MAKING GOD MORE REAL
PSALM 63:3-7 NKJV
3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips shall praise You.
4 Thus I will bless You while I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.
6 When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches.
7 Because You have been my help,
Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.
David wrote this Psalm when he was running from King Saul. This is a Psalm written in the wilderness.
Sometimes when our surroundings are harsh and our situation is bleak, we turn to God. David had made a habit of praising God in the good times and in the bad. Now when he is stuck in the wilderness, we don't hear bleakness in his words.
David knows how to turn to God when things are good and when things are difficult. But notice his praise of God is personal.
David does not say God's lovingkindness is better than life. He speaks to God. Your lovingkindness is better than life. In this Psalm, David says 'You' referring to God 18 times.
Your lovingkindness. My lips shall praise You. I will bless You. You have been my help. By addressing God in this way, David is making God more real in his own consciousness.
And there is another lesson we can learn from David. Not only does he praise the person of God, he meditates on God at night. We can easily imagine seeing David lying down in the wilderness. At night he is awake thinking about God and how good He is.
That is admirable focused thought for a young man who is being chased all over the country. It is too easy to lose sight of God and the reality of God when you are fighting to stay alive.
APPLICATION:
We can take David's pattern of praise and personal expressions to the Lord and make them our own.
It helps our faith to talk about God as if He is real because He is. But the more we talk about Him and to Him, the more real He becomes to us.
We can bless the Lord. Lift up our hands in His name. Praise the Lord and meditate on Him when things get quiet.
Making God more real to us is one of the wisest things we do.
PRAYER:
Lord, You are real to me. Heavenly Father, You are real to me. Holy Spirit, You are real to me. Beyond feelings, the reality of You is growing in me.