When in the wilderness, do this first…
When in the wilderness…Praise! Don’t wait to be in the wilderness to learn or seek to be in God’s presence. Being in the wilderness kicks in what is already in you. Will it be fear or doubt? Or will it be praise and worship? Can you really praise God while in your pit? … in the midst of persecution and trouble? Matthew 5:10(msg) says that “you’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.” In Peter 5:8 we are warned that “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” As Christians, we will be persecuted. Nevertheless, when we are attacked, we have the opportunity to grow into greater covenant and relationship with our Lord God through praise.
To long for God! To crave and desire Him every minute, every second of your life, not only, but especially in times of trouble. David knew what to do when in time of persecution. He already knew that through praise he would enter into God’s glory regardless of his circumstances. Praise held David up when he was troubled. He remembered. He knew. He basked in the memory and looked forward to being there again – in the Lord’s power and presence – soaking and drinking in His strength and glory, to see and experience Him. This was already David’s habit. He sought God early in the morning. Nothing ultimately could satisfy him except being in His presence one more time.
My prayer is that I will long for Him more than anything in my life- that I will be diligent and disciplined in seeking and worshipping Him. I know it is only when I’m in His presence that I’m satisfied and made whole.
God has created nothing that will satisfy me and bring me more pleasure than Himself. If I knew this to be true then I would seek as David sought. I would crave God and God alone, knowing that everything else would be taken care of, knowing that by putting God first, He would make everything else fall into place. The problem for me is that I do know that God alone can satisfy. I have seen his power and felt enough of His glory to be washed in the most beautiful sensation on this earth. Yet, still I do not seek God first. My wilderness consumes me, and my head sinks below the waves. Therefore, I must worship. Something miraculous happens when we surrender our spirit to God in an attitude of praise and suplication to his will. God, pours Himself right back into what we are giving out. When we go weak in the spirit God’s strenght renews us to stand firm in His purose. David embraced this truth, and I am trying to embrace it. Thank goodness our God is patient, and merciful.
Isn’t God good. He made us with that void that can be filled up with only Him. As I was reading the verse and comments I thought about a song we sing.. “Praise Him in the morning, praise Him at noontime praise Him when the sun goes down” It also said to praise Him in the inbetween times. I am going to do that today. I praise you Father for being the creator and making us each the way we are.
I continually find myself struggling to get through the wilderness times on my own – thinking that I must do more and be more to not fail. This is a great reminder to praise and worship him in all times and through that, remember who he is and what he is promised. He hasn’t prmoised an easy path, but he has promised to walk it with us – and that makes all the difference.
I love the phrases found in this chapter! The soul thirsts, the body longs, the soul is satisfied as with the richest of foods… these appropriately convey the sense of an overwhelming draw of my entire being to the Father. I’m no stranger to these feelings; in my seemingly best and worst times spiritually, that constant pull towards his spirit remains. Though I feel that unlike mere hunger and thirst, when my parched soul partakes of God himself I find that I just want more. The personal struggle exists is when I know that my soul is aching to drink deep of the well of the Spirit and yet I deny myself that pleasure. “Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25)
Beautiful One, YOU are our satisfaction. YOU are our hope. YOU are our treasure, and YOU are our reward. There is no god above YOU and there is no joy apart from YOU. Protect us, Lord, from ourselves and trying to satisfy ourselves in a world that can be so distracting. God, YOU’RE IT!!!! There is nothing that will satisfy apart from You. Show Your Bride what it means to yearn and hunger for You above all else. Prepare her to see You face to face. Amen. Come Lord Jesus.
Abba Father, You call out to me in the wilderness in power and glory. Forgive me Father for the times when I forget you and struggle with my own stress and worry. I sequester myself inside and forget about my Protector. Forgive me.Help me LORD to shout out Your name in the wilderness of my life, or just the wilderness of my day, for there is no one like my GOD. Stress and worry are not worthy of my focus,…they rob me of the boundless joy You have for me. Holy Spirit teach me! Show me the way when there seems to be no other. My GOD is my rock and refuge and strength, worthy of endless praise, my drink in the dry places of my soul.
Isn’t it possible that God would lead me to dry places to push and prod me to earnestly seek Him? Exactly because He is my Father, wouldn’t God allow (dare I say cause?) me to arrive at a very weary place so that I would be forced to drink of His living water… or die? Unfortunately for this weak pastor, I don’t seek and thirst when I’m comfy and coddled. I hate that about me.
One more note: My 14-year-old daughter was talking about this verse, and told the rest of the family how she feels the power and glory of God in the CCC auditorium (sanctuary) on Sunday mornings. How has a 14-year-old been able to see and experience this? Only through the authentic, real, and vulnerable worship of the body at Cumberland who is seeking and thirsting. Thanks for allowing my kids to see the KAVOD of God. Please don’t stop.
When we are truly basking in God’s presence, there is nothing else on Earth that can substitute this experience. We were created to LONG for a creator and thus find true happiness when we praise Him and worship Him! Lord, help me remember this….
God is always in control. In control of the wilderness, in control of prosperity. Funny how we (I) often forget this when in the wilderness. Yet, His Word is filled with real-life stories of living people who were in the wilderness for a greater purpose, and God protected and provided for them. Joshua, Daniel, Job, Paul, Jesus.. the list goes on and on. His Word is filled with His love for us, His desire for us, His plan for us, yet we doubt, we try to control, we try to do things in our power in our might to get us out of the wilderness. These people who suffered much more than I have ever suffered or probably ever will, stayed fixed on God, relied on God, prayed and praised God despite their circumstances and God delivered them from their wilderness. This is most often where I fall short. I take my eyes off of God and try to change my own circumstances, trying to control the situation. There is no wiser decision than surrendering yourself to God daily and letting go of the reins, trusting Him with your circumstances, and continuously praising and praying to Him and giving thanks.. whether you’re in the wilderness or not.
I love this chapter, and I especially love verse 3 (…your love is better than life…). In our self-serving, self-seeking, self-loving, self-centered world (i.e. life), God’s love is better.
Do you run towards or away from wildernesses and/or deserts? I usually run.
The Bible is full of stories of people being in wildernesses and deserts. The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert before He called the first disciple. Before entering the Promise Land, the Israelites spent time in the wilderness. Could God have a purpose for wildernesses and deserts?
OK – this one hurt’s a little.
I know that it is easy for me to pray and praise when the sun is shining but I have to admit that when I am in trouble, I blame me. I look for all the ways that I failed. It is not hard for me to find blame with myself. I am learning now that sometimes, we are put in the dark times so that we seek the light of the one true God. I suppose that when situations occur in my life, I should look towards God and ask what I am to learn from this experience. Now, I know that I cause troubles in my life my not making the right choices sometimes, that it something that I have to deal with. There are other times however when I am put in the dark and I am lost and thirsty.
May I first turn to God and let him help me. One of the best relationship building blocks is getting through a tough situation together. May I learn to lean on him and let him mold me into the person he wants me to be.
My 2 1/2 year old, Brooklyn, is obsessed with the song “Blessed Be Your Name”. She asks for it over and over in the car, even after we just finished listening to it! Thankfully, it just happens to be one of my favorite songs too because regardless of what’s going on in my life or in the world around me I can say with confidence “Blessed Be the Name of the Lord”. When I’m found in a desert place or lost in the wilderness…when the sun shines down upon me or when my prayer is nothing more than a broken sob…Blessed be the name of the Lord!
OK… why does Herb always comment and write at 4 in the blessed a.m.? Dude, you’re infringing on the Chinese people’s time with God! Only you and Billy Graham are up doing quiet times at 4 a.m.
1.) What do I currently crave and go after in my daily life?
Instant gratification, little matter hoe sordid it might be.
2.) What does worship have to do with my relationship with God?
Worship is our end of this relationship. That’s how we contribute. God provides our needs and desires spiritually and physically, but God is not now physical – there is only one way to give to him: worship, which, as we all know from yesterday, is done in SPIRIT and TRUTH, because God IS spirit, and IS truth. (See n. Good News)
3.) What changes do I have to make in my daily schedule to seek the Lord first?
What do you put in your schedule that has priority? God has to come first. This is best accomplished by simply letting him master every facet of your life. There’s no single moment in the day when you have to stop and say, GOD IS FIRST NOW, AT 8:15:33 A.M. IT’S NICE OUTSIDE. ALL IS WELL. Putting God first means that your first motivation to do your job better, to love your children, to submit to your spouse, to breathe air, is God. Doing your job in obedience to God says the motivations of God are more important to you than the money in which your work provides, or the food or shelter that money provides, or the affection or comfort your family provides. God is first and last in every equation.
4.) What can I expect when I praise and worship God?
A relationship with the almighty lord of the universe who created me out of a desire to share himself and all creation with a bride and lover. We are that bride, we are his lover. God asks us to worship him in every facet of our lives, we ask him to fulfill the lives he gave us with peace and prosperity, that prosperity unlimited to how God best sees fit to bless us with, and the contentment and satisfaction that comes only from having and fulfilling the purpose for which we were created. That’s what I can expect.
I wish I could write what David wrote!!!!
I have always been mystified and a bit jealous of people who spontanteously burst into praise. It is not my reflex. I’m thinking that practice is the key to reflex. Thanks Hanna.
Being in your presence with the Lord is a feeling only you and you alone can comprehend. Sometimes your wilderness is a life lesson for you to go through so you can be a blessing to someone else. When we praise our way through the wilderness it is so much easier to go through. We all have a thirst that only he the father alone can quench. And I am grateful and thankful to know this and to truly believe it.
Wait, which questions are we supposed to answer? The blue or the discussions? SO CONFUSED! … “Blessed be the naaaame of the Lord, blessed be the naaaame, Jesus …”
I want to see someone respond before Herb tomorrow…
I can’t think at 4 a.m.!
1.) What do I currently crave and go after in my daily life? I crave peace.
2.) What does worship have to do with my relationship with God? Everything. Worship is my outward expression of adoration and submission to the Creator. It is the physical presentation of the overflowing of love that he has shown me.
3.) What changes do I have to make in my daily schedule to seek the Lord first? Wake up earlier and spend time in His Word, and presence through prayer.
4.) What can I expect when I praise and worship God? I should not expect anything. I do not do it for my gain. I do it because of what He has already given. It is His grace that allows us to worship Him. It is also the reason for our worship
In my daily life, i crave wisdom and understanding. i want to be able to see where God is pointing me in this chaos called life. i want to be able to hear His still small voice and know with confidence that it is Him speaking. I want to be an imitator of the Father, with His love and joy overflowing from my life into others. and i really want to know what it means to truly live for eternity.
Worship is my response to my Savior. i cannot ever do enough to repay our Lord for all He has done for me, but living my life as a sacrifice to Him and praising Him with what He has given me is among the things i can do to show my gratitude. Whether it be singing, or backpacking or even serving in our country’s military, i can do so with praise to the Father being the central key. following His direction and listening to His guidance are major forms of worship as well that i try to do.
I need to change my thought process in how i go about reading the Bible. Taking more notes as i read would help, also remembering that the Bible is the greatest source of truth and the knowledge of God would open my eyes even more. disciplining myself to read even if i have already read the Bible more than once would reveal to me things that i never saw before; and make connections that i missed last time. i need to spend more time in prayer and meditation of His word so that i can truly understand why i believe what i believe and live out better the faith i hold to.
The only thing i can really say that i expect from worship and praise to God is that He hears me when i do it. He knows what i need and when i need it, and i know that all i have to do is earnestly put my worries and burdens at His feet and He will show me the way. i could try and do things the way i think they should be done but that almost always fails. as Proverbs 16:9 says, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.”
Well, I for one will say that I desperately seek him on an hourly basis. I struggle everyday with obstacles that I can’t seem to resolve on my own. Now that I have been back with the Grace of Him, I have realized that only through Him have I found some peace to my catastrophic life. I still feel somewhat hopeless but I know that He will make things better for me in His own time. I just have to have patience. I think I forget sometimes to thank Him for all of the good in my life though, I wish it was Him that I thought of first when the good things in life happen.
I crave the peace that comes from knowing I have surrendered to God and He is in control. Yet at the same time, I struggle with leaving things in His hands. It truly is a daily battle of: “Here you go God. I trust you. OK, you’re taking too long so let me help you out a little….” I have experienced so many wonderful examples of His awesome power, love, and peace…. times that can only be explained as “God provided.” So why do I forget so quickly and let worry overpower the peace? Sometimes I just want to shake myself senselessly.
Someone once told me faith is like growing a plant. You need to have faith that the seed is growing even when you can’t see it underground. The problem is that I keep digging up the seed every couple of days to see if anything is growing yet which ultimately prolongs the growth or destroys it. I just need to leave it alone!
I crave the peace that comes from knowing I have surrendered to God and He is in control. Yet at the same time, I struggle with leaving things in His hands. It truly is a daily battle of: “Here you go God. I trust you. OK, you’re taking too long so let me help you out a little….” I have experienced so many wonderful examples of His awesome power, love, and peace…. times that can only be explained as “God provided.” So why do I forget so quickly and let worry overpower the peace? Sometimes I just want to shake myself senselessly.
Someone once told me faith is like growing a plant. You need to have faith that the seed is growing even when you can’t see it underground. The problem is that I keep digging up the seed every couple of days to see if anything is growing yet which ultimately prolongs the growth or destroys it. I just need to leave it alone!
When I read this verse, I think “This doesn’t sound like me.” Years ago, this verse might have described me, but over the years, I’ve lost some of my “first love” of God. In fact, I’m pretty sure that my first reaction when I find myself in a “dry and weary land” is to actually blame God instead of relying on Him. Hopefully I can begin to seek God again and give Him the praise he is due.
I know my faith has grown since moving to Georgia. The first year we lived here brought many life changes both here and with the health of family members back home. I couldn’t imagine going through that without having God at my side and helping me through things. I want to seek God every day and tell Him thank you, regardless of what is going on in my life, He is always there and I surrender everything to Him.
I forgot to add that I agree with Alan’s daughter, you can definately feel the power of God in the CCC sanctuary on Sunday mornings. It is an awesome thing, you walk out of each service with a wow feeling. At previous churches I attended I never had tears brought to my eyes during the service and music worship, but here I never have a dry eye (not necessarily crying, but tears brought to my eyes) by the whole-hearted worship I see on Sundays.
Alan said, “Isn’t it possible that God would lead me to dry places to push and prod me to earnestly seek Him?”
To me the answer is yes. For God molding us as clay, sometimes we have to be broken of our will to receive his will. I think this is very true that we have to trust God to be in control of our lives.
I’ll throw out this challenge that I believe there are some Christians who put there lives in a holding pattern and wait indefinitely for God to shout from the clouds what they should do, when many times it will not be that clear. I believe God sometimes shows his will for us by presenting an opportunity in front of us where we have to take the initiative and pursue without complete clarity on God’s will or our future. God gives us our interests and abilities to serve him, and I think God’s gift of reason and judgment to each of us is often overlooked when considering how we are to understand or determine God’s will in our life.
This hunger, this thirst for God; the ultimate fulfillment in our existence is found in Jesus Christ.
“There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person, and it can never be filled by any created thing. It can only be filled by God, made known through Jesus Christ.” (Blaise Pascal)
What about those who fill their lives with other things? Those who never believe in Jesus? Those who chose to reject the message? Being spiritually dead in the first place, is it not possible that they could live their lives out in contentment never knowing Him? “Before creation God selected out of the human race, foreseen as fallen, those whom he would redeem, bring to faith, justify, and glorify in and through Jesus Christ.” (J.I.Packer) Do those not in God’s election thirst or hunger for Him? Never to be quenched or filled? Thoughts?
A number of years ago, it was the words from the hymn “As the Deer Panteth…” (based on Psalm 42) that got me to do some soul-seaching…and on the road to better understanding who God wants to be in my life. (See partial lyrics below.) You see, at that point I had been on the worship team for several years, and I realized that I was more interested in hearing myself sing than I was in the words themselves (not something to be proud of when trying to lead worship!). Furthermore, I realized that I wasn’t really certain that I believed the words that I was singing – well, I believed the words about God and what He could be in my life, but I was convicted that I wasn’t living up to how I should be approaching Him (i.e., I was more likely to put myself or other people…things…on the throne in my life that should have been His). At that point, my prayer became that those words would be true in my life…and certainly, that my desire would be for my soul to ONLY long after Him. Fortunately, because of life’s ups and downs (all blessings and answers to prayer from God), I can say that the words are more true today than they were then…I pray that I can say that again in another 15 years – I’m still nowhere close to where I need to be.
Hanna, thanks for giving me another verse…another milestone…another reminder to crave and desire Him every moment of my life – regardless of cirumstances.
“As the Deer Panteth…”
Verse 1:
As the deer panteth for the water, So my soul longeth after you. You alone are my heart’s desire, And I long to worship you
Chorus:
You alone are my strength, my shield…To you alone may my spirit yield. You alone are my heart’s desire, And I long to worship you.
I’m reading a book about David called something like “Slaying your Giants”. It says that when David kept his eyes on God, giants fell. When he didn’t David fell. I could write my own book on trying to live the Christian life and leaving God out of it. I know that what Alan said is true. God did not gently prod me toward His Living Waters. He jerked me up in a tornado of unbelievable events and bounced me around in emotional turmoil, providing His grace and faithful followers to to cushion me all the way. The worst time of my life forced me to know, without a doubt, that when everything else is taken away from you, all you need is God. I pray that I can keep my eyes on God. I praise Him for quenching my thirst, for keeping me close.
My response before 10am… aldsfjwpqjfqp (That would probably be my head falling on the keyboard.)
When David kept his eyes on God, giants fell. When he didn’t David fell. Wow that’s really good Gail!
I am currently in the wilderness and I am too afraid to ask those around me what have they seen come out of me!!! LOL. I am pressing on and I know the Lord is my strength, my fortress and my ROCK! When I have fallen into insanity the Lord has been the one to pick me up, dust me off and carried me through! He is always there even in the deep dark places. Thank you Lord for your undying love towards me! I love you. May my eyes always be fixed on You so when the sea roars and storms rage I don’t sink. But if I become afraid of what’s happening around me I know you’re to catch me when I fall.
I was talking to a dear friend about this and we talked about going to God’s word looking for answers, direction or peace when we need it. You are right, Hanna in that we shouldn’t wait until we are in a time of need or in the desert. I find myself always trying to see what I can get from a particular verse and often get frustrated when I can’t “figure it out” or hear God’s voice. Thank you for the reminder that we should always be in His presence just because we want to be, not for personal gain. Then hopefully, when trials come along, we know we are already in His arms knowing He will hold us through the storm.
Oh the wilderness times……they are so hard yet so rich. And I can truly say that what gets me through those times are the memories of having seen and experienced God’s “power and glory” in seasons passed. God is a Sovereign God and no wilderness time goes without being used for His Glory!!! I have and continue to cling to that in all circumstances!
Thanks for the reminder Hanna (and Brittany). I hope that I don’t ever forget the times in the wilderness that I have seen God glorified. Maybe we don’t understand at that time and we may not understand today, but to remember that the greatest place to be is in His presence.
Not to totally get off the discussion questions, but after reading this, I am actually wondering if I even know what it means to hunger and thirst after God. I live in the USA, where actually hungering and thirsting is totally foreign. And while I’ve been to the desert in this country, I still saw manicured and irrigated lawns, so I’m not sure if I’ve ever really been to a dry and weary land. Hopefully I can continue to seek God daily (thanks for the challenge, Alan, two days in a row!) and learn more about hungering and thirsting for Him.
Great discussion. My love, this is a great study! I have to step back and continue to ask how I can seek the Lord first in the midst of the wilderness. Sometimes, like what David experienced and as Alan discussed above, the wilderness happens to us and we have a choice to respond by embracing the Lord or running away. By embracing Him, we can grow and He will lead us out at the right time.
I also see we can seek it out as Jesus did int he desert, but who has the willingness to do this? For example, how often do we ask God to break us of ourselves and change us? This is probably one of the most difficult prayers to say over our lives. If we have, we also know the next days or weeks are very difficult, yet ultimately rewarding. Choosing to put ourselves into places of persecution or self-denial is not comfortable, to say the least, but is essential to living out Jesus’ work on earth. Thank God for the body of Christ here that can encourage all of us to seek God in the wilderness times and use them to draw closer to Him.
When I feel lost in the wilderness, I often find myself not just longing to be found, but yearning to feel wanted and a part of something. The cool thing is just listening to worship music often opens my soul up and turns my head upward, adding mere drops of water to quench my parched soul. The even cooler thing is, the more I drink, the more I thirst. I love those great moments when I find myself swimming through a river of fear and uncertainty only to look down and realize I’m floating on faith. For me, faith is a reminder of the power and compassion of God. It’s also my Mentos in a bottle of Diet Coke – it spews the Holy Spirit out of me only wanting to be filled up again.
This week was not a week I was looking forward to. It is inventory for our store. On Friday our cooler cases went down and we had to throw everything out. The shelves had to be cleaned and everything had to be reordered on Monday for Tuesday. As we did not know what went wrong with the cases we had to wait for the weekend to be over before they could be refilled. Your probably asking what this has to do with praising God and being in the wilderness. You see there are many times my job puts me in the wilderness. I really was not looking forward to going to work Monday or Tuesday. As a matter of fact I was totally dreading it. On Friday God gave me verse Psalm 94:18. Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, held me up. It was a very “hard day” at work but God reminded me that morning that His mercy and loving-kindness would hold me up. I really dreaded going in on Monday. I asked my daughter to pray for me and my attitude. On Monday morning God gave me Lamentations 3:22-23. “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning.” I felt God telling me that every day is new and I can start it fresh. His compassion for me will hold me up and his love will carry me through. On Monday when I arrived at work I couldn’t believe the amount of work everyone had done over the weekend. I felt God helping me through this wilderness experience. To make matters even better He sent someone from our church in and just seeing them refreshed my soul because I was able to take the time and visit with them and remember how God blesses us. Today God reminded me of the fruits of the spirit. Gal 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperence.”
Yes, I truly believe that we can praise God when we are in the pit. You see He has gone before us to prepare us. He has given us doctrine. He has given us the Holy Spirit. He takes our hand and guides us through it if we will let him. He even provides other believers to come along side and brighten our day. He does it all. Does this mean I enjoy going through the wilderness? NO! But I do know I am not going through it alone. God has lessons he wants me to learn and so I praise Him. He will lead me through the wilderness.
I want to echo Hanna’s prayer – to have a longing for God greater than anything I know, and to be “diligent and disciplined in seeking and worshiping Him”. I pray that for myself and all of Cumberland. How awesome to be a part of one body that fervently seeks out God and worships Him in spirit and in truth, no matter what this earthly life throws at us!
Recently, I was at the Grand Canyon, Brice Canyon and Zion National Parks. The hand of God was evident everywhere in the beauty that surrounded us; it was moving and inspiring. Returning to the Atlanta airport and the starkness of I-85 and the streets of Smyrna was a harsh slap in the face. This seems to correlate to the beauty of life with the Lord and the emptiness and dreariness of life without him. The answer may be to ALWAYS keep the Lord first and foremost in our thoughts, then there would not be need to make changes in our focus.
Perhaps this is a tall order, but one with great benefits.