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Transforming the Wilderness by Choosing Loud and Bold Praise

Transforming the Wilderness by Choosing Loud and Bold Praise

Last updated on: September 16, 2025 at 12:59 pm by Jeff McLain

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Transforming the Wilderness by Choosing Loud and Bold Praise 2025-09-16T12:59:12-04:00 Jeff McLain

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Throughout Lent I have been focused on Psalms and Ecclesiastes in my devotions. Lent is a season for remembering wilderness moments—like the one in which Jesus spent 40 days faithfully in the desert at the beginning of his ministry, and like the 40 years the Israelites spent wandering in the wilderness. These moments are often a season of lament. Psalms and Ecclesiastes are a good place to focus on lament. Many of us find ourselves in wilderness moments far more often than we encounter mountaintop or burning bush experiences.

For followers of Jesus, life is about learning how to live joyfully even in these challenging moments. That’s why Lent holds such power as a practice for the church. Recently, I have found life has been difficult politically, socially, physically (health wise) and even weather-wise. Many of you may feel this as well.

What if the wilderness, instead of being a place of isolation, could become a holy space where God’s presence meets us most intimately?
In the midst of our own struggles, how might choosing to praise—loudly, actively, and with hands raised—transform your wilderness into a place of refuge?

I think Psalm 63 gives us a significant practice, or at least highlights David’s way, of transforming the wilderness by choosing loud and bold praise.

Psalm 63: A Lament for the Wilderness Moment

This morning, I was reflecting on Psalm 63.

In Psalm 63, David says “My lips will praise you” (Psalm 63:3, GW). The word he uses there for praise is שָׁבַח (shabach). The shape represents and reminds us of fire – and that is included in it’s Hebrew meaning (but not all of it’s meaning). It carries connection to God’s presence (think Shalom and Shaddai). The second letter in praise from David is בַ (Bet), and it looks like a lean-to-hut because that is what it means, it represents a home, household, a dwelling. The last letter ח (Chet) implies a boundaried area that is protected and separate.

I love the letter שָׁ. As one author points out, “There are those who see the shape of this letter to be a type of flame that rises up, which represents the fire of the sacrifices, and the constant fire that was in Holy Temple.” The letter is rich with imagery.

I suspect David’s choice to use שָׁבַח (shabach) is with great intention here. In the wilderness of Judah, David chooses שָׁבַח (shabach) rather than הלל (halal), תְּהִלָּה (tehillah), יָדָה (yadah), or ר (zamar).

In this Psalm, David identifies he is in the wilderness and fleeing, and already “the King” (Psalm 63:11, GW). So, here he is probably on the run during Absalom’s rebellion. David, in the middle of this moment, decides to have a Tabernacle experience. David confesses “at dawn I search for you,” (NIV and ESV like earnestly over dawn, KJV, GW, and I don’t) – and that his soul and body (includes all fleshy parts in the Hebrew) are in longing for Elohim (אֱלֹהִים).

Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch say, “it is difficult is it to adopt this choice spiritual love-song as one’s own prayer!” I cannot agree more. Grumbling is often easier in the wilderness than bold praise.

Wilderness Moments Are For Remembering

David recalls what it was like to see the place of God’s power and glory – the holy place (some translations miss the past-tense here, and I am no Hebrew expert). However, the New English Translation (NET) captures it well, “in the sanctuary, I have seen you” – and your “power and splendor” (Psalm 63:2, NET). David is in a wilderness moment, remembering when God felt close.

It is because of those experiences, a place where David is being put through the trials of the wilderness, without home, or the safety of his palace boundaries, that he will still praise God. Not just praise, he will praise loudly, actively, and boldly. This is the meaning of the שָׁבַח (shabach) on David’s lips.

In that space of the wilderness, David chooses to praise as if he is in the tabernacle – because he can remember the beauty and otherworldly experience there. This holy place was a space for ongoing worship and prayer, with singers and musicians pouring out their worship and intercession day and night with music and prayer.

The Wilderness is for Transformative Worship

Psalm 63 goes on to outline how the wilderness becomes that holy place where David will lift up LOUD praise (שָׁבַח, shabach). In this Psalm, David models what it means to lifts his hands, praise God, remember God, confesses God’s character, pursues God, and experiences God’s protection. Some scholars point out that David is saying because even in the wilderness he is “experiencing God’s mercy, which exceeds all the blessings of life, his lips will be opened for his praise” (Jamieson, Fausset, & Brown, 1997, p. 366)

In his act of praise (שָׁבַח, shabach), David’s praise confesses and experiences God’s as an all consuming presence (ש), a sense of belonging and being at home (ב), and the boundaries of God’s protection (ח).

Let me point out one more connection. David uses praise (שָׁבַח, shabach), but also look at the word שַׁבָּת (Shabbat).

The dagesh in the Shabbat is there to change the sound. However, I also love that it is an encompassed within the ב (Bet, house). In the wilderness, we praise loudly, and in the season of Shabbat, we rest and listen (how Shabbat is practiced). Shabbat ends with ת (Tav), reminding us that we live within a covenant, and praise ends with ח (Chet), reminding us in the wilderness all of God’s creation is the boundary of God, there is no where you can go.

I am not claiming to be a scholar, there are plenty perhaps in our community and my Facebook post that may point out more, or downplay my thoughts – I am merely a practical and applying thinker.

Wilderness Moments Can Be Recalibrated

We are in Lent, and Lent is a time to reflect on wilderness moments. The wilderness moments we are in, can be recalibrated to have meaning – through praise. That is the hope of Psalm 63.

In the wilderness, David chooses loud praise, active searching, and refreshment in God alone. David chooses to praise God, though he is not in the holy place, the home, or the safety of his Kingdom’s boundaries. Wilderness moments always feel isolating from God’s presence, power and from others – these moments feel like we exist without a place to belong – and we feel pushed beyond the safety zone. These dark night of the soul moments are familiar to many of us.

However, praise (as outlined in Psalm 63), reminds us that the wilderness can also become a holy place. The power to transform our wilderness into a holy place, is found in loud, hand raising, reflective, and joyful song. It begins by remembering where we have seen God’s power and glory in the past (vs 2). In praise, we find home, because all of creation is God’s boundary, even when we are in the “depths of the earth” (Verse 9).

Today, chose to say, “my lips will שָׁבַח you.”

Today, we can chose to say, “my lips will שָׁבַח you.”

Matthew Henry remarks the posture of our lips by saying, “God’s loving-kindness is our spiritual life, and that is better than temporal life. We must praise God with joyful lips; we must address ourselves to the duties of religion with cheerfulness, and speak forth the praises of God from a principle of holy joy. Praising lips must be joyful lips. David was in continual danger; care and fear held his eyes waking, and gave him wearisome nights; but he comforted himself with thoughts of God.” I love the line, we must address ourselves…with cheerfulness, and speak forth the praises of God” (Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary). We choose to do this, even under continual danger and fear.

Jesus knew wilderness moments deeply, even to the point of being overwhelmed by them. He, too, experienced difficult roads, rocky terrain, and the weeds that choke out life in these moments. Yet, he knew God’s presence, home, and protection in those moments. The praise that David calls us to doesn’t ignore the hardship of the wilderness; rather, it accepts them (but not to the point of defining him), and it chooses to acknowledge that God comes to be with us in those struggles, having endured them for us, like us, and with us. Jesus demonstrates the same.

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite worship songs that beautifully reminds us of this truth.

I’m always interested in a good conversation or a cup of coffee. Feel welcome to reach out to me via email —I’d love to hear from you. You can connect with me through Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, X, LinkedIn, Threads, and/or YouTube.

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About Jeff McLain

Through 'Lead a Quiet Life,' Jeff McLain explores his pursuit of simplicity in a tumultuous world as he serves as the Director of Pastoral Ministries at Water Street Mission and as pastor at River Corner Church. Jeff's commitment to Jesus as been shaped by an unconventional journey from activism to hitchhiking, is reflected in his academic pursuits and throughout his involvement with various initiatives. Residing in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Jeff, along with his wife and three daughters, embraces family moments outdoors, while his love for baseball, boardwalks, beaches, and books adds depth to his vibrant life. You can read more about the author here.

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