The Pursuit of God

Psalm 63:1–8 ESV

1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. 3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4 So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. 5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, 6 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; 7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. 8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

Be Worshipful Desiring God (vv. 1–2)

To be able to say “my God” by faith transformed David’s wilderness experience into a worship experience. There in the desert, he was hungry and thirsty, but his deepest desires were spiritual, not physical. With his whole being, body and soul, he yearned for God’s satisfying presence

Psalm 42:1–2 ESV

1 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

Be Worshipful Desiring God (vv. 1–2)

Just as we have physical senses that are satisfied by God’s creation, so we have spiritual senses (Heb. 5:14) that can be satisfied only by Christ.

Hebrews 5:14 ESV

14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Be Worshipful Desiring God (vv. 1–2)

He is the bread of life (John 6), and He gives us the water of life by His Spirit (John 4:1–14; 7:37–39; Rev. 22:17). Those who hunger and thirst for spiritual food and drink shall be filled (Matt. 5:6).

Be Worshipful Desiring God (vv. 1–2)

David could say with Jesus, “I have food to eat of which you do not know” (John 4:32, NKJV).

Be Worshipful Desiring God (vv. 1–2)

How did David acquire this wonderful spiritual appetite? By worshiping God at the sanctuary (v. 2; see 27:4; 84:1–2).

Psalm 27:4 ESV

4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

Psalm 63:2 ESV

2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.

Psalm 84:1–2 ESV

1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! 2 My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.

Be Worshipful Desiring God (vv. 1–2)

It is our regular worship that prepares us for the crisis experiences of life. What life does to us depends on what life finds in us, and David had in him a deep love for the Lord and a desire to please Him. Because David had seen God’s power and glory in His house, he was able to see it in the wilderness as well!

A.W. Tozer

He was always pressing onward and upward, deeper in God, praying, “O God, I have tasted of Thy goodness and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more.... I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still.... Give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long.”

His yearning after God is reflected in what he once told the great revival evangelist Leonard Ravenhill, “There are occasions when for hours I lay [sic] prostrate before God without saying a word of prayer or a word of praise—I just gaze on Him and worship.”

7 While some people might consider that too emotional or undignified, it demonstrates Tozer’s intensity and humility before God.

Verse 6-8

Be Worshipful Remembering God (vv. 6–8)

The Jews had three night watches, from sunset to ten o’clock, from ten to two o’clock, and from two to sunrise, so whenever David awakened during the night, he immediately remembered the Lord.