The 3rd Sunday of Lent, March 20th, 2022: Sermon – “Even and still in a dry and weary land!” (Please read Isaiah 55; I Corinthians 10: 1-13; Luke 13: 1-8 & Psalm 63)
Today’s readings for Lent are all taken from the Revised Common Lectionary. In some way or another, all the passages we look at here have, at their heart, the issue of turning to God – of seeking or thirsting for God, perhaps for the first… or (even) for the “millionth” time; the benefits of turning to God in repentance… and the warnings for those (believers and non-believers alike) who do not or will not do so. 6 Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.7 Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
As we alluded to last week, Scripture speaks of many encounters between the Lord and His people and how these often take place in the desert wilderness. Our Lord Jesus Christ also went through a wilderness experience, and He showed us how to pass through that testing successfully.
Even before he became king, David knew what it was like to be on the run – when Saul, his former friend (then an angry and jealous despot) sought to end his life. Now an older man, David again finds himself in the wilderness of Judah. How ironic it is that, in this barren place David, now an older king is once more a fugitive, this time from his own son. How ironic that David can still write of the comfort and assurance of God’s presence even in these difficult circumstances (Psalm 63). In every sense, he found himself in a dry and weary land. He was in the wilderness in a literal and a spiritual sense. We too can feel battered by conflicts and our thirst for God can be as great as any thirst for water. Without God we will die!
David did not start out in the wilderness, nor did he end up in the wilderness. Any person who longs for God will (sooner or later) have to take a walk on the wilderness-side…when they feel separated from God like children separated from their parents…when they feel frightened and angry, longing for the parent to come back. Many things can create in us that sense of separation from God. We have all experienced it.
David didn’t always experience closeness to God any more than we do. This separation can be the result of a loss or a crisis in our lives; we feel forgotten by God or not cared for. Our sin and failure causes us to struggle with the thought (sometimes) that God might condemn or reject us. It might come from being removed from close fellowship.
What shall we do in dry times? What will help? David points the way.
1. It will help to remember where to look:
1O 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.
David was determined, much like Job (who faced many a trial) that, no matter what happened; that he would remain faithful to his God. 1O God, you are my God! This is no reflexive and irreverent OMG! He knows God. This is his God, not someone else’s’. Earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you just as I might seek water to slake my thirst in a dry and weary land. David knows where to look. Wherever David is, wherever he finds himself, he will look determinedly for His God. Even though David is not in the place where he would prefer to be (in the sanctuary), his God is right there. 2So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. He will look to his God first, wherever he is…
The pandemic prevented many of us from being in the company of fellow believers. But many of us found the LORD right where we were, if only we looked. These continue to be difficult and challenging times in the world. Many of you, I well know, are going through wilderness experiences now. Imagine being there with no God! Perhaps now, more than ever before, we have to learn to depend on God for all we need materially, emotionally, physically as well as spiritually.
3Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. David’s life does not consist of the things he possessed. The LORD is his possession, his portion, his praise and the cause of his praise. David will bless the LORD. Can we praise the LORD in the wilderness?
4So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.
5My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you…
The temptation will be to backslide in your heart and return to find your life in the world, to look there. God warns us against having an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Jesus said the final withering word on turning to God. But unless you repent, you too will all perish. David is determined he will not do that. Wherever he is, David will worship, he will seek God. “Praise doesn’t come easy when we’re struggling with a problem. But magnifying the Lord while we’re in the middle of a muddle is an important aspect of praise.” (Yoder, ODB) Praising God is not optional.
2. It will help to remember the goodness of God:
I believe David had come to this place in his relationship with God. While in the wilderness fleeing from the army of his rebellious son, he said to the Lord, “My lips shall praise You” (Ps 63: 3)
6when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; 7for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
Let’s be careful not to ignore or forget God. In ways large and small, let’s keep Him in our thoughts moment by moment. We do that by reading the inspired writings He has given us; by spending time in prayer and listening for His still, small voice; by thinking about and entering into His presence. Someone said, “You are what you think” and there is much truth in that. The long watches of the night can sometimes seem endless. Pain can steal our peace. We are vulnerable and lonely in that wilderness. Worries can haunt us. The enemy can taunt the people of God. Your peace will be assaulted by all kinds of negative emotions and thoughts, which you will need to resist. It’s a test, but God has promised that you will never be tempted beyond your ability to endure, with each temptation He will also make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it
During your wilderness experience, the familiar comforts of the world will elude you for a while. You have to learn to depend on God for all you need.
Rather than panic, rather than focus on all the nagging problems, it will help for him to remember the unfailing goodness of God. I know it sounds trite but I often think that, instead of counting sheep we should talk to the shepherd instead. David will remember on his bed that God has been his help. He always has been. He always will be. It will help for him to picture God as the nurturing eagle (Psalm 91:4) or Jesus as the mother hen, gathering and protecting her chicks. It will help to remember God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble. 8My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
It will help to praise and pray. It will help to sing in the shadow of God’s wings. How often the Spirit will give us a song in the night to encourage and strengthen us.
3. It will help to remember (as my mother told me), this too will pass!
“This too will pass!” It always made me angry when my mother said this, but she was right, of course! You will rejoice!
9But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth;10they shall be given over to the power of the sword; they shall be a portion for jackals.11But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped (Verses 9-1).
Dare we say to the people of Ukraine…this too will pass?! Weariness, we dare to say, will end with the sound of rejoicing and exulting in God. A friend recently reminded me of a quote by Dale Carnegie who said, “Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.” (And all is well!) It will help to know that in the end all will be well. 12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever.”
4. It will help to remember the Cross of Jesus:
It will help to remember how Jesus experienced his Father abandoning him… when he cried the cry of dereliction form the Cross. It will help to hear these words:
Beneath the cross of Jesus, I fain would take my stand – the shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land – a home within a wilderness, a rest upon the way, from the burning of the noon-tide heat and the burden of the day.
Are you in the wilderness? A long time ago, Augustine, being one of the early church fathers, said “Our souls are restless till they find their rest in God.” How true indeed!
We need God...desperately. We need the Lord Jesus. God is more than able to meet all our physical needs and more importantly- our spiritual ones.
So, Seek the Lord while He may be found. There is always help if we remember where to go and praise God even in the desert; if we refuse to worry and remember God’s kindness throughout our lives…to trace the rainbow through the rain; it will help to remember (believe) that the dawn will break after the dark; if we leave the future in God’s hands; it will help to remember the Cross and take it for our abiding place. An abundance of reasons exist that ought to lead one to seek after God, to turn to Him - no less the promise of James 4:8 that says ‘Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” .