"O God, You Are My God"

(Psalm 63)

During this morning’s early prayer meeting, I meditated on Proverbs 12:3:
“A man cannot be established through wickedness, but the righteous cannot be uprooted.”
While reflecting on the firm and immovable root of the righteous, I wondered how such a deeply rooted faith could be cultivated. I was led to believe that the answer is found in the same chapter, Proverbs 12:1:
“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge…”
A firmly rooted and immovable faith of the righteous is based on the knowledge of God.

However, as Pastor Martyn Lloyd-Jones points out in his book “Spiritual Warfare,” one of Satan’s works is to prevent us from growing in the knowledge of God.
As a result, the prophecy of Amos has come true:
“‘Behold, the days are coming,’ declares the Lord God, ‘when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord’” (Amos 8:11).

Because of this, as the prophet Hosea also declared, God’s people are perishing for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6).
We must grow in the knowledge of God.
As the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 4:13, we are to attain “unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God,” and “become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
Then we will be strong.
“A wise man is strong, and a man of knowledge increases strength” (Proverbs 24:5).

In Psalm 63:1, David, having experienced the presence of God in the wilderness of Judah, came to know God more deeply and broadly there than in the royal palace. And he makes this confession:
“O God, You are my God…”

As I meditated on this psalm in which David acknowledges God as his God, I reflected on what kind of heart a person of faith must have to make such a confession. I considered six aspects through which I hoped to receive God’s teaching.

First, the soul of David, who confessed “O God, You are my God,” longed for God.

Look at Psalm 63:1:
“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.”

As David describes it, the wilderness is “a dry and weary land where there is no water.”
When fleeing from Absalom, David sought after God just as a man desperately seeks water in the desert due to thirst.
In other words, he had a desperate longing to seek God.

But this raises a question: Did David have that same desperate longing to seek God while he was in the palace?
Pastor Eugene Peterson, in his book “Leap Over a Wall: Earthy Spirituality for Everyday Christians” (often translated as "David: Spirituality Rooted in Reality"), says that among the serious sins David committed in his life, the one with the least excuse and the greatest consequence was his failure to truly forgive his son Absalom.

Speaking of this sin committed in the palace, Peterson wrote:
“David’s adultery with Bathsheba was a moment of uncontrolled lust. His attempt to cover it up led to the sin of murdering Uriah as a king.
But rejecting Absalom was a persistent, deliberate sin—David continually and resolutely refused to share with his son what he himself had so abundantly received from God.”

Pastor Peterson goes on to suggest that during the time David was cold and distant toward Absalom—even after bringing him back to the palace—David’s attention toward God also likely diminished, along with his life of prayer.
In other words, the more David kept his distance from Absalom and failed to genuinely forgive him, the more he became distant from God as well.

Naturally, then, it’s unlikely that David was praying earnestly to God during that period.

I believe this reflects our own condition.
We are really not much different from David.
When we live in the abundance that God has given us, we do not earnestly seek Him.
But when, because of our sin, God disciplines us and leads us from a “palace-like” life into the wilderness, into a “dry and weary land” where there is nothing around us, it is there that we begin to pray to God with desperation.

This is surely God’s grace and blessing.
That God leads us into the wilderness is His grace and blessing.

Look at Hosea 2:14:
"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her."

In the days of Hosea, the Israelites lived a syncretistic faith, serving both God and Baal.
So God disciplined them with the rod of love and led them into the wilderness.
But the amazing grace and blessing was this: In that wilderness, God spoke tenderly to Israel.

When we, in our abundance, distance ourselves from God and fall into sin, God is the one who, in His love, takes us into the wilderness as discipline.
What is God's true intention?
It is that in the wilderness, He wants to restore in us the desperate longing to seek Him.

How was David’s desperation restored in the wilderness?
In that dry and weary land where there was no water, David’s flesh did not long for a woman like Bathsheba.
In other words, while in the palace David may have longed for the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16), now in the wilderness, his soul and body longed only for the Lord.

Therefore, David could confess, “O God, You are my God” (Psalm 63:1).

Secondly, the soul of David, who confessed “O God, You are my God,”
remembered the Lord in the watches of the night.

Look at Psalm 63:6:
"When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches."

Just as the early morning is a good time to meditate on the Lord at the beginning of the day, so too is the night, when the day’s work has ended.
We need that time—alone in the quiet—reflecting on what the Lord has done throughout our day.

Even more, as we consider who God was to us throughout the day, and meditate on Him by looking at the God revealed in Scripture with eyes of faith, forming that habit will bring great benefit to our spiritual growth.

Dr. Yoon-Sun Park said:
"When a person is on the 'bed,' the heart withdraws from all external affairs. That is a good opportunity to have a devout heart."

What does it mean that David remembered the Lord in the night watches while in the wilderness of Judah?
It means that David recalled how the Lord had helped him in the past.
And because of that, he was confident that the same Lord who had helped him before would help him now in the wilderness of Judah.

So he said,
“For You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I will sing for joy.” (Psalm 63:7)

David knew that not only had God helped him in the past, but even in his current situation—being pursued by Absalom—he had been able to flee to the wilderness by God's grace.
And so, as he meditated in the night on God's help, he actually praised the Lord—his “help”—under the shadow of His wings.

The Lord is “my help.”
When we are in danger, the Lord leads us under the shadow of His wings and protects us.
We need to meditate on this Lord.
Especially, like David, we should take time during the night in our beds to think about the Lord.
And we must remember the Lord’s help.
We should reflect again on the grace of salvation that the Lord has given us.

Third, the soul of David, who confessed “O God, You are my God,”
was satisfied.

Look at Psalm 63:5:
"My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness..."

Certainly, David, now fleeing from Absalom in the wilderness of Judah, was not eating marrow and fatness as he did in the palace.
In other words, physically, David did not enjoy satisfaction in the dry, waterless wilderness of Judah.
But he was spiritually satisfied there.

How could he be spiritually satisfied in the wilderness as if he were eating marrow and fatness?
The reason is that David experienced the mercy of God in the wilderness.
He experienced that the lovingkindness of the Lord was better than life itself, and through that eternal mercy of God, his soul was able to be satisfied (verse 3).

Are our souls truly satisfied now?
Or like David, are we living in a “palace,” physically full and satisfied with rich food, yet spiritually starving?
David, despite physical satisfaction in the palace, eventually sinned by committing adultery with Bathsheba and causing Uriah’s death.
Because of God’s discipline, he was betrayed and chased by Absalom.
In the midst of all this, even though David was physically hungry and poor in the wilderness of Judah, spiritually he made the wilderness his sanctuary, longing for God’s power and glory, and he ultimately found spiritual satisfaction.

There is a gospel song called “There is None Like You.”
Its lyrics say:
"There is none like You, Lord, that touches my heart like You do.
After searching for many years, I have come to know there is none like You.
Your mercy flows like a river, Your hand heals,
You embrace the hurting children, there is none like You."

In the end, even when we feel lonely amidst the crowd, we must earnestly seek the Lord, believing that only God can satisfy our longing souls.
It is then that our souls can be satisfied.

Fourth, the soul of David, who confessed “O God, You are my God,”
praised the Lord.

Look at Psalm 63:3:
"Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You."

Why did David praise God in the wilderness?
Because he experienced God’s lovingkindness there.
In other words, when David earnestly sought God in the wilderness of Judah and experienced the presence of the merciful God,
he made this confession of faith: God is merciful.

In Pastor Hong Sung-gun’s book titled “The Person God Seeks,” chapter 6 is called “The Lord Who Comes During Praise: The Power of Praise.”
In that chapter, he said the following about the power of praise:
“Where is the power of praise? It is not in the praise itself, but when the content of the praise is a confession of faith, God grants power within that faith. Praise is a confession of faith. … When we say, ‘I will praise the Lord,’ in English it is ‘I will praise You.’ This implies that I am intentionally choosing to praise. Even when my circumstances are so difficult that I feel I cannot praise, I choose to praise God” (Hong Sung-gun).

An example of this is Paul and Silas in Acts 16.
Paul and Silas prayed to God in prison, decided in faith, and praised Him.
David, who appears in today’s passage, Psalm 63, decided to praise God because God’s eternal love was better than his life.
He was able to feel God’s eternal love directed toward him in the wilderness.
Certainly, when he was in the palace, he would not have experienced God’s eternal love as he did in the Judean wilderness.
If he had experienced God’s eternal love in the palace, he would not have committed the sin of not truly forgiving his son Amnon, who killed another son, Absalom, nor would he have kept distance from Absalom while bringing him into the palace.

Eventually, David was driven out of the palace and fled from Absalom, but God protected him, and David experienced God’s love under “the shadow of Your wings” (verse 7) in the Judean wilderness.
David experienced more deeply the good (gracious) hand of God that helped him in the wilderness according to the timing, more than in the palace.
David realized that God’s longing for him was even more intense than his own longing for God. Because of this amazing love, David could not help but praise God.

Fifthly, the soul of David, who confessed, “O God, You are my God,”
followed the Lord closely.

Look at Psalm 63:8:
"My soul follows close behind You; Your right hand upholds me."

What does “following the Lord closely” mean here?
The answer can be found in Deuteronomy 4:4:
"But you who have held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today."

Following the Lord closely means clinging to Him and not leaving Him.
This indicates David’s unfailing commitment to his Lord.
In short, David made a recommitment in the Judean wilderness.

Though he briefly left the Lord and sinned while in the palace, when he was driven out and in the wilderness, he did not leave God but followed the Lord even more closely.
David, who was unable to stay close to the Lord in the palace, remained steadfast and did not leave Him in the wilderness.
In other words, he made an unfailing commitment to God in the wilderness more than in the palace.
Isn’t it interesting? There was corruption in the palace but an unchanging commitment in the wilderness...

David experienced the Lord’s right hand holding him up in the wilderness.
He had made the wilderness a sanctuary to behold the Lord’s “power and glory” (Psalm 63:2).
God answered his prayer and held David firmly with His powerful right hand.
That is why David did not leave but clung to the Lord.

We must follow the Lord closely.
When we do so, we will be held by the right hand of the Lord’s power.
In other words, we will experience God’s power in the wilderness when we are at our weakest and most difficult moments.
Not only will the Lord firmly hold us with His mighty right hand, but just as He destroyed those who sought to destroy David’s soul, He will also destroy our enemies (verses 9-10).

Finally, sixthly, the soul of David who confessed, “O God, You are my God,”
rejoices in God.

Look at Psalm 63:11:
“The king shall rejoice in God; everyone who swears by Him shall glory, but the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped.”

David tasted joy in the wilderness.
That joy was entirely different from the worldly pleasures he briefly enjoyed in the palace.
The joy he experienced in the wilderness was a joy that the world could neither understand nor give.
He rejoiced because he experienced the Lord’s everlasting mercy in the wilderness.
David rejoiced because he experienced satisfaction in his soul.
Having received the Lord’s help and being held by the Lord’s powerful right hand, David could not help but rejoice.

Rejoicing in God is not necessarily based on circumstances.
Look at David.
He rejoiced in God not in the palace, but in the wilderness.
David’s joy was solely because of the Lord.
He rejoiced and was glad only in the Lord.
Therefore, we too should rejoice and be glad only in the Lord, just like David.

On Monday evening this week, unexpectedly, I received a call from a brother in the English ministry community.
He shared the grace he received during the English worship service last Sunday and said that he had received a “revelation” from the Lord and wanted to meet.
So the next day, Tuesday, we met for lunch and talked together.
His conviction was that the Lord desires and reveals that we should serve the church, the body of Christ.
He then asked me to tell him how he could serve the body of Christ, even in a very small way, so I encouraged him first to offer regular worship to God every Sunday.
This is because being established first as a worshiper, then service (action) should naturally come from that existence.
The brother seemed to agree with my advice.
While eating, as we shared heart to heart in the Lord, I was grateful and joyful to see his firm faith, his belief in the existence of God.

The prophet Hosea exhorts us this way:
“… Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord.” (Hosea 6:3)

As we diligently seek to know God, I pray that you and I may confess, like David, “O God, You are my God” (Psalm 63:1).
Though we live in a world like the wilderness, facing adversity, difficulties, persecution, and suffering like David, may our souls long for God, may we remember Him in the night, and through this experience the work of God that satisfies our souls.

Let us praise our God under the shadow of His wings as we experience God’s eternal mercy, His power, and glory.
Let us recommit ourselves before God.
When we do so, like David, we will be able to rejoice in God alone.

“O God, You are my God,”

Sharing by Pastor James Kim

(“I will not exchange the Lord for anything, nor seek any other grace; only the Lord is my help in life. I desire to see Your face. Lord, I love You with all my heart and effort. I want to be a faithful friend of God.”)