Going Hard After God
Psalm 63:1-8
Ps 63:1-8… O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
2 To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
6 When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
8 My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me. KJV
Ps 63:8… I follow close behind you; NLT
Introduction:
Have you ever really gone hard after something in your life? Was there ever something you wanted in life almost more than life itself? It could have been:
• a new job,
• a promotion,
• a spot on the starting team,
• a guy you really wanted to date,
• a car you always wanted,
• a contract that could make or break your company,
• a weight-loss goal.
What did you do to get what you wanted?
• Give it your best effort?
• Focus all your energies on it?
• Think about it day and night?
• Devise a plan or strategy to get it?
• Talk about it to anyone who would listen?
• Stick with it until you got it?
We all have these kinds of pursuits in life. They are what we live for. They make life worthwhile. They provide drive and give us a sense of purpose and accomplishment
What would happen if we gave that same kind of effort to going hard after God? What would happen to us as individuals, as families, as a church if we made this kind of all-out effort to pursue God until we really found Him?
What kinds of change such a pursuit would make in our lives?
• In our prayer life?
• In our priorities?
• In our use of time?
• In our spending habits?
• In our social life?
• In our church attendance?
• In our burden for the lost?
• In our missions commitment?
I can’t help but believe it would literally turn our lives, our homes our church, our community upside down.
Let me tell you where I am coming from in talking about this today. For some time I have felt a stirring in my heart for us as a church to move to a higher level in our relationship with God.
We have been enjoying the blessings and presence of God in our services. God has met with us in a powerful way. Nevertheless, I can’t help but feel that there is still something more, something deeper, higher, wider, longer that God has for us as a church.
I’m not sure if I can define it anymore specifically than that. I just know it’s out there and I want it.
A second theme that runs concurrent with this one in my heart is the strong feeling that we must do more to reach out to the lost of our community–to children and youth, to the up and out as well as the down and out.
What does it Means to Go Hard After God?
In Psalm 63 we find an explanation of what it means to go hard after God, along with an instructional manual on how to go about it. David sets forth three requirements or conditions that can be summed up in three words:
1. Reference - Know where we are
Joke… There was once an absent-minded professor who became so absorbed in his work that he forgot the simplest details. One morning his wife said, "Now Henry, remember, we are moving today. Here, I’m putting this note in your pocket. Don’t forget." The day passed by and the man came home to his house. He entered the front door, and found the place empty. Distraught, he walked out to the curb and sat down. A young boy walked up to him, and he asked him, "Little boy, do you know the people who used to live here?" The boy replied, "Sure, Dad, mother told me you’d forget."
The superscription at the beginning of the psalm tells us the setting in which David wrote this psalm - "When he was in the Desert of Judah."
David knew all too well where he was–in a desert place, a wilderness. In verse 1 he describes it as "a dry and weary land (a parched and thirsty land) where there is no water."
Going hard after God often begins with an accurate point of reference. Until we recognize just how dry and weary of soul we really are, we will never take steps to do something to correct the situation.
One thing you can say for David is that he was not troubled with mirages. He did not look out across the arid landscape and mistakenly see an oasis with a shimmering pool of water and swaying palm trees. He knew the situation for what it was–a dry, weary, water-less land.
Many Christians are in a desert place spiritually and they don’t even know it.
• It’s like they live in a world of mirages.
• They accept as fact things that are just a figment of their imaginations.
• They see things that just aren’t there.
• They believe things about themselves that just aren’t true.
They are like the church at Laodicea described by Jesus in
Rev. 3:17: "You brag ‘I am rich, I’ve got it made, I don’t need anything from anyone,’ oblivious that in fact you’re a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless." (The Message)
Maybe sometimes we as a church contribute to that false perception. Because God’s presence is in our services and because people can freely enter into praise and worship, they may assume that everything is just fine.
It is time we let the Holy Spirit call us to account so we can be reminded of just how dry, weary, pitiful, threadbare we really are.
Let us look around.
• Is everything bright and green and growing and reproducing.
• Are souls finding God at our altars?
• Are sinners forsaking their sins and turning back to God?
• Are lives being changed by the power of the Spirit?
If not, it may mean we’re really in a dry and weary land.
2. Resource - See God as our only hope
Notice the first words that come out of the psalmist’s mouth: "O God, you are my God."
This will build hope into your heart.
Illustration of woman on phone. The telephone rings, and the young mother answers. "Honey, it’s mom. I called because I know that you’re busy with the three children, and I want to give you some help. I’m going to stop by to clean the house, take care of the baby, and prepare dinner for when the boys get home from school.
I want you to get ready to go to my beautician, I paid her already, she is going to give you "the works," your appointment is at 1:00.
Give George a call at the office and tell him that you will meet him at Chez Jays for dinner, on me..."
The young mother suddenly interrupts and asks "George, who is George?"
"Your husband." says the caller.
"My husbands name is Fred." She replies.
"Is this 555-3212?"
"No this is 555-2212"
"I’m sorry I have the wrong number." says the now embarrassed caller.
After a pause, the young mother sheepishly asks, "Does this mean that you’re not coming over?"
Two things stand out to me is this short statement:
First, David acknowledges the presence of God. He knows God is there, even in this spiritual wilderness.
Psalm 139: "Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me."
Secondly, David acknowledges God as "my God." He laid personal claim to God as his rightful owner and ruler, his by covenant and by consent.
This is where we have to go next in our pursuit after God. Acknowledging Him as our only hope, our only resource.
We’re not going to find our way out of this wilderness, this dry place without help. We may have gotten into this place of spiritual dryness and weariness by ourselves, but we’re not going to get out of it the same way.
We need help, we need God’s help and God’s help alone to get us out of this mess.
Psalm 18:6 In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears." (NIV)
It will take a deliberate act of repenting and turning back to God. Not a quick, casual genuflect at the altar, but a true pursuit of God as our only hope.
3. Resolution - Set our hearts to seek God
First, I want you to notice what he says about the importance of his pursuit. Part of verse one in the older KJV reads as follows: "Early will I seek You."
The idea here is not necessarily the hour of the day, although the early morning hours are a great time to seek the Lord.
What I think this phrase means is that we need to make seeking the Lord our first priority in life. Not something that can be left to the waning hours of the day, but as something that must be done as a first priority of our lives.
Second, I want you to notice what he said about the earnestness of his pursuit. In several other translations this verse reads like this:
"Earnestly I seek you. In my heart I long for you. My whole being desires you. I can’t get enough of you."
David uses two illustrations he knows his listeners will understand in trying to demonstrate just how serious he is about going hard after God:
He says first of all that he feels like someone dying of thirst.
Verse one in the NLT says: "My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water."
Have you ever been so thirsty you thought you were going to die unless you got something to drink?
David grew up in this desert region. He knew how absolutely essential it was to have a dependable source of water.
That’s why he says, "My whole body longs for you. Every cell in my body cries out to You for refreshment. I can’t live without You."
Have any of us ever been this serious about our pursuit of God? Has going hard after God become as important to us water is to someone dying of thirst?
Maybe we’re not thirsty enough yet.
The other illustration he uses is that his pursuit of God is like someone starving to death.
Just as the human body cannot continue to function in strength and energy without taking in food to nourish and replenish it, so David says he cannot function spiritually without feeding on bread from heaven.
Again, have you ever been so hungry you just didn’t feel like you could go another step or do another thing until you got something to eat?
Matthew 5:6 Jesus said: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." I like the way it reads in TLB: "Happy are those who long to be just and good, for they shall be completely satisfied."
Have you come to the place in your pursuit of God where you can say as Jesus said to His disciples in John 4:34: "My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work."
Has our hunger for God and His perfect will being done in our lives become like the very bread we eat?
Maybe we’re not hungry enough yet.
The Results of Going Hard After God
Let me quickly list for you the wonderful results of going hard after God. They are all found here in the rest of this chapter:
1. A display of His power and glory - Verse 2 …Once we begin a renewed pursuit after God, we will immediately begin to see His power and glory displayed in our lives as never before.
If you long to see God work miracles in your life and in our church, the secret is going hard after Him, as a church and as individuals. When God shows up in our lives and in our services good things start to happen.
I can tell you the world outside the walls of this church are desperate for a display of God’s power and glory. Most of them won’t take the time to come inside just to see us "doing church," but they will come to see God at work among us.
Quote… John Wesley said the reason people came by the thousands to hear him preach was because "each time I set myself on fire, they came to watch me burn." God help us to do whatever it takes to set ourselves ablaze for Him!
2. New freedom in praise and worship - Verses 3, 4
As David’s heart is warmed by a new awareness of God’s love for him, his lips, heart and hands were freed up to praise and worship Him.
As He moves in new power among us, we will respond with new freedom in praise and worship as never before.
• It will be a spontaneous kind of worship that will not be dependent on who is or is not in leading it.
• It will break across service schedules and time constraints to flow like a mighty river through this place.
3. Inner satisfaction of soul - Verse 5
Remember all that hungering and thirsting mentioned in verse 1, all the dryness and weariness? Well, apparently that problem was solved for David.
Likewise, as we begin to draw nearer to God, He responds by satisfying the inner longing of our souls.
Ps 107:9 says "He satisfies those who are thirsty and fills the hungry with good things." TEV
Ps 103:5 puts it this way: "He fills my life with good things, so that I stay young and strong like an eagle."(TEV)
Don’t you just long to fill the inner craving for more of God? Don’t you get tired at times of going through the motions spiritually?
Here’s the answer–go hard after God and He will satisfy the inner longing of your soul with Himself.
4. Freedom from fear - Verses 6, 7
One last blessing of going hard after God–freedom from fear.
You can lay down at night and sleep because you know God will keep watch over you and yours.
Psalms 4:8: "When I lie down, I go to sleep in peace; you alone, O LORD, keep me perfectly safe."
Ps 63:7 says you can sing in the shadows because He is your help and He will be there with you.
Isaiah 26:3 says, "You, LORD, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in you." TEV
No safer place to be then in hot pursuit after God.
Conclusion
A sermon like this produces one of several responses from the listeners.
There is one group who says "Pastor, don’t get yourself all worked up and don’t rock the boat. We like it the way it is, so don’t expect anything different from us."
Another group says, "Pastor, this sound good. I can see that it could really make a difference. I hope someone gets on board with you. But I know from experience that something like this calls for a lot of work and I just can’t get involved right now."
Nevertheless, fortunately there is another group who says, "Pastor, this is just what we need. In fact this is just what I need. Moreover, I want it whatever it takes. Count me in."
So in which group are you today? Are you ready to go hard after God or are you satisfied with your level of commitment? What will it take for you to move to a new level of commitment? Are you willing to pay the price?
Maybe you’ve never made a commitment of any kind to Christ. That would be the place for you to start in following after Him today.
