On Psalm 63

A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;

My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,

In a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary,

To see Your power and Your glory.

Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,

My lips will praise You.

So I will bless You as long as I live;

I will lift up my hands in Your name.

My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,

And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.

When I remember You on my bed,

I meditate on You in the night watches,

For You have been my help,

And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.

My soul clings to You;

Your right hand upholds me. 

(verses 1-8) 

Since this summer, I've been occasionally filling in to help teach Sunday School for the 6-7 year-old crowd at church. Right now, the class is going through a simplified version of Pilgrim's Progress. Initially, I looked at this experience as an opportunity to be servant-oriented and selfless and Reformed and aren't-I-a-nice-Christian-girl-helping-with-Sunday-School. However, I seem to have forgotten the reason we still read the book 350 years after it was written. Each time I've watched the kids take in the lesson from a particular passage, I get wrapped into it and God convicts me of how I am dealing with these very issues in my own life at the moment. I'm learning with the kiddos.

Yesterday, we went over Christian and Hopeful's escape from Vanity Fair and eventual stay in the Plain of Ease. It reminded me of my own experiences in the past year of my life, having gone through a particularly difficult autumn and my subsequent respite this spring. My life in these past twelve months has echoed this journey out of despair to joy. But, being a good Reformed Baptist and having read the story before, I know what the kids will be learning next week. I'm feeling the temptation that the pilgrims will presently encounter, to take the blessings of God for granted.

In contrast with 2014, where the difficult times chased one another by the heels, 2015 has been crammed full with blessings: My time in Europe was followed here by new friendships, provision and direction for the future, sweeter fellowship at church. I don't want to turn gifts which ought to point me back to God into things which distract me from Him. I'm beginning to understand just another facet of how responsibility accompanies blessing. When you feel like you're on top of this world, it takes discipline to pursue the things of the next one.

May my mouth continually offer "praises with joyful lips."

May my soul cling to God.

May I never forget His faithfulness to me.