Healing Streams - October 2022

Lectio Divina - Psalm 63.

“There are three types of people in any Christian gathering. There are those who are Christians in name only. They seem to be following after God and Jesus Christ and say they are, but theirs is a false following, like that of the five foolish virgins who did not truly know the Lord and were rejected by him. The second class are those who are following Jesus but are following “at a distance,” like Peter at the time of Jesus’ arrest. The third type are those who, as Murdoch Campbell suggests, “in storm and sunshine, cleave to him and enjoy daily communion with him.” These people want God, and they want him intensely, because they know that he and he alone will satisfy the deep longing of their souls. David was a person who desired God above everything else, and Psalm 63 is a classic expression of this longing.” (James Montgomery Boice).

BACKGROUND: This is a Psalm of the Desert: - A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.

There were only two periods in David’s life this can apply to, either (1) when he was in the wilderness early in his life fleeing from King Saul or (2) later when he was in the wilderness fleeing from his son Absalom. The second must be the case here, because in v 11 David refers to himself as “the king,” and he was not yet king when he was fleeing from Saul.

Absalom’s rebellion broke David’s heart! see 2 Samuel 15–19. Absalom was estranged from his father because he felt that David had mistreated him. He spent four years doing his utmost to win over the hearts of the people of Israel, and when he thought he was ready he set up a rival kingship in the nearby city of Hebron. David feared an attack on Jerusalem and fled the city with those who remained loyal to him. From a military standpoint Absalom should have attacked David at once, while he was still off balance and unable to resist an assault. But God caused Absalom to listen to counselors who advised delay, and by the time the battle finally came, David was ready, and Absalom’s army was defeated. Twenty thousand men died in that battle, along with Absalom himself, who was caught in a tree while fleeing on a mule and was slain by Joab.

David’s lament is heartbreaking - “The king was overcome with emotion. He went up to the room over the gateway and burst into tears. And as he went, he cried, “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you! O Absalom, my son, my son.”(2 Sam 18:33).

THE METAPHOR OF THE DESERT AND HEALING STREAMS:

The desert, is the place of wilderness, a place that conjures up images of abandonment, isolation, exposure to cruel and relentlessly harsh elements, discomfort

the word “desert” stems from the Latin “deserere,” meaning “to leave, forsake” — and so it came to be regarded as the equivalent of being abandoned and homeless and vulnerable like Hagar in the desert after being cast out by Sarah or the Jews in ther desert after leaving Egypt or Elijah in the wilderness being fed by ravens; or Jesus in the desert where he was tempted by the Devil or Paul in the desert of Arabia after he was converted and sent away from Jerussalem by the Apostles.

But even in the desert, though it is the case that things are deserate, God has not abandoned His people - He provides for Hagar and Elijah; the Jews and Jesus! He hears the “boy crying ... and God opened [Hagar’s] eyes and she saw a well of water” (Gen. 21:17, 19). He sends manna from heaven and breaks rocks to feed the Jews in the Wilderness. He sends ravens to feed Elijah and He sends “angels” to attend to Jesus needs at the end of the temptation period(Matt 4:11).

The desert also serves as a metaphor for spiritual dryness and abandonment. A place where you LAMENT the loss of God’s felt presence and LONG for God’s return to your excessively dry soul!

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.(63:1).

This was David’s experience of Psalm 42:1 “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.”

He is in a spiritual desert and he is mourning the loss of God’s felt presence - “My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 4 These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng.”(Psalm 42: 2-4).

BUT in such a condition, he resolves to direct his “downcast…soul” to God - “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and 6 my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. 7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. 8 By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life. 9 I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?” 10 My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 11 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”(Psalm 42:6-11).

Healing Streams is our retreat to provide us with space to re-encounter God. To take outselves off the the quiet place to refresh our souls in God - it is a provision of streams in the desert!

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.(Isa 43:19).

The desert does not always have to be a barren place where bad things happen. GOOD THINGS COME FROM THE DESSERT!

Hagar was rescued and provided for by God in the desert. The Jews were formed spiritually in the desert; Elijah was taught how to trust God there; Jesus overcame temptation in the desert and Paul was taught by the Spirit in the desert!

Commenting on Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, Walter Brueggeman, and Eugene Peterson wrote: “The wilderness gives Jesus strength. It is not simply a place of negation or temptation. It is also a place of preparation and perception, absent of human power structures and controls, a wild place where supernatural forces move unfettered — a place that can empower, depending upon how the experience is handled. Our wildernesses and deserts are not our endings. It is the Spirit of God who leads us about in them. They are our opportunities.”

So if you are experiencing THE DESERT today, don’t despair - God can turn your desert into a fruitful field(Isa 32:15-20).

Opportunities, though, can be taken — or they can be left.

Deserts can be places where we moan and complain or places where we once again rediscover the glory of God. David would not allow the desert to overcome His faith, He resolved to find his consolation in God regardless of the challenge He faced!

St Patrick experiened great challenges and trials during his efforts to convert the Irish and throught he many trials, he constructed a prayer of determination which we call, Patrick’s Breastplate.

It comes from a compilation entitled “Liber Hymnorum” which gives this account of how Saint Patrick used this prayer: “Saint Patrick sang this when an ambush was laid against his coming by Loegaire, that he might not go to Tara to sow the faith. And then it appeared before those lying in ambush that they (Saint Patrick and his monks) were wild deer with a fawn following them.”

The description concludes "fáeth fiada a hainm", which was interpreted as "Deer's Cry" but can also be translated in Old Irish fáeth fiada as a "mist of concealment".

I bind unto myself today The strong Name of the Trinity, By invocation of the same, The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this day to me for ever. By power of faith, Christ's incarnation; His baptism in the Jordan river; His death on Cross for my salvation; His bursting from the spicèd tomb; His riding up the heavenly way; His coming at the day of doom;* I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power Of the great love of the cherubim; The sweet 'well done' in judgment hour, The service of the seraphim, Confessors' faith, Apostles' word, The Patriarchs' prayers, the Prophets' scrolls, All good deeds done unto the Lord, And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today The virtues of the starlit heaven, The glorious sun's life-giving ray, The whiteness of the moon at even, The flashing of the lightning free, The whirling wind's tempestuous shocks, The stable earth, the deep salt sea, Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today The power of God to hold and lead, His eye to watch, His might to stay, His ear to hearken to my need. The wisdom of my God to teach, His hand to guide, His shield to ward, The word of God to give me speech, His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin, The vice that gives temptation force, The natural lusts that war within, The hostile men that mar my course; Or few or many, far or nigh, In every place and in all hours, Against their fierce hostility, I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan's spells and wiles, Against false words of heresy, Against the knowledge that defiles, Against the heart's idolatry, Against the wizard's evil craft, Against the death wound and the burning, The choking wave and the poisoned shaft, Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me. Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name, The strong Name of the Trinity; By invocation of the same. The Three in One, and One in Three, Of Whom all nature hath creation, Eternal Father, Spirit, Word: Praise to the Lord of my salvation, Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

When you are in spiritual dryness; in a wilderness of suffering or fearing the abandonment of God, don;t fear or fret that God has finally forsaken you, see it as an opportunity to GROWN and MATURE spiritually

“Many praise and bless Jesus as long as they receive some consolation from Him, but if He hide Himself and leave them for a little while, they fall either into complaining or into excessive dejection.” ― St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul

God does not want to praise Him just because He blesses us; He wants us to learn to praise Him even when He doesn;t appear to bless us! When its tough and difficult to beleive. God does not want us to LOVE Him just because He saves us but because He is worthy of our love and praise!

The DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL serves then to offer us PURGATION, ILLUMINATION and UNITY. An opportunity to deal with sin by PURGING the flesh in order to become more detached from the World and more holy unto God; an opportunity to DISCOVER GOD through the ILLUMINATION of the Spirit in a new way; to learn His Word and to worship in a new way; drawing us into a DEEPER UNITY with God and with His people!

“Thus the soul goes forth out of itself, away from all created things, to the sweet and delightsome union of the love of God, “in darkness and in safety.” ― St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul

Let the desert be your place of strengthening!

Deserts can be places where we fall into temptation and don’t get out. Or they can be places where we seek God to overcome the temptations we face.

Deserts can be places where we despair, thinking we’re on our own, that God has left us. Or they can be places where we realize God is making us — refining us in the Spirit’s fire — into the people he created us to be.

Last Sunday, Andy quoted this from Dallas Willard: “The greatest issue facing the world today, with all its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who, by profession or culture, are identified as ‘Christians’ will become disciples – students, apprentices, practitioners – of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from him how to live the life of the Kingdom of the Heavens into every corner of human existence.” ~ Dallas Willard

The last part of the quote gripped me with fresh power - “how to live the life of the Kingdom of the Heavens into every corner of human existence.” ~ Dallas Willard

Part of the reason that we go through the desert is to learn “how to live the life of the Kingdom of the Heavens into every corner of human existence.”

We learn how to OPEN OURSELVES UP to God into every corner of our own existence so that we can LEARN HOW TO BRING THE KINGDOM OF GOD into “every corner of human existence.” Where people are hurting and desolate; where people are poor and hopeless; harrassed and helpless’ LOST and LONELY, “without God and without hope in the world”(Eph 2:12).

Today, I invite you to allow God to search out your heart so that you “will become disciples – students, apprentices, practitioners – of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from him how to live the life of the Kingdom of the Heavens into every corner of human existence.”

PRAYER:

Be with JESUS CANTICLE

CENTERING PRAYER