A Thirsty Soul

1. Thirsty Souls Long for Refreshment

We Chase After All Sorts of STUFF! And it doesn’t parch our thirst. And Ultimate Satisfaction Comes Only from God.

A Declaration - You are my God!

Followed by a Vow - I shall seek you - Earnestly!

The longing of the night watches, in verse 6 indicates that it may be night while this writing is taking place.

On his bed, mind wandering in to the late hours. He’s being pursued and in danger…He looks to the Lord for help.

Earnestly literally means early in the Hebrew!

Our desires are seen in the earnestness by which we seek them. Sometimes that means getting up earlier to have more time to do them. Are we seeking the Lord earnestly?! Do you thirst? Do you yearn?

The search for a relationship with the Lord is best in the morning! In the one sense, we ought to give Him our best time, but more often I would urge you to give God the first fruits of your day - your time immediately.

The first opportunity - so He can speak to us before the busyness hits us!

Busy schedules, Babies, Puppies make life difficult at times. Keep at it.

like searching for water in a dry land.

Three Times is this short Psalm - the word SOUL is used.

- in the morning

1 O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;

My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,

In a dry and weary land where there is no water.

- in the midst of worship

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Psalm 63

Psalm 63:1

1 O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;

My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,

In a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Psalm 63:5

5 My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,

And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.

Psalm 63:8

8 My soul clings to You;

Your right hand upholds me.

5 My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,

And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.

- in the midst of trouble.

8 My soul clings to You;

Your right hand upholds me.

Thirsting for God is naturally looking back to when we had the satisfaction of the truest draught of the Spirit. The closest walk with God. That TIME, THAT SEASON when He spoke and we obeyed. The time that we want to replicate again and again.

I know the taste of water when i’m hiking. I know what i need in those moments. I remember the clear mountain lakes of Canada - where we could drink and bathe straight from the lake water! So cold, but refreshing! There’s hardly been a drink since then like it.

What we want is not the church pew, it’s not the singing or the sermon - it is GOD - God showing up and showing out! He is what we desire in those moments. To see HIS POWER & GLORY!!

To sit here for any other reason is folly.

There are times when that longing is intensified! Like David being pursued by those who would take his life and he steps out of his tent and sees the stars overhead and feels the end of the heat and cries out to God and knows that even then God is ever present help in time of trouble.

“Tradition has it that this psalm was read every day by the early church fathers.”[1]

Possibly, because of the reminder of the covenant word, chesed in the third verse.

“Hesed ‘s original use was to denote that attitude of loyalty and faithfulness which both parties to a covenant should maintain toward each other.”[2]

“The most important of all the distinctive ideas of the Old Testament is God’s steady and extraordinary persistence in continuing to love wayward Israel in spite of Israel’s insistent waywardness.”[3]

“The most important of all the distinctive ideas of the Old Testament is God’s steady and extraordinary persistence in continuing to love wayward Israel in spite of Israel’s insistent waywardness.”[3]

David says that God’s Chesed is better than life!! Once realizing that - it is God we pursue! God we want to praise!

v. 4 says so I will bless you as long as I live. I will lift up my hands in Your Name.

[1] Jon Courson, Jon Courson’s Application Commentary: Volume Two: Psalms-Malachi (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2006), 76.

[2] Ronald F. Bridges and Luther A. Weigle, King James Bible Word Book (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1994), 211.

[3] Ronald F. Bridges and Luther A. Weigle, King James Bible Word Book (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1994), 212.

2. Thirsty Souls Find Satisfaction in God.

God made a way for us to find that satisfaction - it is in Jesus Christ.

Jesus who lived, died and was buried and ON THE 3rd Day - up from the grave he arose - the mighty triumph over His foes.

Remember the old hymn - Up From The Grave He Arose?

Low in the grave He lay, Jesus, my Savior, Waiting the coming day, Jesus, my Lord!

Up from the grave He arose, With a mighty triumph o'er His foes, He arose a Victor from the dark domain, And He lives forever, with His saints to reign. He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Up from the grave He arose, With a mighty triumph o'er His foes, He arose a Victor from the dark domain, And He lives forever, with His saints to reign. He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Vainly they watch His bed, Jesus, my Savior; Vainly they seal the dead, Jesus, my Lord! Death cannot keep his Prey, Jesus, my Savior; He tore the bars away, Jesus, my Lord!

Our satisfaction is only found in Jesus - He is the object of our thirst! And He can keep giving it us satisfaction because of His LOVINGKINDNESS, mentioned in verse 3. That lovingkindness that never fails. His covenant love that goes so far beyond our failures!

And once found - Jesus is a spring welling up from eternity to our thirsty souls.

Remember what He told the woman at the well? She wanted the living water that would keep her from coming back to the well again and again.

In effect, some magic solution - it’s not magic it is relationship, friendship that we walk with and talk with.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 4

13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again;

14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again;

14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

In effect, she some magic solution - it’s not magic it is relationship, a friendship that we walk with and talk with.

David says in Verse 6 that he meditates on the Lord - especially in the night watches when it’s lonely and theres is sometimes doubting of His presence.

God is our help and we can rest like young in the “shadow of His wings.” This is another paternal phrase.

Like a mother bird cares for her young, we are safe Under His Care.

3. Thirsty Souls Find Resolution in Relationship

V. 8 gives us a mutual action - we hold onto God, but more importantly He is holding onto us.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Psalm 63

8 My soul clings to You;

Your right hand upholds me.

When I was a child - my Dad used to tell me the that I had strong ears and then he would show me.

He would put His hands on my ears and then my hands on His wrists.

Then he would lift me “by my ears.” He was holding me up but i was holding onto him.

It was equal parts fun and just being with Dad! It is like that with the Lord except that if we were to let go - HE NEVER DOES!!

We Cling in Fear and Doubt and Restlessness sometimes. HE upholds us with His Covenant Strength!!

There’s a popular song out now entiled You Never Let Go and the Chorus goes:

Oh no, You never let go Through the calm and through the storm Oh no, You never let go In every high and every low Oh no, You never let go Lord, You never let go of me.

I was reminded of that yesterday as we stood around the bed of my mother. We sang hymns together.

TO GOD BE THE GLORY

THE OLD RUGGED CROSS

JESUS LOVES ME

I was reminded that the longer life gets the thirstier our souls get. We long to eternal satisfaction.

It gives us HOPE to know that she will die and Go Home To Be With Jesus!

THE AUTHOR AND FINISHER of OUR FAITH!

So we cry out like David does here in the first verse!!

OH GOD, YOU ARE MY GOD - Earnestly and Early we seek you, thirst for you, yearn for You and you only.

Easter is about Jesus and The Empty Tomb - Is Your Soul Thirsty Today? The Savior desires to quench Your thirst!

Don’t let anything get in the way of that satisfaction.