God Satisfies the Thirsty Soul

Ps 63 Sermon: God satisfies the thirsty soul Ps 63 Sermon: God satisfies the thirsty soul Bruce Junkermann / General   It is my hope this morning to move you closer to God, to increase your passion for God, to deepen your love for God. No matter where you are in your relationship to God we can always take one more step toward Him. But how do you come to Him? How do you see yourself in relation to God? How do you come to God? A. How do you  come to God ? Do you come to Him... A1. Relying on your  good works ? Matt 7:21-23 Matt 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” Does that scare you? At least does it get your attention? Not everyone who calls on God’s name and does works in His name is doing the will of God. Jesus says, “Only those who do the will of my Father” enter the kingdom. If doing mighty works in God’s name is not doing the will of the Father, then what is the will of the Father? Jesus gives us a clue of what he means by “you must to the will of my Father” when he tells those who must depart… “I never knew you.” You see, There is no relationship there. I never knew you. The will of the Father is that we know Him, that is, value Him, love Him. There must be a personal relationship with God Himself. But they’ve made Christianity a power thing, or a performance thing. “Look at me God! Look at all the wonderful things I’ve done!” And there are others who who make it an intellectual thing, a fix-my-circumstances thing, an only-when-I-need-You thing, a just-on-Sunday thing, a This-is-what-Christians-do thing. rather than making it personal, relational, deep from your heart and soul. Or do you come to God by... A2. Just going through the  motions ? Matt 15:8-9 Matt 15:8-9 “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” Here we have people honoring God and speaking well of God. The word “honor” means “to show high regard for, to honor, or to revere.” Yet Jesus condemns this honoring as fruitless and empty worship. Worship that means nothing. We might call it lip-service. Jesus called them “hypocrites” (v7) and “blind guides” (v14). This kind of honoring is condemned because, as Jesus said, “their heart is far from me.” Their coming to God is more a matter of rote or rut. Little thought and even less heart. Jesus here is quoting Is 29:13 which says it this way, “their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men...” Is 29:13 Their fear or awe of God is simply a commandment they follow without their heart’s being moved. But fear or awe does not happen by mechanical obedience to outward practices. Like a robot going through the motions, there is no relationship, nothing personal, it’s not driven by heart-awe or soul-thirst for God. They’re just hollow words and meaningless motions. Or do you come to God A3.  Ho-hum  in your approach? Rev 3:15-19 Rev 3:15-16 “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” Jesus condemns the church at Laodicea for their lack of passion when he said, “I wish you were either cold or hot!” For then it would be clear where they stood, either with Him or against Him! Their lack of passion, however, left them somewhere in the middle. In v 17, we see their lack of passion was rooted in a blindness to their condition. Rev 3:17 “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” They didn’t see themselves as they really were. Clouded by their circumstances they lost sight of who they really were. As a result, there was no desperation, earnestness, or passion toward their Savior. He’s calling them and us to not deny our condition or believe the lie of our circumstances that we somehow have earned God’s blessings. Everything we have is a gracious undeserved gift from God. The Laodiceans were not driven by a deep, soul-level thirst for God. They were just kinda crusin’ along. Enjoying the ride. Believing they are not so bad. They probably saw themselves as better-off than most. So then, who comes to God desperately if they’re comfortable in all the blessings of success? Who comes to God with all their heart and soul and might if life is generally pretty good? Who sees God as their satisfaction, their hope, their joy if they find it in other things? And it was this blindness to their true condition that tempered their enthusiasm or zeal for God. Notice Jesus’ solution to luke-warmness, v19 “so be zealous and repent.” Jesus wants the Laodiceans to repent, go the other way, no longer be dispassionately lukewarm but be zealous, burn with white hot passion for God as the Gracious Savior and Spiritual Healer. But these believers didn’t see themselves rightly, nor did they see God rightly. Rather they were making a judgment of their condition based on their outward circumstances saying, “Because my circumstances are good, my soul is satisfied.” So what else could I want?! They had a more passionate relationship with their circumstances than with God who reigns over all circumstances. They loved the gifts and blessings of God more than the Giver. Which made their coming to God lukewarm. So if you come to God relying on our good works and not His grace, if you think that mechanical worship is showing love to Him, or if you come half-hearted, more concerned about your circumstances than seeing God, then you may hear the words “Depart from me, I never knew you.” Or “Your heart is far from me and in vain do you worship me.” Or “because you are lukewarm, and neither hot or cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” B. How  should  we come to God? To answer this question we are going to take a look at Ps 63:1-8. Here David comes to God in a way that pleases God even in the midst of some really awful circumstances. Instead of blaming God for his circumstances, or thinking God doesn’t care about him, or that God is punishing him for some reason, David sees God as his Rock. That whether things are going well or not, in the end, doesn’t really matter. God is his Rock. This does not mean David puts on a plastic smile pretending to be happy when he’s not. Rather, in the midst of suffering, grief over loss, and both physical and spiritual weariness, David clings to God, his Rock. So let’s set the stage before we see how David comes to God. From the title of the Ps we see that David is in the desert and v 11 implies he is king. There is only one time when David was both king and in the desert. 2 Sam 15 gives the account of when David’s son Absalom overthrows David’s rule and David flees into the desert. 2 Sam 15:14 “Then David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, ‘Arise, and let us flee, or else there will be no escape for us from Absalom. Go quickly, lest he overtake us quickly and bring down ruin on us an strike the city with the edge of the sword.” 2 Sam 15:23 “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 Sam 15:25a "Then the king said to Zadok, ‘Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me back and let me see both it and his dwelling place.’” We see from this account that David lost his throne. He lost his son who rebelled against him. He lost the arc, that object that represented God’s presence. And finally, David felt as if he lost God’s favor. 2 Sam 16:14 “And the king, and all the people who were with him, arrived weary....” Ever felt like that? Everything seems to heading in the wrong direction. No matter what you do things seem to tumble more and more out of control. And you’re exhausted, wearied, out of options? Where are you going to turn? Who are you going to look to? What do you want more than anything at that moment? Or like the Laodiceans, when everything is working out just as you had hoped, in what direction are your eyes? In what way are you coming to God? In either case, we ought to come to God as David did in Ps 63. B1. We must come to God  Personally  Ps 63:1 Ps 63:1 “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.” What causes someone to say that? What moves a person so that in the midst of their pain they cry out, “O God, You are my God!”? Isn’t is a declaration that God is his Rock. “O God, You are my God!” When all of life is in upheaval, you have a place to land, a place to stand, for God is as solid as bedrock. He is present. He doesn’t move away. He is faithful and His love steadfast. Ps 46 says that when the earth gives way and the mountains be moved in to the heart of the sea, and it’s waters roar and foam, and the mountains tremble, though the nations rage and the kingdoms totter… God is my refuge and strength and a very present help in trouble. So “Be still, and know that I am God.” Ps 46:10a And what does a statement like “O God, You are my God” do for the one saying it? Doesn’t it strengthen him, comfort him, doesn’t it bring focus to what is truly valuable, what is truly worth living for? Doesn’t it bring confidence to one’s heart? and doesn’t it rightly align oneself with the way things really are, that is, God at the center and me coming to him in utter dependence, like a child to his father? David, here is declaring that God is his God. He is not looking elsewhere. He is not seeking someone else or something else. He is not even looking for a change in his circumstances. God is what he wants. God is the one whom David thirsts for. Notice also there is a personal relationship there. God you are my God. David is not searching for an unknown God. There is an established relationship there. It’s not all that different from the way we are in relationship with one another. For a relationship to deepen we must spend time with each other, talk with one another, gaze into each other’s eyes beholding their beauty, amazed that they want to be with us. David doesn’t rely on others to have a relationship for him. David personally loves God, personally seeks God, personally thirsts for God. Which leads us to our second point... B2. We must come  Earnestly Seeking and Clinging to Him   Ps 63:1  , 8  “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.” Ps 63:1. and v8 “My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.” How should we come to God? by earnestly seeking Him and by clinging to Him. The words “earnestly seek” come from a Hebrew word meaning “to long for” or “seek earnestly”. We might use the word determined, purposeful, intentional, maybe even desperate. I like the word desperate since the verse uses the analogy of a man in the desert with no water. It brings out the idea of focused, determined seeking for what is essential to his life. Without water he will die. He will leave every other thing behind in order to find what he desperately needs…water. However, we have the same word in Prov 1:28-29 discussing the same topic, “Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord.” So we see in Prov 1 that the crux of how we should come to God is not purely an earnest seeking, but an earnest seeking with God as the end of our seeking. You see we can seek God for all kinds of selfish reasons. We can and often do seek God for a further end, that is, to get what we want. But we honor God when we come to Him when He is what we thirst for. v1 “my soul thirsts for you, God” Nothing else will do. Just like the thirsty man in the desert who needs water, not a new suit, a fun toy, or a successful career, so we don’t need temporary pleasures, lesser joys, and finite satisfactions. We need God. Ps 23:1 “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Ps 73:25-26 “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Hab 3:17-19 “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor the fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength....” Ps 63:8 says “My soul clings to You; your right hand upholds me.” The word “cling” means “to fasten one’s self to an object.” It is used in Gen 2:24, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” And when Naomi decided to return to Moab after her husband and two sons die, she told her daughters-in-law to return to their families of origin. And in Ruth 1:14, “Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. If you found what you are thirsty for, cling to it and never let go. Wrap your arms and legs around the leg of your heavenly Father and cling to him as a child does his earthly father. And the Lord’s strong, but gentle hand will hold you secure. David seeks God because his soul has a thirst for God. His soul will not be satisfied with anything less, anything else. He has a thirst for God and so he “earnestly seeks God”. But we recognize that we are are satisfied with so many other, lesser, temporary things… a good job, nice house, friends who care about us, achievement, success, happy marriage, and healthy body. C.S. Lewis, in his sermon “The Weight of Glory” says, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” Now there is nothing wrong with happy marriages, healthy bodies, and successful careers. But your souls is settling for something really small if you stop there and don’t thirst for God. So what satisfies your thirst? We all thirst. The question is, “What do you thirst for?” It’s what you thirst for that you seek. Point #3... B3. We come to God  To See Him  Ps 63:2 For what purpose do we seek God? We should seek God in order to see Him for who He really is. Not for the way we want Him to be. Not to see some distorted caricature of Him, but to see Him as He really is. No conditions, no adaptations, no contortions, just God as He really is. That’s how we should come to Him. Ps 63:2 “So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.” The word for “beholding” is actually the infinitive “to see”. And that infinitive is giving us the purpose for looking upon Him. We look in order to see God’s power and glory. In line with this kind of looking, v 6 says that we are satisfied in God when we remember Him and meditate on Him. In other words, our looking must be directed by the mind. We must think on Him. Meditate on Him. Coming to the One who satisfies our thirsty soul is not a mindless act. We must engage the mind and it must be properly informed with right knowledge. Thus good Bible study methods and accurate teaching is important (Shameful plug)! But we must not stop with merely knowing something about God. Right knowledge about God alone is not enough. It’s not the end. God wants your heart and your mind. Intellectual knowledge is vital, but we shouldn’t stop there. For the mind must serve the soul. The soul must be moved by right knowledge of God so that we come thirsting for Him. We should remember and meditate on God and what is true about God and not just file it away somewhere in a notebook. Like a good piece of chocolate you place in your mouth you savor every thing we know about God so that it moves our hearts. What should we see in regards to God? We should look upon God to see his power and glory. For it’s God’s power and glory which moved David’s heart so deeply he made an incredible statement in v3 which we will look at shortly. But first we need know know practically how do we see God’s power and glory? The Bible tells us how. Ps 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” We see God’s glory by looking at the heavens. But not just looking with our physical eyes, but meditating on it with the eyes of our heart. I know your day is busy and the demands are piling up. But you must take the time to see and remember and meditate on God’s glory by seeing creation. Creation itself declares that God is glorious. “Declare” means “to make clearly known”. But we see not only God’s glory, but His power when we look at creation...Listen to Rom 1:19-20. “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” Let the wonder of creation lead you to wonder at the Creator. Let the heights of the mountains and the heights of the heavens lead you to wonder about the power and glory of God. Let the vastness of the oceans and the vastness of space lead you to marvel at the bigness and greatness of God. Ps 103:19 “The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. Is 40:22 “It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.” God is awesomely glorious and infinitely powerful filling the heavens with His presence. We are nothing more than grasshoppers from His vantage point. grasshoppers. I believe it was this thought that led David from verse 2 to verse 3, from seeing God’s power and glory to saying “your love is better than life”. I mean can you imagine someone as big, as powerful, and as glorious as God wanting a relationship with anything He created, let alone, grasshoppers!? Just think about that for a moment. People create lots of incredible things, but we don’t have loving relationships with them. No, we have relationships with our own kind. It would seem ludicrous for us to have a loving relationship with an invention, or a piece of art, or a nice meal! But God looked at grasshoppers and placed His steadfast love on them, on you. This thought ought to make you sit back in your chair and say “whoa” in your heart. Point #4 B4. We should  Awe Him  in our hearts Ps 63:3 David makes this same connection in Ps8. He contemplates the biggness and greatness of God and has a hard time fathoming that God would love him. Ps 8:3-4, “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? David looks at what God has created and lets that direct his eyes to see God for who He really is and wonders to himself, “as big and glorious as you truly are, why would you give grasshoppers a second thought, let alone love and care for them?” We don’t! We don’t give grasshoppers a second though! But God does! He loves us with a steadfast love. The kind of love that remains no matter what your circumstances may look like. His love is steadfast. It’s unflinching, unswerving, unwavering, unyielding. It fills the earth, extends to the heavens and lasts forever. It’s with that kind of love the Creator has loves you. So why wouldn’t you conclude with David that “Your steadfast love is better than life?!” I mean, when I take the time to think about it, meditate on it, look to see it, I am simply amazed at His love for me. I am amazed that He could love someone like me. What would it take for you to see God’s love that way? “Your steadfast love is better than life!” Look to see and remember and meditate on His power and glory and see how that speaks to the kind of love He has for you. Saying it, thinking it, having your heart moved by it is how we should come to God. It’s born from seeing God for who He is, powerful, glorious. It comes from a desperate, focused soul thirsting for what is bigger and better than this life, God. This approach to God puts God in His rightful place and puts us in our rightful place. With that said, I am not ignorant of the daily fight in which we must engage to be here. I am aware of the struggle to see God as He really is when our circumstances, good or bad, cloud our seeing. I know that glimpses of God are rare, but when they come how glorious they are. So repent of your ho-hum view of God. Tell Him you don’t want to be half hearted. Tell Him you long to see Him. Or, if you don’t, tell him you long to long to see Him, to see His power and His glory. To know that His love is better than life. Like Moses, I believe God will give you a glorious glimpse and you for a moment will sit in awe of His amazing love. And when we do we must praise Him from our hearts. Point#5 B5. From our hearts we should express  Praise to Him  Ps 63:3-4 v3b-4 My lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. v5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips. v 7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. Let your expression of praise come from a heart that is moved by and is satisfied in God. That’s the kind of worship that pleases God. That’s how we should come to Him. God wants all of us, our body and our heart and soul. Amen. Transition into Communion See glory and power in Jesus and the Gospel Glory, full of grace/truth John 1:14 ESV And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Radiance of Glory, Upholding the universe by the word of his Power Hebrews 1:3 ESV He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, Glory of God in the face of JC…God gives us eyes to see it. 2 Corinthians 4:6 ESV For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Cross of Christ and the Gospel is the Power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:17–18 ESV 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.