So, did hiding out from COVID-19 for two years make you a little stir crazy? Well, although David didn’t know anything about viruses, corona or otherwise, he knew what it was like to be on the run from his enemies. After all, when he wrote Psalm 63, he was in the wilderness, the desert, trying to escape from King Saul, his own father-in-law. Not only his social calendar but his whole life was on hold, and he had no idea if or when he would ever be able to get back home to his wife.

Yes, as verse 1 says, David was in a dry and weary land where there is no water. As verse 9 says, he had enemies who were seeking to destroy his life. He was tired and scared. And yet as verse 1 says, his deepest longing, his greatest thirst was for God. As verse 5 says, when he lifted his voice in prayer and his hands in praise, he felt just as satisfied, just as full as if he had eaten the most sumptuous of meals.

How could that be? How could David be so focused on God when it would have been so easy for him to give in to bitterness or self-pity? Well, while David was stuck in his desert hide-out, enduring the months of boredom punctuated by moments of terror that seem to characterize all wars past and present, he seems to have spent a lot of time in prayer. After all, verse 1 says that David sought God earnestly. In fact, the very existence of this Psalm proves that David not only poured out his heart in prayer to God, but also took the time to write some of those prayers down in ways that others could sing along.

And what did David pray? In verse 7, he affirmed that God had been His help in the past. And in verse 3, he goes so far as to say that God’s unconditional, covenant-keeping love is better than life itself. And so because of this confidence in God’s power and love, David was able to rejoice in the shadow of God’s wings, no matter how great his boredom or fear may have been.

So today, why don’t we spend less time in worry and more time in prayer? No matter how spiritually dry we may feel, why don’t we seek God and His face? For like David, we can trust that the One Who has helped us so many times in the past, the One Who gave up His only Son to save us will help us even now, no matter what we may be going through.

Psalm 63 (NASB)

A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
O God, Thou art my God; I shall seek Thee earnestly; My soul thirsts for Thee, my flesh yearns for Thee, In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 Thus I have beheld Thee in the sanctuary, To see Thy power and Thy glory.
3 Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise Thee.
4 So I will bless Thee as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Thy name.
5 My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.
6 When I remember Thee on my bed, I meditate on Thee in the night watches,
7 For Thou hast been my help, And in the shadow of Thy wings I sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to Thee; Thy right hand upholds me.
9 But those who seek my life, to destroy it, Will go into the depths of the earth.
10 They will be delivered over to the power of the sword; They will be a prey for foxes.
11 But the king will rejoice in God; Everyone who swears by Him will glory, For the mouths of those who speak lies will be stopped.