MAKE ME LIKE A CACTUS?

 

MAY 23, 2024 

Psalm 63 is one of the most loved of the Psalms. In fact in the late 300’s AD it was ordained by the Church leaders “that no day should pass without the public singing of this Psalm.” Psalm 63 became know as “the morning hymn.”

As Part of our “Prayer Retreat”, let us read together "the morning hymn” 

Psalm 63 

1 You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.

2 I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
3 Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
4 I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

6 On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night.
7 Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.
8 I cling to you;
your right hand upholds me.

9 Those who want to kill me will be destroyed;
they will go down to the depths of the earth.
10 They will be given over to the sword
and become food for jackals.

11 But the king will rejoice in God;
all who swear by God will glory in him,
while the mouths of liars will be silenced.

MAKE ME LIKE A CACTUS?

During David’s reign, his son, Absalom, led a rebellion against him. David and his loyal followers had to flee for their lives. During that time David spent a short while in the northeastern portion of the wilderness of Judah before he crossed over the Jordan River. In that barren land, fleeing for his life from his own son, feeling disgraced and rejected, with an uncertain future, David wrote Psalm 63. The heading in my Bible for this Psalm reads A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.

Talk about a pressure filled, and difficult place. I don’t know about you but if I was in David’s situation, one thing I wouldn’t be doing is writing a song. I’d be saying “get me out of here!!” But David wrote a song, Psalm 63.

Do you have a cactus plant in your home? If you do I invite you to let this plant be your contact with Nature today. Let it represent the wilderness or dessert place of Psalm 63. The “dry and thirsty land where there is no water.”

I was at a gathering and the leader said the following: “Pray that God would help you to be like the cactus.” Huh, I thought? What is your response to that statement?

Later I did some digging and I discovered that in the Bible, the cactus is often associated with endurance, perseverance, and the ability to flourish in challenging circumstances. That's what we see in David in this Psalm. The Cactus also stands out because of its lasting nature and ability to store water. This ability symbolizes the spiritual resources, nourishment that God gives us, that sustains us even in the most dry and difficult seasons of life. Perhaps you are feeling the pressure of life, feeling overwhelmed and worried, maybe fear filled. God feels distant, and you feel dry like you are in the dessert place. Look at that Cactus.  “Pray that God would help you to be like the cactus.”

Let us spend a few moments meditating on Psalm 63 and let David’s heart for God guide you today. “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (vs 1).

What really strikes me about this Psalm is that Psalm 63 contains no petition. David expresses longing for God’s presence, praise, joy, fellowship with God, confidence in God’s salvation. But there is not one word of asking for help or deliverance or even spiritual blessings. The psalm shows us that David’s priority was to seek the Lord. Maybe that is what God is reminding us of through David, 
“Seeking God is essential!” Maybe we need to join David, the man after God’s own heart, and declare from "the morning hymn":

You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
my whole being longs for you. Amen