The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Psalm 61:4,
"I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter
of your wings."
In this psalm David seeks God as his "strong tower against the foe."
As such he longs for God's intervention, to be his refuge. He
acknowledges it is God's protection, verse 7, that provides grounds
for singing his praise of God and fulfilling vows made to him. David's
focus on God in all this is God's wonderful love and faithfulness.
It appears to me that it is David's focus on God's love and
faithfulness that generates a longing within him. He has a desire to
experience nearness to God, "I long to dwell in your tent forever.."
The tenor of the psalm makes clear that, beyond God's protection of
him, David has known God for some time, has experienced God's
wonderful qualities in close proximity and longs to revisit the
pleasure of it. He has a desire for God.
Other passages in the psalms point to desire, sometimes intense, by
the psalmists. Listen to what David says in Psalm 63:1-5,
"O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
Because 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.
My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you."
This is the expression of intense desire. Clearly, David has
experienced God intimately, found in God what took his breath away and
longs to return to the experience. The Sons of Korah must have had
similar experiences. Here is the expression of their desire:
"As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?"
This is ardent desire. Where many view God as the one to whom we must
give account (and rightly so), and find little beyond an accounting in
their perspective of God, these men had experiences with God that
shaped and formed intense desires within them to return. Perhaps we
have much to learn from them.
I suspect the fulfillment of desire within our hearts, that very same
desire that we often pursue in illegitimate ways, desire that we have
a great capacity for that God put within us all, will only find its
rightful and greatest fulfillment when we experience God the way these
men did. What was it they saw? What did they experience? How did God
make them feel when they entered his presence?
We all have a great capacity for desire, we all have a great capacity
for pleasure, we all at times find ourselves longing. Those of us who
place our faith in God can say with David to God, "you will fill me
with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand."
What strikes me about the psalmists is that they were experiencing
something of the joy and pleasure we will have in the resurrection
with God in this life as well. Possibly only a precursory and limited
way, but clearly, something pretty fascinating is being communicated
to us in these psalms, something we all can experience here in this
life as well.
So, what's your pleasure?
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Monday, August 13, 2012
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