Episode 1526: My Soul Clings

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 1526 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:00:11] James Belt: I'm James Belt. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence, and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to learn, to spread real hope and help for poverty is key, and one to be inspired to do that is to listen to this.

[00:00:34] The Inspired Stewardship Podcast with my friend, Scott Maderer.

[00:00:47] Scott Maderer: By the community that we find ourselves in at any moment and time, those things are moments that we have to hold and meditate on in the night. [00:01:00] In remembering those things, that is the memories that call us back out of the wilderness.

[00:01:09] Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself Invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:42] In today's Spiritual Foundation episode, I talk about Psalm 63 verses 1 through 8. I talk about how in times where we find ourselves in the wilderness, we long for relationship with God. And I also share how meditating in memory is part of the invitation to community. [00:02:00] Psalm 63 verses 1 through 8 says, O God, you are my God.

[00:02:05] 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. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love 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 and call on your name.

[00:02:29] My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast, and my mouth praises you with joyful lips. When I think of you on my bed and meditate on you in the watches of the night. 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. This psalm, Psalm 63, carries a note on it that it is a psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judea.

[00:02:57] The truth is, David spent a lot of time in the wilderness, [00:03:00] so it's not really clear exactly when this psalm was written or what time period it's referring to. We don't know exactly what was going on or what was going through David's mind, but there are a couple of times when David fled to the wilderness of Judea in particular.

[00:03:18] The first time was when he was young and somehow he fell into and then out of favor in the palace. He sang soothing songs to calm King Saul's moods but then he had to run for his life because that king now wanted him dead and he was in the wilderness running for his life. Later, when David himself was king, he fled into the wilderness when his son, Absalom, attempted an insurrection, wanting to be king in his father's place.

[00:03:48] And David fled for protection while his generals sorted out this battle. Then he wept for his son, who wanted him dead. And it was not a happy place, this wilderness. Wasn't a happy place [00:04:00] for David, nor for kings, nor for fathers, nor sons. And yet look again at this psalm, there is hunger and there is thirst.

[00:04:10] Yes, that is true, but there's also a longing for the presence that is just as real as the longing for food and water. If you think about it, if I was trapped in the wilderness, my first concern would be food, water, warmth, substance, these things. But what David says here is no, there's a deeper hunger, a deeper thirst, and it's for God.

[00:04:34] He is fainting for God's presence. He's driven to see not to his own safety, not to his own revival, but to see instead the face of God. Oh God, you are my God and I seek you. Underneath that need, underneath the hunger and the thirst, underneath the wandering and the wilderness, underneath the doubt and the fear and the struggle and the [00:05:00] pain, there is still confidence and certainty.

[00:05:03] I have looked upon you in the sanctuary. It says I have not, I will, or I want to, or would you let me, but I have, you have been my help there. There's a memory here, a connection, a relationship that is sustaining. That's what he's doing in the watches of the night. He's not despairing. He's not doubting.

[00:05:25] He's not fearing. He's not letting the wilderness swallow him up the emptiness of the room echo in his soul. No, he's remembering. I will meditate you on you in the watches of the night. This isn't meditation in terms of what we think about nowadays when we talk about meditation, but it's rather. Memory.

[00:05:47] Thinking. Remembering. Thinking on. Concentrating on. That moment that we can think about a verse, or a moment, or a prayer, or a breath, [00:06:00] or a memory of joyful times. A connection. An intimacy. A healing. A shared love. When we hold it like a jewel and remember it from every angle, letting the light of understanding come through it.

[00:06:15] That is that moment of presence and comfort that we're talking about here. I'll remember the moments when you felt close, when we were one, when I was there with you. And now, even though I feel separated from you now, even though I feel like I'm in darkness and in a wilderness time, I'll still let that moment fill me with love and hope and joy.

[00:06:39] It doesn't mean I won't take action. It doesn't mean I won't do something, but I'll let that moment fill me with hope and joy because that moment of relationship and connection defines me more than this moment where I feel alone, togetherness, union, community. These things are what [00:07:00] I long for.

[00:07:02] And then that darkness of the night is not the absence of God, but rather the shadow of God's healing wings. So even though bad things are happening, that darkness is not a place for whispers and tears and fear, but rather singing and joy. That's hard to remember sometimes when things are happening in the world that seem dark, when you see pain and hurt and suffering and mistreatment and hatred.

[00:07:29] To not answer that back with hatred in turn, but to say, no, we have to answer this with love and caring and comfort. I find that really hard. I find moments where my mind is dark, where I am trying to turn towards depression and fear, and I have to grasp those moments and those memories of joy and hold on to that community because God is always in community.

[00:07:56] God himself, we experience God, [00:08:00] is a Trinitarian being. God the creator, God the redeemer, God the sustainer. Or said another way, God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Spirit. Those terms are always plural. There's always community. And that experience of God is shaped by community. By the community we live in, by the community we grow in, by the community that we find ourselves in at any moment in time.

[00:08:29] Those things are moments that we have to hold and meditate on in the night. In remembering those things, that is the memories that call us back out of the wilderness in to community. Thanks for listening.

[00:08:53] Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast as a subscriber and listener, we [00:09:00] challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen. But act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor. Go over to Facebook. com slash Inspired Stewardship and like our Facebook page and mark it That you'd like to get notifications from us so that we can connect with you on Facebook and make sure that we're serving you to the best of our abilities with time and tips there.

[00:09:36] Until next time, invest your time, your talent, and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.