Give thanks for God's mercy in the desert

Psalm 63, in verse 1. I want you to look at the headline of this psalm, the headline of this psalm. I don't know if your Bible says it, but, just as it is on the screen it says, Psalm of David when he was in the desert of Judah.

I'm going to explain this a little bit. Says:

“… My God, you are at dawn I will look for you, my soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you, in dry and arid land where there is no water, to see your power and your glory just as I have looked at you in the sanctuary. Because your mercy is better than life, his lips will praise you..."

Let's stop there. Look at this, my brothers, when I read, if I had read this psalm without paying attention to the title, I would have read it like wow, how beautiful, most likely David was walking through the palace and reflecting on how good it has been God with him. Because saying a word like that, wow, your mercy is better than life. Those are big, deep words, and that usually one can assume that those are words that are coming from a person who is doing well. Ah Lord, I am experiencing your goodness in my life and I can say that your mercy is better than anything. I am in Seventh Heaven, so to speak.

And my lips will praise you, look at that, that is, talking about the goodness of God usually, again, one assumes that it can come from a person who has, as if to say, in quotes, his life all set, that he has everything Well, you've got it all under control. But when we pay attention to the title of that psalm, the story is already another. The context is totally different because when I read that these words were inspired in the heart of David when he was in the desert of Judah, my brothers, it was not that he left the palace and with his royal clothes he went to walk through the desert . No, no, no, that was not the time. The story says that when he wrote this it was the time where he was still being persecuted. It is true that it is not clear if he was persecuted by King Saul or if he was persecuted after his reign when he was persecuted by his own sons, like Absalom who was one of them.

The point is that the man was in the desert but he was in a state of stress so to speak, he was in a state of anxiety, he was in a state of restlessness, he was in a state of insecurity, because he did not know what was going to happen with his life. However, in the midst of that search I want you to imagine a person walking through the desert thirsty, with lips that are cracking from the sun and dryness and dehydration, and a person in the midst of that ambivalence in which can be found, suddenly, it comes out of his mouth to say, my God, you are my God and I look for you intensely, my soul thirsts for you and my whole being longs for you.

If I put you in the Sahara desert you will say, my mouth is thirsty, and it is not from you but from water. That's what I would say. But he in the midst of this situation, which makes him say, my soul thirsts for you, that is, the thirst for justice that he had in his heart was more than the thirst that he could be feeling in his physical body. What's more, who knows if the thirst of his physical body was a reflection of what was really happening inside. And in the midst of all that, he can say these words, my whole being longs for you.

And he suddenly, Lord, I have seen you in the sanctuary and I have contemplated your power and your glory. In other words, in the midst of that anxiety what he is saying, ah, I know who you are, I know what you can do, I have seen you in action in my life. I know that you are the God of the impossible and in the midst of all this to be able to say then in the end, Lord, your mercy is better than life.

My brothers, I want to emphasize that phrase. Because there are times when we lead life as if we were not really paying attention to how good and how merciful God is with each one of us.

Look, the mere fact that we are here is already an expression of God's mercy. I hear testimonies like Daniel's, or I remember many testimonies from their own lives, that is, I see their own faces and their own faces is already a testimony of God's mercy. How we in a supernatural way can draw strength from where we don't have it, we can draw encouragement from where none exists, we can have a different perspective on life when the circumstances around us are pointing us to another reality and still be able to say Lord, your mercy, your love, your goodness, everything you have is much better than what can happen to me in this life.

And that manifests itself in so many ways that when one is aware of that blessing from God one can then say, my lips will praise you. That expression that my lips will praise you, you know what they're saying? It's that my lips are going to testify to everything you've done, everything you do.

That is why I felt today inviting people that we could testify that God is doing. Because these testimonies, my brothers, build our lives in such a way that they encourage us and help us, and encourage us to move forward. Look, your life does not have to be one hundred percent perfect for you to be able to witness what God is doing in you. Your life does not have to be in perfection.

I can stand here right now and I can tell you, look, my life is not one hundred percent perfect, as I would like or as God would like, but even so, God gives me the strength, gives me the encouragement to be able to speak in faith of what God has done, what God is doing, and what God will continue to do.

I tell them, look, I hear these things like this, see people praying for me, and I thank God for that. Today I have celebrated my birthday three times already. The staff here in the church, they took me by surprise, they broke up a meeting that we had as pastors and they came with a cake and we sang. Right now the boys of the prayer praise group also have a cake that is waiting for me there right now. Is for me. For me. Say my name. And now the mere fact that we are here in this time of prayer, that is something that blesses my life. And I don't know, well I'm sure all of us have those moments where we suddenly stop and stop and reflect and it's like, wow, Lord, where's my da? What have I managed to do? What am I doing? In which direction am I going? What new do you want me to do? What can I correct?

You understand me, it is that day of internal reflection where one says to oneself, ok, Lord, we are going to do a maintenance check. Where am I right now? How are the things going? And there is something that I have managed to reflect on in these past three days, and it is the mere fact, my brothers, that I am more than grateful to the Lord. And again, my life is not 100 percent perfect as I would like, and I know you can identify with that, but even though it's not 100 percent perfect, look, I see everything around me and I have to say that there really is a God who is in heaven and who is moving here in our midst.

Last night while we were celebrating at my house, my wife got a fever with making the cake now, with making cakes and yesterday we were preparing the cake, putting the frosting, right? The sigh? It is new for me. Dominican style, the sigh, the frosting, the sweetness. He sighed.

But the point is that suddenly we put the cake on the kitchen island and suddenly I have my wife, who is holding Sebastián, Lucas got caught in the sink, and my mother-in-law on the other hand, and the mere fact of I was able to hear all of them singing like that, green toad, all of you, like us… Happy Birthday, look to me, I was contemplating that panorama and I said to myself, wow, Lord, the truth is that I don't deserve this, you have given me these gifts. A beautiful, precious family.

And so today, during the time that I have been here, when I come and stand in front of you and I see each one of you, I say to myself, Lord, what better gift could I ask for, that is, each one of these people, at the level in which I can know you, some more and others less, but each one of you means a gift from God because you are a family here, and I know and recognize that one is here in capacity pastoral, but I look at them and I see a family that God has allowed me to have here.

Here right now I see fulfilled what Jesus says in Luke, when he says, if anyone leaves a mother or father or brother or sister, or son or daughter, or dog or cat, parrot, for me, for the Gospel, he will receive one hundred times more each of those things. And I only have a dog, I don't have cats or parrots, but I can say, as I have said on other occasions, I have many mothers, I have many spiritual fathers, I have many spiritual grandfathers and grandmothers, and I have many brothers and sisters, cousins , cousins, uncles, aunts, I can continue giving the list.

And all of this, my brothers, is a blessing from God, all of this allows me to say, Lord, your mercy is better than anything else one could desire or want in life. The mere fact that you provide this environment here and again, I am not saying that this group is a one hundred percent perfect group of people, because I know that there are moments in which we step on the keys and brush shoulders and there are times that one says things that perhaps the other doesn't like. Or you say things that I might not like, and it's like, now what? But anyway, isn't that part of a family? Isn't that part of a family? As verse 5 says, please, speaking of sigh, of frosting, now it is of the core. What is core, by the way? What moves in the pot, right? I am going to find out what the core means, it is that here I was reading it in another version.

In my version it says: "... my soul will be satisfied like a succulent banquet..."

If succulent banquet means meat, I believe that whoever wrote that version of the Bible had something Hispanic in his heart. I think they took it out of Santo Domingo or something.

“…My soul will be satisfied with meat and fatness, and with jubilant lips my mouth will praise you. When I remember you in my bed, when I meditate on you in the vigils of the night because you have been my help and so in the shadow of your wings I will rejoice..."

Look, I close with this, my brothers and sisters, I don't know how many of you have gotten up at night because anxiety does not let you sleep. How many has that happened to you? That anxiety doesn't let them sleep. And they get up and they're like pulling their hair out, what's going to happen with this. Now, listen to me carefully, I don't know, I don't know here, because this is not very usual, but I don't know how many of you get up at night because the satisfaction, the joy, the desire is so, so great, and so immense that one cannot sleep. Has it happened to you? It has happened to me too.

Look, and again, again, I am putting this in context my brothers and sisters, it does not mean that life has to be one hundred percent perfect, but there is something that… you remember two Wednesdays ago that I was talking to you about that divine momentum, that spiritual momentum that when God is doing something, if you are not alert it will happen to you, and the bus left, forget it, it left you on foot. But if one is alert, sensitive to what God is doing, when that momentum comes one is left like, wait, I have to ride this wave.

Well, look, that's how it sometimes happens, there are times when there are situations around that come and threaten, they are hard, they are strong but in the midst of all these things, you feel something of God that is supernatural. And it is that something from God that is how it keeps one with an adrenaline rush and one is always waiting, wow, let dawn already, I want to know what is going to happen on this next day, or what I can do new on this next day.

Look, my brothers, those are the things, that verse that I used to say in the night meditations I think about and I am connected with you. In my bed I remember you. Look how he says, I remember you and think about you all night. That is an expression of love. When you met your first love, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, how many of you, let's confess here and now, I'm going to put up a little curtain so that you can confess to me, tell me son, tell me daughter, how many of you didn't hook up the phone to one in the morning and half an hour later they were glued to the phone again, because it's like, daddy, mommy, I can't sleep, I have to listen to you again. Look there they are both back there, as it seems that it still happens, right? They wake you up at midnight, they are sleeping, they are next to each other and he gets up at midnight, like daddy, I miss you.

That's what David is saying here, it's like, he's at this level of emotion that, ok, I'm going to sleep now God, but no, it's not that I miss you. I have to wake up again. Think of you, there is something happening.

And look, my brothers, that is part of that momentum, of that impetus, of that force that God puts in our lives and when that happens, look, you have to take advantage of it, because you never know what God might reveal to our lives in these moments.

So, my brothers and sisters, think, meditate on these words. I am looking at their faces and look, yes, it may be that you have a very gross, very strong need. There is something that is very pressing in his heart, but let's assume the attitude of David, that in the midst of those deserts of life, when things are pressing, and one feels that he is being persecuted, that ambivalence, that insecurity, what's the matter? to happen, what are they going to tell me, or what are they going to do to me, or what am I going to do, or what am I going to say, and one is like, look, find the strength to be able to say that, Lord, at dawn , at 9 in the morning, at 12 at noon, at 3 in the afternoon, the stopper, drinking coffee, drinking tea, eating a hamburger at McDonalds, wherever it is, I'm going to look for you, Lord.

I am going to look for you, I am going to be in contact with you and see how you can inspire my life in such a way that I can then say, your mercy is better than life, and my lips will praise you.

We are going to stand up and we are going to pray. We thank you, Lord Jesus, your mercy is better than life, Lord Jesus. And for this reason our lips praise you, our lips bless you, Jesus, because you are the one who makes all these things possible in the midst of our lives, Lord Jesus.

Father, I thank you for each one of my brothers and sisters, Lord, I bless their lives wherever they are, wherever they are, Lord Jesus, whatever their need, their particular situation, I ask that you visit where they are right now, Lord Jesus, and may they receive from you that air that lifts them up, Lord, that air under their wings that lifts them to new heights. Lord, may they experience that mercy of yours that satisfies them, that fills them, that quenches their thirst, that quenches their hunger and that even in the night meditations keeps them awake. But it is an awakening that brings energy, Lord, that brings strength, that brings new perspectives, new vision.

Lord, do not let us harden towards you, Lord, but allow our spirit, our hearts to remain sensitive to hearing your voice and obeying it above all things. We thank you for what you do, for what you have done and for what you will continue to do, Lord, thank you for each one of my brothers and sisters, Lord, who have come this far tonight. On each of them we declare your blessing. In the name of your Son Jesus, we say it like this Father, we give you thanks. Amen.