LOOKING UPON GOD
By T.R. Dohling
“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land
where there is no water. So I have
looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.” – Psalm 63:1,2 [A Psalm of David, when he was
in the wilderness of
God was very personal to David as
is evident from how he addresses Him, “O God, You are my God.” He was very close to God since time and again
we find his soul and flesh hungering, thirsting and fainting for God.
How could he be close to
God? By simply taking the time to “look
upon God.” Looking upon God, he beheld
God’s power and glory not only in creation, but in what God had done for
him. He could say from experience that
God’s love was “steadfast” and “better than life” which caused him to praise
God.
Because he drew near to God,
David could count on God’s love to deliver him from his present, temporary
discomfort. He was satisfied in God “as
with fat and rich food” which filled him with great joy and led him to
outwardly express it.
From this psalm we further
discover David upon his bed at night remembering God. That’s how much he desired God because he had
tasted and seen that “the Lord is good!” [Psalm 34:8.] God had been his help
always and in the shadow of God’s wings, he finds refuge and sings for
joy. Therefore, his soul clings to God
because God’s “right hand upholds” him even though he is very uncomfortable in
his current situation.
In the end he says, “the king
shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult.” What David says in this verse is worthy of
note. He shall rejoice in God because
of Who God is and he goes on to say that “all who swear by God shall
rejoice.”
May we also have the same
hungering and thirsting for God from the depths of our beings so that we “who
swear by God” may always dwell in His Presence and draw on His strength in
times of need.
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