Day 12: Psalm 63

The word “Quarantine,” before it meant isolation, was used to describe the wilderness where Jesus went for forty days before his ministry began.

It’s derived from the Latin word “quadraginta” which means forty. In many ways for Jesus, the wilderness was necessary for the ministry. It was in the wilderness where he faces the devil, stares down temptation, and emerges prepared to begin the work of bringing His Kingdom to Earth. All throughout the Scriptures, the wilderness is the place God does the work of preparation. This is true for the people of God - they are in the wilderness for forty years before God brings them into the nation of Israel. This is true for David - he is in the wilderness on the run from Saul, his predecessor, and it is in the wilderness he writes some of the Psalms. Notice this from Psalm 63, verse 1:

You, God, are my God,

 earnestly I seek you;

I thirst for you,

 my whole being longs for you,

in a dry and parched land

 where there is no water.

Where is David? He is in quarantine. He’s being prepared for a Kingdom of his own to come. Before David becomes King of Israel, he is on the run from Saul for four years, and it is in the wilderness we get some of our most poetic Psalms. And it is in the wilderness David is prepared to be King. There are several ways to look at this moment we are in. From the eyes of the world, you are in isolation. From the eyes of God, if you so choose, you are in preparation. If you turn to God with a hunger and thirst in these moments and cry out to God as David did, you will find on the other side of quarantine a new way God wants you to see the world and a new gift He wants to give to you.

Don’t waste these moments as if they are a time of isolation. Let us reclaim what quarantine was for David and for Jesus, a preparation. What is God doing in you in this wilderness?

Jared