It is said that an Englishman, a Scotsman and an Irishman were walking one day through the English countryside. The Englishman identified the next town as Wednesbury. "No", said the Scot, "It’s Thursday!" "So am I", said the Irishman. "Let’s stop for a drink!"
Thirsty? These days we are encouraged to consume those two and a half litres of water a day - probably more for those of us in the tropics. Nowadays, every school child is encouraged to have a water on their desk.
David, we are told was "in the desert of Judah". He knew what we, by and large, don’t know - real thirst.
I once heard someone describe an aboriginal song-cycle before they set out on a walkabout. The song was a kind of geographical refresher course - plotting their route, indicating which side of the ridge they should go to find the waterhole... Perhaps all that wasn’t so absolutely critical now they were setting out in four-wheel drives! But, in earlier days, there was a real problem when the drover came through with his cattle and drank a whole year’s supply of water in a couple of days - and left the whole area polluted.
Thirsty! "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" (Ps. 63.1).
For David, his physical thirst was like his deep desire for God. Just as our need for water is vital to our life, so too our need for God.
He has seen the power and glory of God in the sanctuary (v. 2). That’s important, but just now his deepest need is to know God "in a dry and weary land".
Some folk see faith as an option to choose - or reject. "If it’s OK for you, that’s fine, but not for me!" Yet while faith is a choice, not a compulsion, it is a basic need which we neglect at our peril.
God’s love "is better than life" (v. 3). As we trust God and praise him, our soul - our deepest being - "will be satisfied as with the richest of foods" (v. 5).
David is rejoicing and praising God in the midst of real protection (v. 7) - "My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me" (v. 8).
They used to sing, "O the place where I worship is the wide open spaces, built by the hand of the Lord". I used to have people quote that to me as their "good reason" for not attending church.
But no! It is good to "see God in the sanctuary and behold his power and glory". I suspect that if we don’t gather with other believers to worship the Lord, we won’t really get round to it in "the wide open spaces".
The question is finding God "in a dry and weary land". We can experience the presence and glory of God in a refreshing way with other believers. But then comes our "dry and weary land" - the disappointments, the anxieties, the loneliness, the hard practical "slog" of life... What is our equivalent of David’s "dry and weary land"? God is there too - to renew and sustain us as we seek him and long for him.
| Prayer: Eternal Lord, when we gather for worship, we can lift up hands and hearts to you - we know you are there! Sometimes, in the wide open spaces facing a magnificent panorama of your creation, a thrill of awe arises in us at your greatness and creativity. But we spend so much of our life in the humdrum and ordinary - yes, and even in "a dry and weary land". Help us to know your renewing and supporting presence when the music has ceased, when the quiet time with you is over, when the unexcitingly ordinary has taken over. Give us a deep yearning, above all else, to know you and to trust you, no matter what. In Jesus’ name, Amen. |
But I don’t live
in the sanctuary.
Most often
I find myself
surrounded
by the ordinary
doing work
lacking
inspiration,
unrewarding
sameness.
I seek,
I thirst,
I long
for the experience
of the sanctuary
again,
the support
of others,
the inspiration
of worship.
Yet you promise
to be with me
and refresh me
in the dry and weary land.
Back to Sermons