The Gift of the WildernessSample

Psalm 63: A psalm of David while he was in the wilderness in Judah.

Introduction: The Wilderness Season

Notice that even in the Promised Land, the land of milk and money, there is also a wilderness. How true this is in our own lives as well. We often find ourselves waxing and waning between bounty and scarcity, mountaintops and valleys, and comfort and grief.

In Psalm 63, David finds himself fleeing from the well-watered ease of the palace to the dry and harsh misery of the wilderness. It is in this dry place that David has come to the end of himself and allows God to show himself. Even in this desolate place, David’s lips were saturated with praise; his arms were flung wide-open to embrace his beloved Elohim.

David’s son, Absalom, had threatened to overtake his throne. David is fleeing for his life and for the protection of the Israelite people. He feels betrayed, and he feels alone. If anyone had a right to be disheartened, it was David. But David did not complain about the discomfort and discouragement of the wilderness. As we will see, it was quite the opposite!

It is not easy to understand why God leads us into the wilderness. The dry places can reveal what is in our hearts like nothing else can. The barren land of loss, grief, sickness, or despair does not cause the pain and heartache inside of us—it merely exposes it. 

In Deuteronomy 8:2, Moses tells Israel, “Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart?”

In the rolling hills and green pastures of plenty, there are many places for our idols and our sins to be concealed. But in the desert of lack, beneath a scorching sun, they are laid bare in the vast openness. 

There is no place for them to hide. 

As with all things we go through in this earthly life, the wilderness serves a purpose. Perhaps it is so that we are forced to see those things we try to hide. It is only then that we can confront them, deal with them, and hopefully bury them in a sandy grave. As with the Israelites, God uses the wilderness to humble us and to shape our hearts.

I hope you will continue to walk with me through the wilderness of Psalm 63 and discover how to respond when God brings you to the dry places. Let us learn how to survive in the troubled and fearful times of your own wasteland seasons with complete trust and faith in God.

Let the man after God’s own heart show us how to endure and give praise in the wilderness.