Longing for God

Introduction

Have you ever wondered why we eat food?

More specifically, have you ever wondered why we NEED to eat food? Why do we get hungry?

We need to eat food to live — but why?

Why did God create us with the need to eat to survive? Surely, he could have created us differently, right?

God could have created us without the need to refuel our bodies.

Or, God could have created us without the physical feeling of hunger, or its unpleasant cousin, hanger.

God could have created us with simply the need to eat to survive and tied it solely to time and without physical desires - i.e., a need to eat every certain amount of time or we die.

Fact is, even if due to illness or something, we must eat or eventually we will die.

Hunger brings our need for food back to the forefront of our mind from time to time.

Hunger reveals our need and motivates us to find satisfaction.

The same is true of our thirst.

Thirst reveals our need for water and motivates us to find satisfaction.

If you can hang with me for a bit you will see how this all connects. We will see:

Your soul has a longing only he can satisfy.

The longing of your soul can only be satisfied by God.

Psalm 63 (ESV) A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

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.

9 But those who seek to destroy my life

shall go down into the depths of the earth;

10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword;

they shall be a portion for jackals.

11 But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

We will see four truths from this passage based on it’s structure.

We will linger longer at the first two truths as the third and fourth follow from the first two.

The Context

A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

This could be either when David finds himself in the wilderness while running from Saul or while he is on the run from his son, Absalom.

Most likely while on the run from Absalom b/c of verse 11 where David seems to refer to himself as king.

David’s son, Absalom, conspired against David to become king.

2 Samuel 15:23 ESV

23 And all the land wept aloud as all the people passed by, and the king crossed the brook Kidron, and all the people passed on toward the wilderness.

2 Samuel 16:5–8 ESV

5 When King David came to Bahurim, there came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera, and as he came he cursed continually. 6 And he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. 7 And Shimei said as he cursed, “Get out, get out, you man of blood, you worthless man! 8 The Lord has avenged on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, your evil is on you, for you are a man of blood.”

2 Samuel 16:13–14 ESV

13 So David and his men went on the road, while Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went and threw stones at him and flung dust. 14 And the king, and all the people who were with him, arrived weary at the Jordan. And there he refreshed himself.

David’s physical context speaks of a spiritual reality that David felt at that time and you and I experience at different times:

Your soul is thirsty for God.

David is in the wilderness.

He describes it as a place of longing, desolation, and weariness.

Being in the wilderness is not unique:

Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness

Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness

The wilderness makes you thirsty - feel dry and empty

The wilderness is a place of loneliness and longing

The wilderness is a place of want and weariness.

It may be that David is physically in a wilderness when he writes this psalm, but it is not his physical thirst that he is concerned about.

Four times in this psalm the word for “soul” is used (once translated as “life”)

More than being concerned about his physical wandering in the desert, David is wrestling with the weariness of the spiritual wilderness.

Can you relate?

Rain and flood tend to be places that:

fearful

panicked

overwhelmed

Desert and wilderness:

joylessness

weariness

barrenness

Place of longing and searching for something to satisfy:

security

meaning

purpose

Throughout our lives we consume relationships and things around us in an effort to fill us up, but we tend to find these things leave us empty

ILLUST - I find cotton candy the most unsatisfying food ever - it’s sugar air. (rumor we will have a cotton-candy machine at ReConnect)

Our souls are searching for something only God can satisfy by his presence in our lives.

“Our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee”

— Augustine

If you consider yourself to be in a wilderness this morning, be encouraged, you are not experiencing anything unfamiliar or unnatural.

Just like physical thirst reveals your physical need and motivates you to find satisfaction, so too, the thirst of your soul is there to reveal your need for God and motivates you to find satisfaction in his presence alone.

This can be a good thing because it is better to be thirsty and be motivated to find satisfaction, than to not know that your soul is parched and thus run the risk of spiritual dehydration.

1 O God, you are my God;

Look at what David is seeking to satisfy him. God

Not a financial number

Not a husband or wife or career or whatever.

David doesn’t want cotton candy in the desert.

“My God” - not a idea, a mere fact or truth. Instead, a person and personal to David.

earnestly I seek you;

David is seeking earnestly (one word)

not casual but consuming

my soul thirsts for you;

my flesh faints for you,

as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

ILLUST - I’ve been very thirsty before and it would consume my thoughts, but if you are a dehydrated person in a desert, you will take a bottle of water instead of the $10,000.

The wilderness resets our priorities.

ILLUST - I have had several conversations this week with or about people who are facing their own mortality. You know what we are NOT talking about? How well the Eagles will do this year. Instead, our focus was God.

NOTE: Fasting is choosing to feel physical hunger to awaken a spiritual desire - to be more hungry for God than for food. “God, I want you more than I want food.”

Do you long for the presence of God more than you desire the presence of stuff?

The presence of God will satisfy you.

2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,

beholding your power and glory.

Looked / beholding - two different words

Looked = hzh - usually describes a vision from God.

the sanctuary is where the the presence of God can be found.

David is not longing for church. While our ministries here are great - don’t come to church for the coffee.

Don’t come for the kids ministry.

Don’t come for the music.

Don’t come for the preaching.

Come to experience the presence of God!

David understands this presence is not limited to this building.

When you experience the presence of God, you behold His power and His glory.

This will satisfy longing of security and happiness.

What does this look like practically? Take some time to “look upon” God.

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.

3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,

The Book of Psalms & The Book of Proverbs Commentary

The soul finds no greater satisfaction in life than that which it tastes as it drinks deeply of the love of God

God’s love is better than life.

Daniel 3:17–18 ESV

17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

The opposite is obviously not true: Life is better than God’s love.

Don’t we sometimes live that way, though?

At the end of the day it is God and you.

Knowing God loves you is THE most important thing in all of life.

Because of the first two truths, these second two truths follow:

You can still worship in the wilderness.

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.

David is still in the wilderness

David was weary yet worshipped

Psalms, Volume 1 Satisfying Vision of God (63:2–8)

The psalmist’s praise is no hidden or silent prayer but a public display that involves spoken testimony, physical gestures (“lift the hands”), and joyous singing (“my singing lips”

You can be confident God will lead you through.

9 But those who seek to destroy my life

shall go down into the depths of the earth;

10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword;

they shall be a portion for jackals.

11 But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

Conclusion

Are you hungry?

Are you hungry for God?

What “cotton candy” of the soul are you hoping will satisfy?

The longing you feel is to lead you to satisfy your soul in God alone.

Early Church Father, John Chrysostom, noted Psalm 63 was to be recited by Christians daily.