Sermon Tone Analysis

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

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,