Thirsting for God: Faith in Wilderness Moments

A time of trouble, a time of difficulty, a time of trial is always a testing time, and what it really does is to test where we really are and what we really have. I want to approach this this morning from that particular angle and standpoint. Times of trouble, I say, and of trial and of difficulty above everything else test our profession of the Christian faith. [00:05:41]

If you really want to know whether you're a Christian or not, the simplest way, the most direct way always is to discover what you're like when you're in trouble, when things go against you. That's the time when you really discover the value of what you believe. A time of affluence and prosperity, when the sun is shining and everything is going well, that doesn't test our profession. [00:06:17]

The immediate reaction of the believer in a time of trouble is to draw near unto God. To whom shall we go but unto thee, says the believer in the words again of the psalmist. And you will find throughout these Psalms that these men, often perplexed and in grievous positions, oh, they always turn. They're like the needle of that compass. [00:12:33]

The Christian not only instinctively turns to God in this way at such a time, he feels that he has a right to do so. He turns to God because he knows him. The Christian, you see, in perplexity doesn't get down on his knees and pray to whatsoever gods may be. That's how many do. It's a cry into empty space, as it were, a cry in the void. [00:13:38]

The psalmist, you see, and this is the wonderful thing, was more concerned about this even than he was about his circumstances. He is in a dry and thirsty land where no water is. He is surrounded by enemies. He knows that some very able men are conspiring with Absalom to bring about not only his defeat but probably his death. [00:19:53]

David used to go to the sanctuary as every godly person does because God has promised to meet with his people. And as David reminds us again in a very similar Psalm, the 84th Psalm, grace and glory, he says, are found in the house of God. That's why he wants to be there. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. [00:21:41]

The Christian, the true believer, not only believes in God, he not only prays to God, this God in whom he believes, he is a man who has experienced God. He knows God. That's the thing David is emphasizing here. He wants this personal certainty, this personal assurance, this intimation that God is still with him. [00:23:00]

Because thy loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Now here is a tremendous statement. You see, to the true believer, God's loving-kindness is the most precious thing in life. You can't qualify this statement. He makes it as an absolute statement. Because thy loving-kindness is better than life. [00:26:46]

The man of God, I say, is a man who can say quite honestly, I have never found complete satisfaction in this world as such. Never. Oh, I've been interested, I've been attracted, I've been helped, I've been moved, I've had enjoyment, but there's always been a residual longing, something in me crying out for an empyrean ether, a divine. [00:32:56]

The Christian has faced it all out, and he says life never has been able truly to satisfy me. But of course, he's gone even further than that. He has discovered that the world is mainly vain and empty at its best, at its highest. Fading is the worldling's pleasure, all his boasted pomp and show. The Christian sees through all this. [00:34:19]

The Christian is a man who has a quiet confidence in God. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. Thy right hand upholdeth me. That's the ultimate, a quiet confidence in God, knowing something of what it is to be under the shadow of his wings. [00:46:17]

Have you ever been there? Do you know what it is to feel the shadow of God's wing covering you, protecting you? Do you know that because you were his child that nothing can harm you, that the very hairs of your head are all numbered, that he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee? [00:47:00]