The Desert Journey
August 23, 2009
Psalm 63
Have you ever been to the desert? It’s a fun place to go to . . . as long as you don’t run into some animals we may not consider all that friendly, and as long as you know your time in the desert is coming to an end.
Usually when we think about the desert, we think about going to Death Valley or the Mojave Desert in the United States. Did you know the United States has 7 named deserts. We think about the desert as if we were on a journey through the largest hot desert, the Sahara in Africa.
We think about the heat and we begin to feel dehydrated, we’re and thirsty as we journey through the largest desert in the world, the Sahara. But is the Sahara the largest desert?
Actually, it isn’t the largest desert in the world. In fact, the largest desert in the world would surprise you, because the largest desert in the world is an entire continent . . . Antarctica.
That’s right, the Antarctic is the largest desert in the world. You see, a desert is not measured by heat, but by precipitation – how much rain or snow falls in a year. Any place which receives less than 10 inches is a desert. The Antarctic, believe it or not, receives an average of between 2-10 inches per year. So a desert can be a very hot, dry place, but it can also be a very cold place. Did you know a 3rd way to define a desert, is a place that has more evaporation than precipitation.
This morning we’re going to talk about the desert. About our journey through life which leads us not so much physically into the desert, but spiritually and emotionally on a journey through the desert of life.
There’s a life metaphor in the desert, isn’t there? We can call it the desert of the soul. Sometimes we enter the desert on our own doing.
Maybe it’s a mistake we’ve made, maybe it’s the result of our sin, and we’ve entered the desert. A 2nd way to enter the desert is through life situations in which you didn’t do anything wrong, but circumstances have led you there. A 3rd way to enter the desert comes from God. God has decided that this is the season for you to enter the desert. He has a plan for you, because when you leave the desert you will be a different person, a person who is more Christ-like.
Some of you may be in that desert season right now. You might be in one of those deserts where the heat is turned up and your life seems fruitless. You feel like you’re wilting in the heat. Your body, heart and spirit are ebbing away. You’re walking through the hot Sahara desert, and there seems to be no end to it. It could be a family or financial crisis. Or maybe you’re facing a leadership crisis and everything you worked so hard for is withering on the vine. No rain has fallen in a long time, and you find yourself living on memories of past encounters with God, wishing life could be like it used to be. Your prayer is, “God, where are you?”
Or maybe you’re in a season when your heart has turned cold and hard. There’s nothing left to give, you’re burned out. Maybe it’s something someone did to you. You were the victim and now you’re the one suffering. Ever been down that road? Your angry and filled with passion, yet at the same time, you just don’t care anymore.
Maybe your angry with God over something He did or didn’t do. You’re losing your passion for life; and your passion for God. It seems like He’s left you, and your prayers are just bouncing off the walls. When you muster the energy to pray, it sounds like a deep sigh with the words, “God, I just don’t care anymore.”
Or maybe you’re in one of those desert seasons when you’re giving out more than you’re taking in. Any rain that fall evaporates before it has a chance to soak in. You’ve got too many plants in the ground and not enough water to go around. There’s so much demanded of you and only so much of you to meet those demands. You’re running on empty. The wind is howling and you feel like you’re going to drop. Your desert prayer is, “God, I’m running on empty.”
How do we meet the Lord when we find ourselves in a desert of the soul?
The Bible tells us that God spoke to many people in the desert. He spoke to Abraham in the desert. He spoke to Jacob in the desert. He spoke to Moses and Elijah in the desert. He led Jesus into the desert. And many times He spoke to David in the desert.
One time, when David was being chased by King Saul, he ended up writing Psalm 63 from the desert. Listen to the opening words ~
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.
A dry and weary land where there is no water. You thirst and long for God – does that sound familiar? Ever feel that way? You’re in the desert, maybe it’s the hot desert, called Death Valley. Or maybe it’s so cold and you can’t get warm, you’ve entered Antarctica. At some point in our lives, we end up in the desert, and how we treat the desert determines how well we will come out of the desert.
You see, we’ve met people who have taken excursions through the desert of life and they’ve come out miserable . . . they’re meaner than ever, they’re bitter, they’re no better for what they’ve been through.
Then you see those people who journey into the desert, and even in the midst of it, you notice a smile on their face. It doesn’t make sense, how do you smile in the midst of the unplanned trip into the desert. Yet they smile and even better they invite you to join them so that you can experience the beauty of the desert. But you don’t want to go, because very simply you’re afraid.
How can two people venture into the desert, for any reason, and come out very differently?
I believe when we’re in the desert there are ways we can meet God. When everything seems dry and barren, we can ask ourselves 3 questions . . .
1. How did I get here?
2. What am I supposed to do in this desert?
3. When am I going to get out of here?
Firstly, let’s look at the last question first. It’s the easiest one to answer. But it comes with an answer we really don’t want to hear. WHEN AM I GOING TO GET OUT OF HERE? I don’t know, but you’ll get out in due time.
Don’t you hate that kind of an answer. Yet, anyone who gives you the date is never correct. You see, even though we may leave the desert, there are still residual effects of being in the desert which stay with us for awhile or maybe forever.
For example, when a loved one dies, you continue to grieve after the death. When you’re divorced the impact is felt after the papers are signed. When you lose a job, the impact is felt long after you leave the workplace. You get the point. We can remain in the desert, even when we’re out of the desert.
One other point — have you ever noticed that after you’ve left the desert, you don’t realize it until a later date. One day it hits you, “Wow!! I’m out of the desert season!”
You see, when God leads you to a desert or allows you to be in the desert, He wants you to learn from the experience. We’re usually in a hurry to get out, but often times the thing we need to do is not be in a hurry. If you rush your way through, you’ll miss something. Nobody likes those dry seasons, yet if you can pray, “God, take as long as you need to take because I don’t want to do this again. I want to learn the lesson the first time.” In the end, you will walk out of the desert having learned what you were supposed to learn, which leads you to grow in Christ.
Now, let’s look at the first question . . . HOW DID I GET HERE? You may even ask, why is this happening to me now? As Christ-followers I believe we often find ourselves in the desert because God leads us there – just like God led Elijah and Jesus. He wants to say something to you and there’s no other place you will hear it. You see, God wants to get your attention, and the desert is His way of doing it.
Think about how busy we can become. We’re constantly on the go, and if we aren’t on the go, we’re watching or listening to something which ends up being a distraction. So, there are those times when God wants to get our attention, and let me ask you – do you think God will get it by sending you on a cruise? Nope. How about on a relaxing trip to the ocean? Nope. Maybe you’ll get it when you go to the Colts first game of the year. I’m sure it’ll be nice and quiet at the game.
Nope, God needs to do something drastic, and we have some decisions to make when we’re in the desert, because in the desert, we can turn to God, or we can rebel and turn away from God.
In order to answer the How question, let me ask you this question . . . Does it really matter how you got there? On the surface it matters, but ultimately, when we’re in the desert we need to examine ourselves. So . . .
• Did God place you there because of a sin issue?
• Did life circumstances lead you to the desert?
• Did you place yourself there?
• Did God place you there to teach you something?
The end result of each question is the same . . . what are you going to do while you are in the desert. You see the starting point comes in our relationship with Jesus Christ, if we have one.
Listen to these words from David, again, O God, you are my God; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
David’s life is on the line. The most powerful king in the world is after him. It doesn’t look good for David, and while he’s on the run he prays and writes these words for us.
Notice how he refers to God, O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you.
The first line of this psalm illustrates the deep yearning of David; and even more than that it illustrates what our cry should also be while on our faith journey. "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you." These ten simple words capture the essence of our initial step. David starts with a general cry to God. He simply says, "O God." Can’t you hear him? He’s crying out, it’s the plea of a heartsick, longing person who knows that salvation lies outside of himself.
‘O God’ is a cry that each of us needs to be able to make. It’s a call from the depths of my being, a call that captures in its intensity all the tangled webs of my sadness, sickness and yearning.
‘O God’ are the first words of our spiritual formation. They come from desire. They are directed outside of myself. They can be said with desperation or anger or calmness. Most importantly, they need to be said. Spiritual health and healing begins when we recognize that the first cry I make in the morning is really a cry for God. ‘O God’ means that I instinctively recognize that the source of my life and the fulfillment of my needs come from outside of me, it comes from God.
‘O God’ takes me no further than that, but the cry gets me on the right path.
David continues with a personal cry to God: you are my God. This is a huge statement. Think about these words, David is admitting something, he’s claiming God is his God. That’s not always the easiest step to take, is it? Lots of people can simply say, “God.” But to say, “you are my God,” means belief, it means ownership. It means David believes and trusts in God as God. David believes God is concerned about his condition. Many people will confess that God exists and that He even hears their cries, but few people really believe that God is personally interested in their lives.
To say “you are my God” means I agree that God deserves not just my cries of desperation but also my will and my heart. In Psalm 16:2, David captures this perfectly, “I said to the Lord, ’You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.’”
Apart from God, we have nothing. Saying “you are my God” is a willingness to stake my present and future on God and God alone. When Thomas, known as doubting Thomas saw the wounds of the risen Christ and was invited by Jesus to place his hands in the Savior’s hands, Thomas could only say, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). These words captures our faith and trust.
Thirdly, David exclaims, “Earnestly I seek you.” What wonderful and powerful words, because they give us a sense of direction. We move from trust and belief in God to seeking and longing for God. Now we have movement in our heart, movement in our spirit, as we seek not our direction, but God’s direction. Not only do I cry out to God and express my trust in him, but now I experience the longing in my spirit, I proclaim to the world and most importantly, I tell God, I am seeking, earnestly seeking Him. It’s a proclamation to God, but not only to God, but also to myself that I trust and seek God. I am telling God, I am ready for His guidance. I will follow Him wherever it is He calls me to go.
By the end of the psalm David expresses his confidence that there is a loving, just and active God who not only hears him but is worthy of David’s trust and complete confidence.
Here is the starting point when we find ourselves in the desert, whether the desert be hot or cold, we learn to long for God. But don’t wait until everything is “out of control” in your life. Say to God right now, “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you.”
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AFTER MESSAGE and BEFORE FINAL SONG
2 I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.
3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.
4 I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
6 On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.
7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
