Reading David's earnest pleas in Psalm 143 might lead us to similar conclusions, but let's not be too hasty.
Psalm 143
Hear my prayer, O LORD;
give ear to my pleas for mercy!
In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
Enter not into judgment with your servant,
for no one living is righteous before you.
For the enemy has pursued my soul;
he has crushed my life to the ground;
he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.
Therefore my spirit faints within me;
my hear within me is appalled.
I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all that you have done;
I ponder the work of your hands.
I stretch out my hands to you;
my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.
Answer me quickly, O LORD!
My spirit fails!
Hide not your face from me,
lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.
Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD!
I have fled to you for refuge!
Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God!
let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!
For you name's sake, O LORD, preserve my life!
In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!
And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies,
and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul,
for I am your servant (ESV).
David may not sound all that different than any of us. Many of us are accustomed to calling out to God when the going gets tough. As the saying goes ... there are no atheists in the fox holes.
Yet, there are several indications here that David is not simply someone who got into trouble and found "Jail-house Religion." Rather David seems to indicate that his common practice is walking with God. Notice verses 3 & 4 describe a living hell on earth being fanned by his enemies. Then verses 5 & 6 describes his meditation on the past faithfulness of God ... and his outstretched soul to bring those memories into contemporary realities.
Interestingly, David is describing the depraved, "cut-throat" world in which he lives in verses 1 & 2, including himself among the unrighteous. In verses 3 & 4 he is further describing their cut-throat activities. In verse 6 David is in essence stretching his very parched but unworthy throat out to the Lord. David deserves to have his throat cut, but is trusting in God keeping his covenant promises. David is trusting that instead of cutting his throat in justice, God will pour watery blessings down it. Actually David is primarily asking for God himself, not simply a quick fix. Leslie C. Allen points this out in his commentary on Psalms.
Further more, David says that God is the one in whom he trusts ... leading to the feel of a pre-existing relationship of trust ... and he asks for God's direction (verse 7). In verse 10 David is asking God to teach him to do God's will. In verse 13 David confesses he is the servant of God.
All of these demonstrate that David's relationship with God didn't just begin when he heard the teacher break the bad news of a pop-quiz. Rather David has a previous habit of nurturing a very passionate relationship with God. And it is out of that passionate intimacy with God that David now turns when he is in trouble.
Yet, some might simply suggest or object by saying that well David was in the Bible and was a superhero. His experience was unique and is not to be expected of the general laity. Politely, I'd like to suggest that reasoning is hogwash. Let's look at the very words of Jesus himself.
John 17:3
And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (ESV).
That word in the Greek is not simply knowing about God. Yet, so much of our Christian worship is geared towards that endeavor ... to simply learn a bunch of facts about God. Rather it refers to knowing someone through committed sexual intimacy. That is quite a depth to knowing! And that is the word used here ... not that Jesus is saying that we are to have sex with God. No, rather we are to know God deeply and intimately through experiencing him in the everydayness of life. And Jesus said that was the essence of eternal life or salvation.
Henry Blackaby and Claude V. King's popular book Experiencing God provide a whole teaching on this subject and a necessary corrective to our cold and formalistic worship. This book has radically changed my life and can change yours as well.Consider the drive of the Apostle Paul.
Philippians 3:10
that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings (ESV).
Paul describes all of his religious pursuits as being "but rubbish" compared to knowing Christ. Contrary to popular opinion, I don't think Paul was condemning those particular pursuits per se. Rather Paul was addressing, as he does in most of his letters, the concept of identity. Many Jewish people taught that what identified them as the people of God was their Torah, especially the right required by their Torah ... circumcision. As Paul argued in Romans, no their primary identity marker was faith in Christ. Likewise, as Paul asked, "Do we then overthrow (Torah) by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold (Torah)" (Romans 3:31; ESV). Paul is saying both in Philippians and Romans that the primary marker of being the people of God is faith in Christ ... but having faith in Christ does not absolve you of learning the heart of God as found in Torah and the sayings of Jesus ... as Jesus cautioned, "If you love me you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15; ESV).
The primary maker is faith, which in the context of Philippians is the lived experience of deep intimacy with God found in learning and living his heart. More simply, it is the practice of intimately walking with God.
Hey, we can wear suits all day long and follow Robert's Rules of Order until we've been suffocated with cold formality ... but if we're not knowing God by intimately experiencing him day by day, we need to check the pulse of our Christianity as to see whether it is alive or dead.
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