Psalm – Psalm 63-65

As today is the last day of Spiritual Meeting, I will try and make it short.

Bible Passage:  Psalm 63-65

3 more Psalms of David. And as you read the Psalms he wrote, you do get a sense of his deep understanding of God.  He has also a great relationship with the God he worships and this is very clear from the words that he writes.

You can almost feel his weariness as you read Psalm 63.  Absalom, his beloved but treacherous son has forced David to flee into the wilderness (2 Samuel 18:14-15).

Psalm 64 celebrates the fact that God will take care of the wicked for us.  While the wicked may plot and launch surprise attacks against people of integrity and catch them off guard, God is never surprised and He will act swiftly to counter their schemes.

And Psalm 65 praises God for His mercy and sovereignty for all the good He has done in this bountiful world He has provided for us.

Shadow of His Wings

Recently, we have been reading many ‘pictures’ of God and in Psalm 63:7, we read a very familiar one.

Because You have been my help,
Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.

This seems to be one of David’s favourite ‘pictures’ of God.  He loves to sit in the shadow of God’s wings (Ps 17:8; Ps 36:7; Ps 57:1; Ps 61:4 and Ps 91:4).

The wings of a bird are a symbol of protection, defense and refuge.  We have heard the story before of how fire rangers found the carcass of a mother bird all burnt up.  But when they overturned the bird, they found under its wings were the baby birds very much alive!

The mother bird had protected its young under its wings from the fire.  The baby birds enjoyed life and safety because of its sacrifice.

In the same way, David was shielded from numerous attempts on his life from various people like King Saul and his son Absalom.  And David knew clearly what it meant to have nothing standing between him and death but the merciful protection of God.

God is still our refuge today.  He is also our protection today.

What a wonderful God we have.

But sometimes we do forget this even though He is standing right before us, waiting to shield us with His wings.  We let our troubles overwhelm us and run around desperately for help.

Last night during the sermon by Pr AQ, he asked a question which I think many of us have not given much thought to…

“Do we see the glory of God when we come to Church?” After all, in Ephesians 1:23 it says that the Church…

which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all

The point was that we no longer consider the Church a glorious place where God dwells because we take things for granted and no longer think of them as extraordinary… for example, receiving the Holy Spirit etc.

It set me thinking that have also taken God for granted in our daily lives as well.  We sigh and moan over broken dreams.  We groan at the thought of bleakness before us.  We lament about the lack of joy in our lives.  We… the list can go on and on.

But when I read Psalm 63 again this morning, I realised that David echoed exactly what Pr AQ was trying to say… Psalm 63:1-2

¹ O God, You are my God;
Early will I seek You;
My soul thirsts for You;
My flesh longs for You
In a dry and thirsty land
Where there is no water.
² So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.

In a dry thirsty land where there is no water… sounds like a place many of us are in isn’t it?

No hope.  No future.  No glory.

But “I looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory.”

If only I can focus on You, the author and finisher of our faith, perhaps my faith will not be so small.

If only I can see You beyond the dregs of life, perhaps I will begin to rejoice.

If only….

Let us not look for the wrong things in the wrong places.  Let us look for God in His temple.

An old song came to mind as I read today’s passage.  Indeed God is our refuge and hiding place.

Shalom.