Sermon Tone Analysis

Welcome

Introduction

Nearly two weeks ago, I was talking with Kalie and I told her I wanted to preach on the Psalms.

At the time, I was thinking that I might preach on , and show how the entire Psalter had been woven together in narrative fashion, ultimately point to God as King.

But I’m a little long-winded and knew that would require more than one sermon.

So, I asked Kalie, “What do you think I should preach on?

I would like to preach on one of the Psalms.”

And she said that I should preach on .

When I asked why, she just said, “It’s my favorite.”

So, if today’s sermon goes well, praise be to God.

But, if it goes poorly, Kalie picked the wrong text.

If you have your Bibles, please open with me to .

This morning, we will be talking about the love of God.

That’s God’s love for us, not our love for God.

If all we were to do was to talk about our love for God, we’d walk away largely disappointed.

Daily, my sin reminds me that I don’t love God as I should.

No, this morning, we’ll be talking about God’s love for us.

The message of this morning’s text is simple, yet fundamental.

The message of this morning’s text is that God’s love is better than life.

This truth comes straight from the text itself.

It doesn’t need to be dressed up, but it does need to be explained.

Our eyes need to be opened to see its truth, because, if we’re honest, we don’t always believe it.

There are moments when we shun God’s love for lesser loves.

If our lives were on the line, many of us, like Peter, might deny Christ too.

For our sake, in , David not only declares that God’s love is better than life, but also reveals why.

Does this reflect the communal/experiential nature of a relationship w/ God

When you’re communing with God, his love is better than life.

When your not

Reading

Prayer

Exposition

God’s love DRAWS NEAR

In verses 1-4, David tells us that God’s love is greater than life because God’s love draws near.

The love of God is a love that will meet us in the most unlikely of places.

It will meet us in the midst of our sin, it will meet us in the midst of our darkness, and it will meet us in the wilderness.

We learn from the title that this psalm was birthed out of a wilderness experience.

As it is with most Psalms, insight into the historical situation is scant.

At least twice in his life, David found himself in the desert of Judah.

The first time, he was fleeing from King Saul.

The second, Absolom.

Both sought to kill him.

We can’t say with certainty which event brought about this psalm, though one is more likely.

Regardless of the circumstance, the text itself describes a man in desperation.

Without a doubt, this world will bring us trouble.

Each one of us has faced, is currently facing, or will face the wilderness.

There, we endure injustice, rejection, failure, insignificance, helplessness, uncertainty, pain, exploitation, and loss.

In the wilderness, joy, peace, and rest seem to lie beyond our grasp, so far out of reach that we begin to doubt whether we will see them again.

The wilderness is a barren place, a lonely place, and a hopeless place.

Yet it was in the midst of the wilderness that David penned this psalm.

is not only real, but also reasonable in light of how broken our world is.

As we read, we learn that the only comfort David seeks, the only solace for his soul is the love of God.

He begins with the declaration, “O God, you are my God.”

These opening words frame the entire psalm within a covenantal context.

This phrase, “O God, you are my God,” affirms David’s faithful devotion to the God of Israel, who said to the nation, “I will be your God and you will be my people.”

Each one of us will Our world offers us an infinite number of pursuits, each one promising comfort, joy, satisfaction.

The psalmist declares, “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for your; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

Find yourself in the wilderness and you’ll surely be tempted to turn to lesser comforts.

Food, drink, entertainment, sex.

These are all a means of escape.

There are countless things we could turn to for a momentary respite.

But David doesn’t do that, for he had found a greater comfort.

He discovered a love that was better than life.

Jonathan Edwards, the famous pastor-theologian, described such a love, when he wrote, “On January 12, 1723, I made a solemn dedication of myself to God, and wrote it down; giving up myself, and all that I had to God; to be for the future, in no respect, my own; to act as one that had no right to himself, in any respect.

And solemnly vowed to take God for my whole portion and felicity; looking on nothing else, as any part of my happiness, nor acting as if it were; and his law for the constant rule of my obedience: engaging to fight against the world, the flesh and the devil, to the end of my life.”

Jonathan Edwards once wrote, “On January 12, 1723, I made a solemn dedication of myself to God, and wrote it down; giving up myself, and all that I had to God; to be for the future, in no respect, my own; to act as one that had no right to himself, in any respect.

And solemnly vowed to take God for my whole portion and felicity; looking on nothing else, as any part of my happiness, nor acting as if it were; and his law for the constant rule of my obedience: engaging to fight against the world, the flesh and the devil, to the end of my life.”

Edwards vowed to take God as his portion and his felicity, looking on nothing else as any part of his happiness.

Such beautiful words remind be of David, who in his own wilderness, did not turn to lesser comforts, but to God.

As David continues, we see him thirsting and fainting, wanting nothing but communion with God.

The psalm records, “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.”

Wandering through the desert of Judah surely had its challenges.

The wilderness brought about a certain weariness, discomfort, and thirst, providing David with a perfect illustration for his spiritual condition.

Seeking, thirsting, and fainting for God reflects the dryness of his soul.

So, he sought after God as one might look for water in the driest of places.

One commentator adds, “The one who has crossed the desert on foot knows the life-and-death importance of water sources and keeps an intent lookout for any evidences of moisture.

In the same way, the psalmist is keeping an intent lookout for any evidence of God’s saving presence.”

(Gerald Wilson, NIVAC)

The one who has crossed the desert on foot knows the life-and-death importance of water sources and keeps an intent lookout for any evidences of moisture.

In the same way, the psalmist is keeping an intent lookout for any evidence of God’s saving presence.

What catches my attention about this verse is that David does not say, “My flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where water is scarce.”

Instead, he says, “My flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

In ancient Israel, it was believed that God’s manifest presence was, by and large, limited to the tabernacle.

In , the LORD says:

records that Israel was defeated by the Philistines in battle.

After the battle, the Philistines took the ark of the covenant from Israel’s camp.

This particular narrative ends with a mother dying as she gave birth to a son (1 Samuel 4:20-21).

The text reads: “And about the time of her death the women attending her said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you have borne a son.”

But she did not answer or pay attention.

And she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!”

And about the time of her death the women attending her said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you have borne a son.”

But she did not answer or pay attention.

21 And she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!”

Fast forward to , when the ark of the covenant is returned to Jerusalem.

According to the narrative, as the ark was being carried back into Jerusalem, King David “leaping and dancing before the LORD.

Confronted by an embarrassed/indignant wife, David responds ():

n ch.

14:3

o ; []

Like Israel, David also associated the presence of God with the tabernacle.

So long as he remained in the wilderness, he remained separated from presence of God.

2 Or gone into exile; also verse 22