary rhythm of longing for God that lands him in a place of confidence in his Savior. And so as we end our time this morning, I want us to consider our own rhythms, Especially the rhythms that we have once we enter into seasons of struggle, of being in the wilderness, of pain and sorrow. And it wants to contemplate how can our own rhythms be improved. So number one, first thing, encouragement to us all. First rhythm is to long for God daily. Do not wait for the bad times to come, to start longing for God. It's important to have a daily rhythm of longing for God. If you think of it like a muscle, right? If we expect to just, or sometimes we find ourselves in the wilderness, but we haven't been longing for God, and so how to do that is foreign to us. You haven't used that muscle in a while. If we stay consistent with longing for God, when the bad times come, we'll know exactly what to do. We know how to long for Him. We need to be in a regular place and have a posture where we are desperately in need of Him. and we need to know what it means to truly depend on him. One of the best ways to do this, you're not gonna like it, is to fast. Yeah, I know, it's tough. I struggle with it, I don't like fasting. We did a community group on fasting recently, and it is annoying at times to go without food and to do that regularly, but it is so good to be in a regular position of struggle and to have to rely on him. even if just for a few hours of a day where you're really hungry, if your attention is turned to Him in that moment, you build up this reaction of as soon as something causes tension in your life, you turn right to God. God, I need you right now. I need you to get me through this. I need you to sustain me. And so from that spiritual practice of fasting, that rhythm in our lives, we'll be more ready to long for God in the worst seasons of life because we have exercised that spiritual muscle. So long for God daily. I would encourage you to think about fasting for him regularly. Not every day, if you don't want to, maybe just once a week. If you want to talk more about fasting, come see me afterwards. We can talk about maybe doing it together, because I'm struggling with it right now.
Number two, waiting on God, another rhythm that we should have. David shows incredible patience and trust in God by going out to the wilderness and saying, "God, I need you to help me with this." He could have taken things into his own hands, killed his own son and said, "I don't want to deal with this anymore. I'll take care of it." We need to have a rhythm of waiting for God. So often we're quick to take matters into our own hands, to take control, to trust in our own strength. We have to be more like David, where we need to wait on God to see if God will affect the situation, change people's hearts, convict others, and transform other people. But waiting is difficult. Ask any kid. Waiting is tough. It's really, we don't like to do it. As an adult, maybe we have more patience, maybe, but also we're just more capable of, you know, fixing whatever the situation was. I'm hungry, I can get my own snack. And so as adults, yeah, maybe we're more patient or maybe we just, we just take control. Waiting can be uncomfortable because it means you might be desperate at some point. We don't like being desperate. But here's what's great about being desperate with God. When we are desperate, it's when we are so aware of our limitations and the consequences of our limited strength or capacity. And in desperation, when we wait on God, we better appreciate God's provision, which He gives in His perfect timing. The Bible is full of people who have had to wait on God and who have been desperate for God to intervene.
Matthew Henry says this about people in hard situations. "As the sweetest of Paul's epistles "were those that bore, date out of prison, "so some of the sweetest of David's Psalms "were those that were penned as this one," Psalm 63, "was in the wilderness." In moments of desperation, God can bear such great fruit, can make something beautiful. So don't doubt that God might be doing something incredible in your waiting in difficult season. So have a regular rhythm of longing for God, of waiting on God, and lastly, desire God, not status. David, while on many levels, wanted to be king again. He's out in the desert, he's away from his palace, he probably wants like some nice food and all the things that come along with being king, But that's not what he seeks most. He didn't write a psalm of, "God, make my life better. God, restore me to where I should be and have everyone look at me again." No. He's desiring God and not his own status. What does it look like to long for God's presence without making personal demands alongside God's saving power? "God, can you make my life better by doing this and making me seem like this in people's eyes. I wanna make sure that people see me in a certain way. God, I've been in a rut. Bring me back to this level, whatever this was in your mind where God's doing great things. David's prayer isn't about being king again. His desire is for God. And this is hard for us because the world values status over God. Our work, whatever you are employed, probably values your status more than it does your relationship with God. We may value our status more than we worship, than we value God at times. And so it's tough when we're in a season where our status is compromised. It can be easy to want to get that status back. That can become the biggest need in our minds, but what we really need is to desire God first and foremost to long for his presence. And if we do this, we'll be in a place of confidence because our confidence is in the one, the only one who can save. So start these rhythms now, whether in a good season or in the midst of the toughest season you've ever been through, like David, long for him, wait on him, and desire him.
Let's go ahead and pray together. God, thank you for your word. Thank you for stories like this with David that teach us how to have a rhythm of longing for you. And I know that for everyone in this room, we can all relate to having moments in life that are so tough, where we don't think that we are capable of moving forward, of making it, of getting through whatever situation. But God, then we look to you, and it's not by our own strength, but it's by the strength that you give us, by the love that you provide, by the mercy and grace that we are able to continue. So we praise you for that. We recognize that we can't do it without you. God, I think of those in our church family who are going through very difficult situations, and we pray that you would sustain them in their season of wilderness right now. Your presence would be with them, that you would comfort them, bring them peace. And God, for those of us who are in the good times right now, I pray that that would bring us joy and that we would be able to encourage others. That we would lock this memory away and say, "I know what it's like to be in God's presence. I know what it's like to have a life that is good because of Him. God, we give you all the praise and all the glory. We pray this in your name. Amen.