Psalm 63:1-3 NKJV (Joy in the Fellowship of God) – A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah. 1 O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. 2 So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. 3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You.
Years ago my family and I moved to west TX. We stepped out in major faith to go on that journey. God gave the vision, and He gave us many confirmations to confirm His word. We sold our house within two weeks of it being on the market, and then we headed out west with our family. I had a new job lined up for me and we already knew what church we were going to serve in. I had visited the town once before for a weekend of ministry with our friends. But for my wife Kim, she never saw the town we were moving to before we moved, literally Kim was stepping out in extreme faith trusting God. At the time we did not know where we were going to stay at, we did not have a new house or a rental. We were ready to live in a hotel till we found a house but thankfully we had enough friends who allowed us to stay with them temporarily. And still we trusted God for our journey.
West TX is a very dry region that does not always get a lot of rain and barely any snow. There was a greater chance for wind/dirt storms than there were thunderstorms. Temperatures would get hot, but thankfully we did not have the high humidity as we did back east.
Our first year in TX had its share of challenges, especially being far away from family and friends. God gives the vision, He increases the vision, and He will bring the vision to pass. But with life sometimes things do not happen as you were hoping or does not happen as quickly as you were hoping. Life challenges can turn to discouragement and frustrations. When walking by faith we need to remain focused. With our journey Kim and I both were at a point that first year where we had to say to God, “surely You did not lead us into the wilderness to die”. Haha sounds silly, doesn’t it? Despite the challenges though we knew we were in God’s will, and His will is more important to us than anything else in life. What started out as discouragement had turned into a 16-year journey of being blessed living in a region filled with awesome people while serving an awesome God! Thankfully, God did not lead us into the wilderness to die.
While we were in Texas, we had a drought that lasted a few years. We lived in an agricultural town; the crops were dependent on moisture. Some of the surrounding towns in the region would get rain during that time but we did not. One night we saw storm clouds moving in, we were all getting excited to finally see rain, but the storm never made it to our town. I remember watching the storm cloud circle around our town as if to tease us. Despite the drought, the farmers did not give up hope, they continued acting in faith. Plowing, Planting, re-planting, more plowing and more re-planting. The farmers were active in their waiting. When a farmer would ask me what the weather forecast is, I would reply with “it’s going to rain today”. They would not except any answer but “It’s going to rain today”. It did not matter what the weather channel had forecasted; the farmers wanted to hear someone stand in agreement with them for rain. I am thankful for farmers. I learned a lot from them when I lived in TX about agriculture and believing in faith. Please pray for farmers. After the drought was over the rain came, and it came hard.
Are you currently facing a drought in life? Do you feel as if God lead you into the wilderness to die? Then believe God for a rainy season.
Psalm 63 is a reminder that even in a dry and thirsty land that we are to seek God and to trust His will.
Psalm 63:1-3 NKJV 1 O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. 2 So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. 3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You.
In a dry and thirsty land, God is still there. In the wilderness, God is still there. In the valley, God is still there, He is the Lilly of the valley. In a cave or on a mountain top, God is still there. God will make a way. Seek Him and trust Him.
In Psalm 63:4-8 NKJV David continues with: 4 Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. 5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips. 6 When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches. 7 Because You have been my help, Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice. 8 My soul follows close behind You; Your right hand upholds me.
Praise God in a dry season, praise Him in a wet season. Praise Him during planting season and praise Him in the harvest. Praise God always!
I know I did not go into details of various challenges we encountered when my family and I had moved to TX, but you will hear a lot more about TX in future blog posts. I will say though that despite the challenges we had faced while living in Texas, if we had to do it all over again just knowing were in God’s will then we would in a heartbeat! Remember God’s will over everything.
When in drought, believe God!
