Print(4) David's Learning Curve
I recall a friend making this observation many years ago "We make some of greatest discoveries when our backs are against the wall". Thanks Bob, that insight has helped me enormously over the years when I've been up against it.
Long, long before Bob told me that home truth, King David had already discovered its accuracy in his own life. Initially he was King Saul's "little white haired" boy! But he soon lost his celebrity status as Saul's favour was quickly replaced by suspicion and, ultimately, by homicidal intent. The last third of 1 Samuel records the events and facts of David's desert experience.
But it is in many of the Psalms that David wrote during that dark season that I catch a glimpse of what was happening on the inside – the spiritual and emotional impact made by the desert experience. Psalm 63 is a classic in this regard. It is simply headed "A psalm of David when he was in the desert of Judah".This is followed by words that give us an insight into David's heart and his longing for God.
O God, you are my God;I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water…….. I lie awake thinking of you,meditating on you through the night. I think how much you have helped me;I sing for joy in the shadow of your protecting wings. I follow close behind you;your strong right hand holds me securely.
David did not learn to yearn after God like that in the comfort of a palace but in the furnace of the desert experience.
I don't yearn for God like that. I should. But I don't. As I look back over 50 years as a follower of Jesus, there have been times and seasons when I have come close to that kind of intimacy. But they are outnumbered by the times when I have opted for comfort rather than intimacy, convenience rather than challenge. So, that leads me to ask myself just where am I up to today?
