In the Desert… Remember God
David writes this in his desert, in Psalm 63:3 "I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and Your glory."
Here he is in the desert, but he's thinking back to the good times. He's thinking back to when God's glory and power were real to him.
Anchoring Our Faith in God's Past Faithfulness
All throughout the Old Testament, the people of God would look back at their history to be reminded of God's grace. They would say "God is the One who got us out of Egypt! We can trust Him." Or they would say "God delivered us from the desert into the promised land. We can trust Him."
Looking back reminded them of God's goodness. If He's done it before, they would remind themselves, He can do it again.
And for David it was even more personal. It wasn't just "He did it for them, let's hope He'll do it for me". But it was more a case of "I know God is real, I've seen Him and experienced Him in the past!"
Experiencing God's Presence Today
Now remember, in David's day, God was present in a special way in His tabernacle. It was a space specially designed to 'house' God. And so David, in his desert, thinks back to the tabernacle, the sanctuary, the holy place, where God dwelt, and says "I knew Him to be real there; let me not allow my current feelings to overwhelm what I experienced there in a real way."
You and I, of course, don't have to go to the sanctuary to behold God. Although, sometimes church is the best place to behold Him. Some of my most profound and amazing moments with God have come in churches. But sometimes our most profound moments with God can happen in the shower, in the car, in the classroom, in the office, because God is no longer confined by the sanctuary, He dwells within the sanctuary of our hearts.
So perhaps we join David today, and we say "I have known Your glory in my heart. I have known Your presence within me. So, just because I'm in the desert now, doesn't mean I have forgotten how real You have been to me... I won't let today's pain wipe away my history of having been blessed by You!"
This is powerful. Are we able to say "While I don't feel it now... I think back to the times I did feel it... and I will let those times get me through this time"?
That's faith. And I'm not talking about living in the past always. Of course, we long for God to do new things, to reveal Himself now and not just in the past. But when we remember His faithfulness in the past, it helps us to stay faithful today.
In your desert, remember that God has been faithful. And believe that He will be faithful even now.
