Third Presbyterian Sunday Morning Bible Study - June 27, 2021

Below is the Bible Study written by Jim Rudiger for his Sunday School Class which meets at Third Presbyterian Church, Norfolk, Virginia. It's based on Psalm 63:1-11.

For your next vacation, how would you like to stay in the wilderness?  Maybe we need to define what a wilderness is.  What is it anyway?  A wild place.  A place where there are no people.  A desolate place.  Short on the necessities of life; food and water.  Not very appealing spot for a vacation.  I guess a wilderness is like beauty - it’s in the eye of the beholder.  Actually, I consider a wilderness to be like the Peaks of Otter Lodge - no TV, no phones, not even a clock.  That’s really roughing it.  One of the primary requirements for me in living in a wilderness is that there has to be a Cracker Barrel close by.

Do you remember about ten years ago, those Chilean miners who were trapped in a mind for nearly three months?  Taking our definition of a wilderness, do you think where those Chilean miners spent nearly three months qualifies as a wilderness?  A mine isn’t made for people.  It sure is desolate.  Definitely short on the necessities.  Add to that, being a half a mile down in the earth.  No sun light.  No sounds.  How do you think you would have made out down there?  Not as well as those guys.  

Several years ago, Jackie and I took our seven year old granddaughter to the Luray Caverns. After the guide gave the history of the caverns, he took us down into the first cave.  Without saying anything to us, he turned out the lights and we were thrown into absolute darkness.  I felt my granddaughter start to shake.  Then, she let out a scream that broke the sound barrier.  And that was the end of our educational introduction to caves. 

Those Chilean miners were able to look objectively at where they were and determine what it would take to survive. One thing their ordeal did was to challenge all of us to consider what it meant to be isolated and away from people and things we depend on.  In today’s study we see how the writer of the psalm dealt with being forced into a wilderness and what strengths he drew on. 

Again, our Psalm of the day was written by David and he included an introduction.  This introduction  helps us to know what David was responding to when he sat down to write this psalm.  He wrote: “A song of David when he was in the Wilderness of Judah.”  This wasn't David the young shepherd boy.   We find out in verse eleven that he was the king when he wrote this song.  So, an older, wiser David was dealing with adult problems. 

Alright, we know David wrote the Psalm and he was the king at that time.  What else does David tell us?  He is in the wilderness.  So how did a nice guy like King David find himself in a such a mess?  Based on what many theologians believe, the following is the whole story of how David ended up in a wilderness.

David had many wives and as a result, a lot of kids.  His first born was a guy named Amnon who was in line to be king when David died.  The next son in line was named Absalom whose mother was a different wife.  Absalom had a beautiful sister named Tamar.  Now, Tamar was some looker.  She made Catherine Zeta-Jones look like Phyllis Diller.  Her half brother, Amnon - the guy who is in line to be king - just couldn’t get Tamar out of his mind. Every time she came around, his eyes glazed over.  He finally decided that he just had to have her.  He came up with a plan.  He’d pretended to be sick and told his Dad, David, he needed some tender loving care.  He convinced David to have Tamar come over to his house and make some meals for him.  He assured David that Tamar’s cooking was just the thing needed for him to beat his sickness.

Tamar came over and fixed Amnon a big pile of chicken and dumplings.  Amnon said he could hardly wait to start gobbling up them dumplings, but, unfortunately he was too weak to lift the spoon to his mouth.  Would Tamar please come over and feed him so he could get well?  At first Tamar said no, but he wore her down with his pleas and she brought a big mess of dumplings over and sat by the bed.  No sooner had she sat down, than Amnon grabbed her and pulled her into the bed.  She begged him to let her go, but, Amnon’s testosterone was in high gear.  And he raped his half sister.  

When it was over, Tamar was crying because she had been a virgin.  Now, even though it wasn’t her fault, she was now considered damaged goods.  In those days a woman was expected to be a virgin when she married.  If she wasn’t, the chances of getting a good husband was practically zero.  Amnon, because he felt guilty or just because his lust had been satisfied, kicked Tamar out of his house and locked the door.  In those days girls wore special clothing to let people know that they were virgins.  Tamar tore up her special virgin clothing and, weeping, headed down the street.  She had no place to go.  She staggered down the street until she came to Absalom’s house.  She knocked on the door and Absalom opened the door.  Now, Absalom knew about Amnon requesting Tamar to come to his house and make supper for him.  And now here was Tamar crying and her virgin clothes are torn.  He puts two and two together and asks Tamar if Amnon had assaulted her.  Tamar said, "Yes!"  Absalom goes ballistic and rushes to tell David.  When David hears what happened he becomes angry, but, he doesn’t promise to do anything to Amnon.  Now, this brings up a big question.  Why wouldn’t David punish Amnon?

Amnon was his favorite, the son who would replace him on the throne and David loved him.  Maybe David remembered that he hadn’t acted very well when he had Bathsheba’s husband killed so he could marry her.  Maybe as he became older he indulged his boys.  Anyway, Absalom was ticked off that David didn’t take some kind of action, but, he didn’t say anything - neither to David or Amnon.  Instead he started to plotting how he could kill Amnon.

When things had died down, Absalom throws a big party to celebrate the shearing of his sheep.  The party was held outside of Jerusalem.  He invites his brothers and asks David to come too.  David said he needed to stay in Jerusalem, so, Absalom asks that David’s second in command, Amnon, be sent to represent David.  David agrees.  Absalom’s plan was to get Amnon drunk and then have his servants kill him.  The plan works and Amnon is killed.  When the other brothers hear what had happen to Amnon, they run as fast as they can back to Jerusalem probably fearing that Absalom will get rid of them too.

Word of the assassination gets back to Jerusalem and David’s nephew tells him that Amnon, his favorite son, is dead.  In the mean time Absalom flees as far from David as possible in case David will retaliate and have him killed.  Back then, rape was bad, but, murder was worst.  After David got over Amnon’s murder, he was convinced that it was in the best interest of the kingdom that Absalom come back, after all, Absalom is now the heir apparent.  Finally David tells Absalom to come home.

During the next four years, Absalom schemes to diminish David’s authority with the people.  When people would come to the gate to have David hear their complaints, Absalom would meet them and tell them David had better things to do than to listen to them.  He would add that if he were king, everybody would be able to see him.  These kind of things went on until nearly all of the people were on Absalom’s side.  To be honest, Absalom was quite a good looking guy and just oozed charisma, so, the people were naturally attracted to him.  He amasses an army and heads to Jerusalem to overthrow David.  David is warned and takes the troops still loyal to him and flees to the wilderness.  And that is where he writes this psalm.  As we go through the verses you can see how these events were heavy on David’s mind and influenced what he wrote.

Psalm 63:1 O God, you are my God, 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.  2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.

David is lonely.  Who wouldn’t be?  His whole world had come crashing down.  He looks back on what has been happening and he wonders why God hasn’t done something about it.  What has been happening to David?   His daughter is raped by his son.  His favorite son.  That son is murdered by another son.  The son who is a murderer undermines his authority among the people and has led a revolt against his father.  I would say that David had a dysfunctional family, wouldn’t you?  When we look at what happened it doesn’t look like either son was fit to follow in David’s shoes.  When we first meet Absalom, he is a sympathetic guy.  He wants to avenge a terrible thing that has happened to his sister.  That’s a good thing.  But, now we have to wonder about Absalom’s motivation.  Killing Amnon put him next in line for King of Israel.  When David takes him back it is with the understanding that he will be the next king.  Absalom’s problem was that he didn’t want to wait for David to die.  He wanted to be king now.  Maybe his desire to be king is really the reason he killed Amnon not outrage at what had happened to Tamar.

The psalm says that David craved for God’s presence.  Do you ever crave for something?  I wake up in the morning and head to the kitchen to turn on the coffee maker.  Why?  Because I crave a cup of coffee.  Ever have to stay up for a long time?  I force myself to stay up for the end of the Oriole's game which may be after midnight. I gets so tired that I crave sleep.  In fact I ache because I’m so tired.  Ever ache to get to bed?  That’s how David felt.  He ached to be in God’s presence again.

One of the things that those men down in that mine had to have was water.  Water is essential for life.  Have you ever been really, really thirsty?  Cutting grass in the 90̊ heat, sweating until your clothes are drenched.  Years ago I installed an air conditioner in the attic of a friend of mine during the summer.  It must have been over 120̊ in that attic.  When I finally crawled out of that attic, I had lost 15 pounds - all water weight.  That’s nearly two gallons of water.  Dehydration can make us become disoriented or even hallucinating.  David writes that he feels the same way when God isn’t there with him.  Without God he was disoriented and confused.  For David God was as necessary to him as water is to his life.  Spiritually, David was all dried out and needed God to quench his spiritual thirst.

David remembered back to when he used to go to the Temple.  He didn’t have that thirst then because God was there in his sanctuary only a few feet away.  When things look bad, does it help to remember back to better times?  When someone you love dies, it is comforting to remember back to times when they weren’t sick or when there was joy and good times.  David draws upon those good times back in the Temple to help him now.  He lifts his eyes from the troubles he is facing now to the times when he saw God’s power and glory on display in the Temple.

Psalm 63:3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.  4 So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name.

David says that God’s steadfast love is better than what?  Life itself.  That’s hard for us to accept.  We tend to feel that life comes first.  After all, everything depends on our having life in the first place.  No life.  No impact on this world.  The Greeks philosophers felt that way.  So do the some religions.  David seems to be saying that faith in God’s love is more valuable than the gift of life we got from God.  Martyrs were and are willing to give up their lives rather than deny Christ.  They value God more than their own life.  Isn’t this what David is talking about?  You see, it isn’t about our wishes or even our needs.  It is about God.  And God is praised not because we will get something from doing it.  He isn’t praised because it is in our own self-interest.  God is praised because - he is God.  As Christians, we have Jesus’ words in Gethsemane supporting this idea when he said, “Not what I want but what you want....your will be done.”

What will be used to praise God?  My lips - a personal part of me - will praise God.  That’s what it is - a very personal thing.  David says he is a person.  He counts.  he does this knowing what he is doing.  You see, we are not just a government statistic or clouded texter on Face Book.  Our lips are made in the image of God’s lips.  Just think bout that.  Yours and my lips are just like God's lips.  And it is God’s lips that speak to us.

Based on this view, David will do what for God?  Bless him. When somebody sneezes we say what?  Bless you.  Are you really blessing that person?  In the biblical sense, what does it mean to bless someone?  Two body parts are used in a blessing.  Our lips - lips wish that the goodness God be with them.   Our hands - placed on the head of the other person as a way of connecting physically with the person.  So, picture this.  David is saying that he is going to praise God and at the same time put his hand on God’s head.  Would you have the guts enough to put your hands on God’s head?  David can dare to do this because he is dealing with a God of steadfast love. 

Psalm 63:5 My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast, and my mouth praises you with joyful lips  6 when I think of you in my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;  7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.  8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

David has dealt with the real thirst he is feeling out there in that wilderness.  Now he deals with another thing out there with him - hunger.  Even though his stomach is rolling and gurgling from hunger, he has put that aside and feels as satisfied as if he had been to the buffet at Golden Coral.  Not many of us has felt real hunger.  Remember the pictures of the people freed from the concentration camps after World War Two.  Nothing but skin and bones.  Even though the poverty rate is suppose to be going up, we are getting fatter and fatter each year.  The only hunger I feel is not stuffing something in my mouth every hour on the hour.  David ends the thought by saying that the lips that open to let in food are the same lips that praise God.  In other words them lips ain’t there just to fill our tummies.  Every once and while, stop eating and praise the one who has provided the food.

David remembers back to how he meditated when he went to bed at night.  In David’s day, night time was a scary thing.  Things went bump in the night.  It was at night that all kind of demons crept out of that wilderness right into the tent.  Don’t you remember as a kid laying in bed and every squeaking sound was Dracula looking for a good throat.  In David’s day many times they were sharing the room with animals who were sniffing and snorting all night long.  Some wives hearing their husbands think those days are still with them.  These were  what David faced at night so he meditated.   

Ever go to bed and start thinking about what happened during the day or what you have to do when you wake up?  How do you stop all those thoughts sneaking in so that you can get some sleep?  I try to think about a movie that I saw.  Movies are a good sleep inducing thing for me because I always doze off in the middle of a movie.  I think about a quiet place where nothing is going.  David tells us how he did it.  Instead of thinking about all of his problems, and he had a lot of problems right then, he thought of all the times that God had been there for him and that he can count on God being there for him in the future.  He just dwelt on how much God’s grace and protection had meant to him.  All the bogeymen were shut out then.

David talks about being in the shadow of God’s wings.  What does this make you think of?  The song “Lifted on Eagle’s Wings.”  On the Arc of the Covenant there were cherubim with their wings stretched over their heads.  Between them was God’s mercy seat.  Maybe David is thinking about seeing the Holy of Holies and the Arc and thinks of the protection that the wings of the cherubim offered.  Maybe he was talking about the way chicks huddle under the wings of a hen when they are cold or frightened.  Isn’t that a sweet view of God?  Being there to fold us in his wings while nurturing and shielding us from the world. 

David not only craves God, but, his soul clings to God.  What does it mean to cling to something?  Hard to let go.  Seems to imply that it goes on regardless of what comes up.   His body craves God and now his soul clings to God.  He is with God body and soul.  Everything about him, his whole body, is in relationship with God.  Which hand does God use to uphold David?  Right hand.  Why right hand?  The right hand was the hand that would hold the sword so it was considered a symbol of strength. What David is saying is that by clinging to God, God is there to protect him and give him strength.

Psalm 63:9 But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth;  10 They shall be given over to the power of the sword, they shall be prey for jackals.

What is going to happen to David’s enemies?  Go down in the depths of the earth.  Be cut up by swords.  Food for jackals.  David is pretty sure that this is what will happen to his enemies.  What does he mean when he speaks of them going down in the depths of the earth?  Where is hell?  In the depths of the earth.  David is saying his enemies are going to hell in a hand basket.  And it won’t be a pleasant departure from this world.  They are going to violently meet their end.  And when they are dead what happens to their bodies?  Jackals will eat them.  This would be the final humiliation.  They won’t even get to be buried.  There will be no honor or permanent recognition of their time on earth.  Just bones drying in the hot sun.

Psalm 63:11 But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

Who is the king?  David.  David is in a bad way, but, he is optimistic.  He’s going to be happy once again and he will know that it was God who made it happen.  All the men who sided with David and followed him out into the wilderness will get their reward, too.  They are going share in the fruits of the kingdom.  Who was the chief liar?  Absalom.  David sees the death of is son, Absalom.

What happened after David wrote this psalm?  Absalom while riding on a mule through the woods on his way to a battle against David, get’s his head tangled in the branches of a tree.  The mule runs off leaving Absalom to be hung by the branches of that tree.  With the death of Absalom, David wins and returned to Jerusalem.

All right, how many want to dive into the dry pool at the Wilderness Holiday Inn?  Or would you prefer an empty water glass as you sit overlooking the sand and scrub bushes?  David went into the wilderness and found a refuge there in God.  That gives us hope that in the wildernesses that come into our life, no matter how bleak things look, God can be found there.  We just need to look for him

Prayer: Lord, teach me simply to be in your presence whether it is in the comfort of my home or in the world’s wilderness.  Amen.