Yesterday morning I was reading my Bible when Psalm 36 just leaped out at me. And it brought a renewed perspective to what started as a rough morning up to that point. There is so much we can learn from David’s psalms. His passionate love for God just oozes out of his words. It’s easy to get lost in the beautiful pictures he paints of his intimacy with his Lord. Psalm 36 is one of those.
Now, you need to know that this psalm begins as a downer about the “sinfulness of the wicked” v.1 – something we’re not oblivious to these days. But David quickly adjusted his own perspective in v.5-6 with “Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep.”
Ahhh . . . (anyone else hearing Third Day in your head all of a sudden?)
Then as He continues, my smile gets even wider:
“They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; And You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light” (v.8-9). I stopped right there, because I suddenly felt the need to grasp what all was in “the abundance of [His] house” that I was invited to drink of. And what could possibly wash over me from “the river of [His] delights!"
I began a list – God’s majesty, beauty, grace, mercy, faithfulness, truth, love, hope, peace, compassion, joy, strength – but quickly realized that it was “too amazing for me. It is beyond my reach, and I cannot fathom it” . . . borrowing an observation from David’s 139th psalm (v.6).
Yet, He beckons us to not only “drink” – but to “drink [our] fill of the abundance.” He delights in pouring Himself out for us – as much as we can possibly handle. So much so, David calls it the “fountain of life” and the place where we find the much needed “light” in “[His] light.”
I’m more than just a little overwhelmed by these thoughts. Overwhelmed by the inconceivable “abundance” that He offers me, and overwhelmed that He so graciously chooses to offer it to me.
To me.
IF I but “drink.”
How often have I passed up on this heavenly fountain?
Then I saw in the margin of my Bible next to this passage, I had written “Psalm 43:3-4,” so I quickly flipped there:
“O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your dwelling places.
Then I will go to the altar of God,To God my exceeding joy;
And upon the lyre I shall praise You, O God, my God.”
Ahhh! As we get immersed in the “light” that our God is pouring out for us (as we first read in Psalm 36), it “leads” us to “[His] holy hill” to worship at His “altar”! His “river of delights” blesses us indeed – most lavishly. But more importantly, it compels us to the point of actually ushering us to the place of worship!
IF we but “drink.”
Struggle to worship – whether it’s at church or at home? Then you may be thirsty. Get in God’s love letter to you and “drink [your] fill.” Sit quietly. Meditate on and respond to the “light” and “truth” He reveals to you. (Don’t neglect the prodding to repent.) Bask in His presence. Ask His Spirit to lead you to the “abundance of [His] house” and the “river of [His] delights” so you can “drink” – and then drink some more. Commit to never stop drinking!
For in that place of the unspeakable “abundance” and “delights” of God and His grace is where you’ll find that which will make you an absolute unquenchable worshiper* of the Most High God.
Drink!
How would you describe the “river of [God’s] delights”? Or “the abundance of [His] house”?
*The term “unquenchable worshiper” is borrowed from the name of Matt Redman’s great book, The Unquenchable Worshipper.
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