LOOKING UP WHEN WE'RE DOWN
It shouldn't be surprising that many of David’s psalms reflect depression, fear, loneliness and the feeling of isolation. Before he became king; he was constantly on the run from Saul, who wanted to destroy him. Why? Not because David was so handsome, and everybody liked him (except King Saul), but God had chosen David for another reason, and Saul knew it. God was grooming David to be the next king. Yet, David was far from perfect. He had his family problems, he made mistakes that cost the lives of others, but he also knew God was there to love him unconditionally. Still, David had his bad days. Days when God felt so far away.
In Psalm 63:1, David cries out, “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.”
“Dry and thirsty” reminds me of dust-covered sunflowers on the side of a country road. Their blooms bright and yellow, but their leaves dulled, ash gray from thick dirt clouds kicked up by passing vehicles. We’re like that sometimes, our beautiful spirit dulled by worldly troubles. Between epidemics, violence, fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods, it’s almost more than we can bare. If you're like me, sometimes you just want to stay home and hide. You're fatigued from trying to figure out how to solve everyone's problems, including your own or your family's. That's when we have a choice. We can crawl into bed and stay there, or we can look up, and ask the Father, not to just help, but to take over.
Sometimes the darkness and worry push aside our understanding that God is with us. Praying is a key that will open our hearts and shed the light of Christ and clarity of the Holy Spirit on the darkness of despair. I love that Christ knows what we're going through, because He's gone through it all before. Plus, the really good news is He's right here with us. Okay . . . sometimes easier to say than see.
When things looked bad for David with King Saul in hot pursuit and the Philistines terrorizing David’s homeland, Christ was there. His Spirit nudged David to not give up hope. Those times in the back of the cave when David and his men were surrounded by Saul's army, David knew God was with him. David wrote Psalm 63:2, "So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory.” Perhaps he was looking for reassurance, a glimpse of God in the sanctuary of His heavens. David says in verse 7, "Because You have been my help, therefore in the shadow of Your wings, I will rejoice. My soul follows close behind You. Your right hand upholds me.”
What a great reminder for us! When you are down or feeling hopeless, look for the LORD in His sanctuary. Ask Him to show you His power and glory. Because God is on our side, there’s no reason to be choked by the dust of worries or the world. In John 17:24, Jesus prayed, “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” The first time I read that verse, I thought, “Wow! Jesus wants to share His glory with us. He wants us to see Him in His glory. Like when we move to a different place or position, we want friends and family to see our new surroundings or hear our good news.
In more than one place, Jesus talked about a time of real darkness, something very real today as the time gets closer to His return. Matthew 24:29 quotes Jesus saying, “The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Do you know what Jesus said to do when we start seeing these heavenly signs pointing to His coming. He says (Luke 21:28), "Now when these these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near."
There is a connection there between David and Jesus. Christ wasn’t just repeating David’s words, “power and glory,” because in John 17, He said God loved Him before the foundation of the world. David’s psalms reflect his mental, physical, and spiritual state, but there are messianic psalms that connect what David is feeling to what Christ actually goes through. The power and glory that David is looking for is actually a prophetic statement. It is the same “power and great glory,” Christ, the Son of Man, will possess. For now, by believing in Christ as the Son of God, we will get to see His glory, the one He asks our Father that we might “behold,” because Jesus wants to share His glory with us. With that greater picture in mind, we can ask Him to help us shake off the dust of the world, the sin that blinds us from seeing His true glory, and we’ll realize there’s really nothing to worry about as long as our soul follows close behind Him.
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