Encouragement

BY Josh Vestal

Encouragement from Psalm 63:5-6

As I stood in my back yard the other night and watched the leaves of my giant oak tree graciously fall to the ground, I began to meditate upon God’s kind affection towards me. As I stood there contemplating the love of Christ and His work of redemption, I nearly became overwhelmed. There are many passages in the Bible that exhort us to devote time to God in praise. As a lover of the Psalms, I want to highlight one that is precious to me. I believe we should be able to relate with David when he offered the words of praise, “My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches” (Ps. 63:5-6, KJV).

There is something special about those moments we spend in reflection of our great God. The bed is a place of rest—not only literally for our physical bodies, but also figuratively for our soul. Just as our bodies require rest to continue to function efficiently, so does our spirit. The night is, for many of us, a time for rest (if our kids cooperate). It symbolizes a time of silence and relaxation; it is a time we can use to reflect upon our day, ponder our thoughts, and clear our minds. It is also a time wherein we can have precious communion with Christ, who is our rest. With that being said, do not think that such communion with God is exclusively found in the night. Elsewhere the psalmist states, “the darkness and the light are both alike to thee” (Ps. 139:12). The emphasis here should be placed on remembrance and meditation, not the time of day.

            Christian’s should take this verse to heart. Many of us have grown akin to praying a small prayer before going to sleep, perhaps with our kids or spouse. That is awesome. I encourage that. I believe that God honors that. But I plead with you, do not let that be the only thing you know of personal communion with God. Let us draw inspiration from the words of David in this psalm. I mentioned earlier that I shared some precious moments with God the other night as I watched leaves fall from my tree. When I behold God’s beautiful creation, my adoration for Him intensifies. It doesn’t matter if it is the observing of the tiny hummingbird and the speed with which he flaps his wings, or the beautiful fog rising upon the Appalachian Mountains. The God of heaven has stamped His name on His creation, and for this He deserves worship. He deserves adoration. He deserves to be the object of our meditation.

This may just be a small example from my life, but I believe it withstands the scrutiny of Scripture to make this point: find time in the day to get alone with God to think about what He has done for you and to meditate upon who He is. Commune with Him and do it often. Do all for His glory. He will truly satiate your weary soul. He has been gracious and merciful to us in ways that we can’t even conceive. Let us praise Him. It doesn’t matter if it is at dawn or dusk. It doesn’t matter if our head is resting upon a pillow, or if we are driving to work after we’ve dropped our kids off. He is there waiting to be adored.

            We do live in a busy time. We have children and spouses to care for, occupations, schoolwork, pets, and many other commitments to attend to; however, we must never let these priorities triumph our ultimate priority and chief end: to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. This is why we were made—to worship Him who died to set us free from the condemnation of sin. Lack of time or opportunity is not a viable excuse. We all have time we can dedicate to prayer and meditation. “Praise the Lord,” “Bless His Name,” and “Thank You, Jesus” are short phrases of thanks and adoration. Pepper them throughout your day. Keep Christ on your mind.

What do we have to remember and meditate about? Much. I tend to be a very gospel minded person. It doesn’t matter what the subject is. I always seem to sprint directly toward the cross. If we are talking about the beauty of creation, I naturally begin to think about Christ coming into the very world that He created, carrying His instrument of death that He created, and dying on the hill that He created. If we are talking about the Bible, I naturally begin to think of how God chose the written word to be the medium through which He reveals the Gospel of His Son. When I think of the blessed hope of the Lord’s appearing, I realize that without His death and resurrection there would be no such hope. David declares that He will meditate upon God simply because God is his help (v.7). He is your help, too. The list has no end.

I present this brief entry as an encouragement to be about the business of worshipping and meditating upon our blessed God. As I write this, I am mindful of the lyrics of the old Bill Gaither song. Let them bless you today:

Since I met this blessed Saviour

Since He’s cleansed and made me whole

Oh, I will never cease to praise Him

I’ll shout it while eternity rolls