Seeing God in the Exile ~ Guest Post by Dr. Rochelle Delain

“I have seen You in Your sanctuary and gazed upon Your power and glory. Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise You!”  

Psalm 63:2-3

Source

Sometimes when we are going through times of great pain, adversity, and difficulty in our lives, one of our best weapons is a good memory.  Memories have power.  When present circumstances seek to rob us of our ability to see any good in our lives, engaging the mind in recollection of past blessings, victories, and positive experiences in our lives can give us great faith, hope, and love. That is, faith that our momentary troubles are not permanent, hope that with God’s help, we will prevail, and an overwhelming love for the God who has rescued us and sustained us time and time again.   

In addition, recalling the blessings of the past can give us the confidence we need to face an uncertain future with joy and courage.  It was how the adolescent David, when volunteering to fight the giant, Goliath, was able to say with confidence, “The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine.” 1 Samuel 17:37 

David was a man who loved God’s presence and rejoiced at the privilege of entering His sanctuary.  It was more than just a religious ritual to David.  It was his lifeline to the Almighty God.  In Exodus 33:20, God said to Moses’ “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live.”  Yet, in Psalm 63:2, David declared that he had seen God in His sanctuary.  How can this be?  David may not have visually seen God, but he had definitely experienced His glory and His power.  For God is a God who desires to be known by His people so much that throughout history He has provided palpable manifestations of His presence to those who are seeking Him.  

Jesus was the ultimate expression of God in human flesh.  Furthermore, no one who comes into God’s presence with an open heart and a submitted will can remain the same.  David had witnessed this power many times throughout his lifetime, not only in the sanctuary but in everyday life, particularly when facing dangerous or impossible situations.  But now David finds himself exiled in a hostile and desolate wilderness, unable to physically enter God’s tabernacle.  

Many of us are feeling this way during the current COVID-19 pandemic.  We may not be physically exiled; however, these times of waiting, social distancing, and not even being able to physically enter the sanctuary for corporate worship can certainly feel like being banished to a strange and unfamiliar land, far from all that is comfortable and familiar.  

We are told to stay home and to see it as a blessing.  We now have more time with the family and more time to refresh and renew, they say.  But as the days drag on, family members begin to get on each other’s nerves. Staying home begins to jeopardize the family finances.  Business owners wonder if they will be able to hold on. Fear and panic seem to multiply by the day.  You really miss the security and familiarity of your daily routine, and isolation and loneliness can become so overwhelming that you may feel even God has abandoned you. It is easy to see this time as a curse and give in to despair. Can you relate?  I can.

Based on his present situation, David had every reason to give in to despair.  Instead he chose to bring God’s tabernacle to him through his memories.  This was not just a passive looking back to the “good ole days” type of remembering but an active exercise in bringing to mind and meditating upon the goodness of the Lord.  

I’ll be the first to confess, this can be challenging, especially when the end of our present circumstances is nowhere in sight. Remembering the goodness of the Lord in a place of mental and emotional exile will require intentionality and perseverance. It will require guarding our hearts from the negativity of the world and choosing instead to stand on God’s Word even when we can't see His hand. It will require speaking His truth even when we don’t feel it.  The good news—God is the same real and ever-present God who is with us whether we are seeking Him in a physical sanctuary or in a land far away, where our memories are all we have.  He meets us where we are.

During this time of reflection, David not only remembered God’s power, glory, and goodness and rehearsed past blessings and victories.  He also remembered God’s ongoing unfailing love towards him.  The Orthodox Jewish Bible uses the Hebrew word "chesed" to describe God’s unfailing love, which is used synonymously with the word mercy.  David was not totally without responsibility for his current situation.  As an adulterer, murderer, liar, polygamist, and uninvolved father, he would have been absolutely disqualified from ever coming into God’s presence and condemned had it not been for God’s ever enduring chesed.  God’s mercy did for David what he could never have done for himself.  

Like David, we are all sinners who would have been condemned and permanently exiled from God’s presence had it not been for God’s chesed graciously granted to us through one of David’s own descendants and our Messiah, Jesus Christ.  By suffering for our sins, Jesus submitted Himself to temporary exile from God so that we might be drawn close to the God and Father, who is with us no matter where we may find ourselves.  He remains close to us even when we must distance ourselves from other humans. May we never forget.

David was so overcome with gratitude at the thought of God’s mercy towards him that he broke into spontaneous exuberant praise, declaring God’s mercy to be better than life itself.  No matter what he had done in life and where he found himself as a result, nothing was better to him at that moment than the unfailing love of God.  

In the midst of our present landscape and the uncertainty of where we are going from here, do we consider God’s love for us to be better than life itself?  How would our lives be different if rather than giving in to despair, we chose to remember and meditate on God’s goodness?

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”  Psalm 103:2 (NKJV)

"I would have lost heart unless I had believed I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living."   Psalm 27: 13 (NKJV)

Bio:  Dr. Rochelle is a child of God, wife, mother, Doctor of Chiropractic and student who lives in upstate South Carolina with her husband of 16 years and 12-year-old son.  She also has a 33-year-old stepdaughter, son in law, two grandchildren, ages 5 and 2, and two very spoiled kitty kids.  In her very limited free time, she enjoys playing music (violin and piano), creative writing, cooking, outdoor activities, and traveling with her family.

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Find You Here ~ Ellie Holcomb

God bless each one of you dear readers as you come to see God in your current circumstances of exile.  May you find Him exactly where you are!
I am praying for you.