Reading: “To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary”—Psalm 63:2
Do we not all know what it is, at times, to be sensible of a barrenness of spiritual enjoyments? Perhaps at the house of God, or at home, to be cold and lifeless and without the Bethel-visits of the Lord?
Behold one of old, in a wilderness state, feeling the same. But do not fail to remark also, in the very breathings of the soul after Christ, how plainly his soul was under the sweet influences of Christ. David did not so much long for the temple service, as for the presence of the God of the temple. Remark also the peculiarity of expression: he longed to see the Lord’s power and glory, so as he had seen it in times past. God in Christ is Jehovah’s power and glory; and the sanctuary without Him, would be no better than the wilderness.
What a beautiful devout frame of mind was this sacred writer in, when thus going on in earnest longing after the divine power and glory, as manifested in the person of God in Christ! Now, Christian, can you make use of the same language, even when you are mourning in retirement over the absence of the Lord Jesus? Is Jesus still the one object of desire? And are the power and glory of Jehovah, as manifested in the person of Jesus, the longing of your heart to enjoy? Be comforted, in still having before you the great object of faith even when the waters of the sanctuary run low. God is still honoured, still loved, still trusted in, and depended on, by this humble, though sorrowful frame; and ere long, He whom you desire to see in His power and glory will manifest Himself in both. You will yet give Him praise “who is the health of thy countenance and thy God.”
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