I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. (Psalm 63:2)
We’ve all heard the old saying — “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” In my mind, this sentiment goes hand in glove with the idea that we don’t appreciate what we have until we don’t have it. Keep in mind that David composed this psalm when he was in the Judean wilderness, cut off and isolated from most every other soul and with no sense of community — other than the discontented men who had joined him. It was in that condition that David began to “look” for the Lord in His Sanctuary. That is interesting considering that, when David wrote these words, there was no Temple yet built in Jerusalem and the Ark of the Covenant was still in exile.
Still, just as he had experienced intense physical thirst in a dry and desolate land, David’s heart longed to see the splendor of God in His Sanctuary. In a sense, God’s people were in that same scenario as it related to their national condition; they were in the desert, deprived to some degree of the only One who could quench their spiritual thirst. Thus David envisioned a day when God’s Presence would be preeminent in their nation and celebrated by the people who came to worship Him in His Sanctuary. This was, in fact, a vision; perhaps not exactly in the same way as Ezekiel or other prophets saw, but it was a vision, no less. In fact, the Hebrew root word translated as “look” is the same word most often rendered as “vision.”
The point is David’s love and devotion for the Almighty enabled him to look and see things beyond his present circumstances; I would even say, he saw things as they should be. His was a vision of the heart. Though his physical eyes took in the sand, the dust, the rocks and seemingly endless stretch of barrenness, his heart could foresee a day when God’s people would go up to the mountain of the Lord and worship Him in the beauty of holiness. And I might point out that he could see these things because, though isolated from men, God was always with him.
Likewise, you and I can plainly see the spiritual barrenness that is this present age and, at the same time, because God is with us, we are enabled to see what is to come — we can see things as they should be. So let’s not set our sights on temporal things, even when they seem to be so important to everyone else. Let’s look beyond the present and catch a vision of the resurrected Messiah, the Author and Finisher of our faith. If our eyes can truly see Him, we will be able to weather any storm that comes our way.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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