To See God in His Sacnctuary

Have you ever read Psalm 63? You might recognize it if you heard it. I'd like to focus on the first two verses right now.

Psalm 63:1-2: "O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; my soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory."

It took me about 10 times reading this to understand what David was saying. Let's look at the context, shall we? The author is David (the one that killed the giant and becomes king, well, he's not king yet, so don't spoil the ending for him). When he wrote this, he was on the run for his life because the current king of Israel, Saul, wanted to kill David because everyone liked him more. David was running and trying to live off the land, but the land provided no resources like, I don't know, water.

So David is praying to God. The first times I saw this, I thought he was remembering the fellowship he had with God back in Jerusalem. Life was easy, comfortable, and secure. He could go to the temple anytime he liked. I thought David was saying that those were the good times - the times where he really saw God best. Then, the Spirit helped me out. (Thank You, Spirit.)

At the beginning of verse 2 is the word Thus. This means "therefore" or "because of the previously stated conditions, the following is true..." so let's reread that passage with that knowledge.


Psalm 63:1-2: "O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; my soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory."

Because the circumstances of David's life sucked so bad, because there was no way he could survive on his own, because the most valuable thing to a man (his life) was in danger, he was able to see God move in power and see His glory more than ever before. 

I connected the dots. If I want to know God more. I need suffering. I've got an easy life filled with blessing after blessing. So, my next prayer went like this: "Hey, God. I don't know if this is really happening, but I guess I'm praying for suffering. Amen" And that was that. 

Suffering came.

It was something completely new and I had no idea how to handle it, so I went to God. I asked Him for three things: contentment with not knowing the outcome of things, joy despite my remorse, and peace to know that He is God (sovereign and in control). He gave me all that and more! 

He used me as a blessing to one of my best friends. What I went through was for me and for my friend to both get to know God better! How amazing is that?! I prayed over my friend to bless Him with the peace that had been granted me. We hugged while we prayed, the best way to do laying-on of hands. By the end of the intense prayer, my whole arm was shaking, tingling, and vibrating. The Holy Spirit showed up! Right then and there, I knew my friend had been given what he was looking for, peace to know that God is God. It was an amazing experience. 

Since then, my joy has been unmatched by any experiences in my past. I have been so happy and the weather here is only a complement to my current state. Then, God used my experience that night to bless another one of my friends with wisdom.

God is so good.

"God, bring on the pain. If it means knowing you more, it's worth it. All I need is You. Amen."