Psalm 63:1-5 A Psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah. O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2 Therefore I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. 3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. 4 I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. 5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.
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Prayer
Dear Father in heaven, Spring of living water, Satisfier of our souls,
We come to You now because we are hungry and we know that You are the Bread of life. We come to You because even though we know that only You satisfy the hungry soul, still we spend so much of our resources buying bread that is not bread – earthly satisfactions that do not satisfy. We are seated here before Your presence, mighty God, because we need to be reminded by You and taught by You to seek You alone – to love You alone; and to love You with all our hearts.
Lord, teach us to love You with all our souls – all our appetites – all our longings and passions. Create in our hearts love for You that rises from every fiber of our being. Teach us to love You with all our minds. Teach us to love You with all our strength. Open our eyes to Your goodness and glory, dear Lord. Show Yourself to us, that we might be able to say, with David, the next time we are in the desert, “I have seen You in Your sanctuary. I beheld Your power and glory.”
Father, let us feel the sensation tonight of being taught by You. Let us enjoy the experience of having our hearts illumined by the Holy Spirit Himself – to experience the direct touch of His hands on our minds.
Some who are here tonight are weary and burdened and weighed down. You promised that Your Word would renew our souls. So use it tonight, dear Lord, to renew and refresh and enliven and strengthen and invigorate. May those who walked in here weak and on the verge of losing heart walk out stronger than the young men of Isa.40 who eventually become weary and tired. Let them run and not be weary and walk and not faint. Lord, let them mount up with wings as eagles, just as You promised in Your Word. Hearten the disheartened. Lift up the heads of the discouraged and depressed. Enlighten the minds of the confused. Heal those who are wounded and broken. Enliven the passions of those who are bored with You. Grant hope to those who can not see any light at the end of the tunnel. Give peace to those whose hearts are agitated. Those whose hearts are in turmoil or who are restless – comfort them, quiet them with Your love. Grant faith to those who are afraid. Reassure those who are worried. Shelter those who are in trouble. Provide for those who are in need.
We ask great things of You Father because we desire that Your massive riches and unbounded generosity might be set on display for all to see. We rejoice that we can do so because of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who purchased sonship for us. Amen.
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I want to say a few more things about preferring God, and then discuss the relationship between v.1 and v.5.
Introduction: Love for the World is adultery and idolatry
Last week we talked about the two feasts – the world’s and God’s. God does not just want you to abstain from the world’s feast. Doing that, by itself, glorifies no one but you. And it always ends in failure. I spent a whole hour last time trying to show you the importance of that from Scripture. The emotional component of love is not just icing on the cake. There is no more drastic catastrophe in your life than when your affections are dull toward God - or even worse – when they prefer the world’s delicacies.
Even if in your actions you are choosing what is right over what is wrong; if at the same time your affections are preferring what is wrong – that is serious sin. God wants us to love Him with your whole being – not just our actions; not just our will and decisions. He wants our whole heart, including our affections.
And if you are tempted to think feelings do not really matter, and it is not big deal if your affections are going after the world as long as your thoughts and actions are in check, remind yourself of the words God uses to describe that sin. We have talked already about the fact that God calls it adultery.
Adultery
Passages like James 4 say it is like committing adultery against God. And we understand that – if your spouse’s heart is totally entangled and wrapped up in someone else besides you, and all her affections are drawn toward that other man, and all her desires are for him; and she says, “My heart longs for him, but don’t worry honey – I’m committed to you; even though I have no desire for you.” That is not what we had in mind when we made the vows about faithfulness. God is our Husband, and when our hearts yearn after the world – even if we keep our actions in check – still, God is jealous. He is like a jilted husband. And He flat out calls that adultery against Him.
Idolatry
And He also calls it idolatry. In vv.1 and 5 we see the imagery of eating and drinking. That is important, because what one eats and drinks, in the spiritual realm, is a matter of worship. And so hungering and thirsting for the wrong things is idolatry.
You may be thinking, “Oh come on – are you telling me that if in my emotions, my heart is drawn toward some worldly enticement, I am guilty of idolatry? Isn’t that a little extreme? I mean, idolatry is a huge sin! If I have an ache in my soul – some kind of depression or longing or distress or emptiness, and I seek to remedy that by some means other than God, is that really idolatry?” Listen to God’s own description of Israel’s idolatry:
Jer.2:11-13 Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols. 12 Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror," declares the LORD. 13 "My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
How many sins does this text say they committed? (v.13)
Sin #1 was forsaking God, the spring of living water. Their big sin was to fail to drink from God’s spring.
Clearly this is a figure of speech. He is not saying that there is a literal spring with actual H2O coming out. Figures are interpreted by asking, “What is being compared to what?” and “How are those things like each other?”
So in this figure of speech he uses the image of a spring of water to describe fellowship with God – the direct experience of His favor. The second question is “How are those things alike?” In what way is fellowship with God like water? Water satisfies the thirsty mouth; fellowship with God satisfies the thirsty soul. Fellowship with God and water are similar in that they both give pleasure and fulfillment and satisfaction and relief to the one who is dried up and thirsty.
So now do you understand sin #1? Their big sin – that horrible, wicked thing they did that was so bad it should have made the heavens themselves shudder in horror; was this – they failed to drink (that is, to enjoy and be satisfied by fellowship with God). To fail to enjoy God and be satisfied in Him is an earth-shaking, heaven-rattling evil. Enjoyment of God is not icing on the cake of Christianity. It is at the core of true worship, and where it is missing there is an earth-shattering sin.
Sin #2 was that they dug their own cisterns. A cistern is a holding tank for water from a spring. This is another figure of speech. God is not condemning them for digging a literal hole in the ground. Finding satisfaction in some other way besides God.
Which other way? Any other way. Sin #2 was not that they dug the wrong cistern; it was that they dug their own cisterns at all. If you find enjoyment and pleasure and relief and satisfaction in any other way besides fellowship with God, that is like digging your own cistern.
Think for a moment of some examples of how a person could commit sin #2. What does it look like when people dig their own cisterns?
One way would be to turn to alcohol for comfort instead of to God, or to turn to pornography for satisfaction instead of to God. Or to turn to TV for rest instead of to God.
Now consider this – when we dig those kinds of cisterns – trying to come up with our own holding tanks of water, why does God connect that with idolatry? Idolatry is the worship of another god. But if I go to the TV as the source of my comfort and rest and refuge, how is that worship? I am not bowing down to the thing.
Think about what worship is. It is showing and delighting in the worth of God. And that is best accomplished when you look to Him as the Satisfier of your soul, and the Provider of all good things that you seek. That is why delight is more important than mere praise. Mere praise, apart from desire and satisfaction and enjoyment, is an insult. Just think about which would you prefer? Suppose I offered you mere praise. Someone came to me and said, “What do you think about X?” (fill in your name) And I respond with praise: “He is smart, funny, a man of integrity – the greatest guy there is.” But when I have a chance to come spend some time with you I say, “No way – I have no desire to be around him at all.” Would that honor you? No. All that praise was empty, because there was no desire.
But if people can see that I can not wait to spend time with you, that honors you. You honor that which you desire, because by desiring it you are announcing that it is desirable. Whatever I go to for my source of rest, I honor as the greatest source of rest. Whatever I go to for my joy, that I honor as the best source of joy. Whatever I go to for my refuge, that is what I am setting forth as the greatest refuge. And that is worship – it is the highest form of worship – way above mere verbal praise or physical bowing down. That is why it is idolatry (real, genuine, bonafide idolatry) when you dig your own cistern – no matter what the cistern is.
I mentioned liquor and porn and TV – how about these cisterns: food, family, friends, work, ministry activity, the Bible, or prayer? If I do my ministry as an expression of fellowship with God, then that is worship. But if I am looking to ministry instead of God for meaning in life or encouragement, that is idolatry. The same goes for the Bible and prayer. If I gain confidence and satisfaction from having completed my Bible reading regimen, I can gain a sense of satisfaction without having sought God Himself at all.
Anything can become an idol. Our hearts are idol factories. That is why John ended his first epistle with this verse: 1 Jn.5:21 Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. At first that sounds completely out of place, because he never mentioned idolatry in the book. But what did he talk about in 1 John? Loving God and having fellowship with God, and not loving the world or anything in the world. The word “idolatry” was not used, but whole book is a call to avoid idolatry by preferring God to the world.
Every one of us is tempted every day with idolatry. Any time you feel your heart begin to covet something, or to be greedy in any way, you have just fallen into idolatry.
Col.3:5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
Eph.5:5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person-- such a man is an idolater-- has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
The reason greed is identified with idolatry is because when you have greed in your heart for something - when you covet something, you are holding that thing up as the source of fulfillment, which is worship.
Both those passages identify it with sexual sin and lust, because that is all sinful lust is, is sexual greed. If I look at a woman in order to lust after her, I am holding up the experience of sexual pleasure as the source of satisfaction at that moment, which is an act of worship of the creation. And I am preferring that in my affections to fellowship with God – that is why it is idolatry.
All greed is idolatry, whether you act on it or not. You can commit idolatry with food without ever taking a bite. You may have enough self-control to fast, but if when you look at that food you are looking at the thing your affections long for as the source of satisfaction for your soul – that is idolatrous greed, even if you do not eat any.
Is it possible to desire and enjoy created things without committing idolatry? Absolutely! If you enjoy it as an act of communion with Christ, that is true worship and not idolatry. And we will study in detail in the chapters to come how to do that and exactly what the difference is. But for now I just want to establish the fact that when you look to anything for that which you should seek from God, that is idolatry.
And if you are stuck in your mind thinking, “I thought idolatry was when you bow down to worship a statue. I have never bowed down in front of a statue,” you need to realize is that idolatry is not an external action. All idolatry takes place in the heart – and that is true both in the New Testament and the Old. All true worship takes place in the heart, and all idolatry takes place in the heart. Both true worship and idolatry may have external actions that go along with it, but the actions are not the worship. They are just expressions. Worship itself (true or false), takes place in the heart.
Ez.14:3-7 "Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all? 4 Therefore speak to them and tell them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: When any Israelite sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face and then goes to a prophet, I the LORD will answer him myself in keeping with his great idolatry. 5 I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols.' 6 "Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices! 7 "'When any Israelite or any alien living in Israel separates himself from me and sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face and then goes to a prophet to inquire of me, I the LORD will answer him myself
These people were setting up actual statues, but those were not really the issue. The statue is just a representation of the real idol. The real idol – Old Testament or New – is in the heart. That is really the only place you can set up an idol.
Idolatry is when your affections are drawn toward some created thing instead of the Creator. That is why the Bible sometimes calls it adultery and sometimes idolatry. When your heart prefers some created thing to God, that created thing is like a false god or another husband. When it is thought of in terms of how it is the object of your worship, it is called idolatry. When it is thought of in terms of how it is the object of your affections, it is called adultery. They are just two illustrations designed to describe exactly the same thing. That is why sometimes you see them used interchangeably.
Ezekiel 6:9 Then in the nations where they have been carried captive, those who escape will remember me-- how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols.
The images are all mixed together, because they are the same thing. So can you see that this is serious business? Idolatry is a big, serious kind of sin. And it is a sin that strong, committed, dedicated, sold-out Christians are susceptible to every day.
Summary of the Importance of the Affections
Hopefully now everyone here is fully persuaded of the importance of the affections. Your affections are at the core of what it means to love God, which is the greatest commandment. Affections that are inclined toward the world and that prefer the world’s banquet will doom you to failure in your struggle against sin. And they will cause you to commit adultery against God. And they are idolatry.
On the other hand, affections for God will do more than anything else to give you everything you desire as a Christian. You want to read your Bible more, but you can not get yourself to do it? When your affections change, you will do it because you want to do it more than you want to do anything else. You will spend time in prayer just because that is what you desire more than anything else. You will choose righteousness over sin because you actually prefer it. Is there anything God could have said to make this issue more urgent?
I hope by now you are persuaded. But in case you are not, let me offer you one more motivation.
Getting from thirst to satisfaction
Notice the relationship between v.1 and v.5.
1 … my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
He is miserable in v.1. He is in the midst of a spiritual desert and his soul is parched. Now look at v.5.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods
Now he is talking about being in the middle of a huge feast and being as satisfied as it is possible to be. From a horrible desert to a fabulous feast. If you are in the desert take heart, because Psalm 63 teaches us how to get from v.1 to v.5.
Satisfaction
The word translated satisfied just means to be full or sated after a meal. It is not the feeling of being stuffed or bloated. It is that feeling you have when a really good meal just hit the spot. You got exactly what you wanted, you have no more hunger, you feel completely satisfied.
Not every meal does that. Sometimes you eat a meal and your stomach is full, but you just are not satisfied. You finish eating and then you start wandering through the kitchen thinking about getting some desert, or a bowl of cereal or something. Then other times you get done with the meal and you couldn’t be happier. Eating something else is the last thing on your mind – you are completely content. That is the idea behind this word. “satisfied” is a perfect translation.
We know what it means to have that feeling in your body. What does it mean to have it in your soul? He is using the figure of speech of thirst and eating and drinking; try to interpret the figure. What does he mean by thirst and what does he mean by satisfied?
Try to think of some descriptions of the condition described in v.1. How do you think David felt – or how do you feel when you are in a spiritual desert? Here are some possibilities:
1. discouraged
2. weak
3. hopeless
4. abandoned
5. discontent
6. restless
7. agitated
8. empty
9. in pain
10. frustrated
11. unhappy
12. irritated
13. fearful
14. weary
15. unmotivated
16. uninterested, bored with God
17. unmoved by God
18. joyless
19. confused
20. distracted
21. unable to enjoy pleasures
22. wounded
23. condemned
So if that is the desert, what is the feast?
Instead of/
1. discouraged/ encouraged (2 Cor.4:16)
2. weak/ strong (Ps.18:32)
3. hopeless/ full of hope (Ps.62:5)
4. abandoned/ attended to (Ps.8:4, 10:17, Jn.14:18)
5. discontent/ content (Php.4:12,13)
6. restless/ comfortable (Ps.23:4)
7. agitated/ peace, calmness (Jn.14:27, Zeph.3:17)
8. empty/ a full heart (Ps.4:7)
9. pain/ pleasure (Ps.16:11)
10. frustrated/ a smooth path (Ps.18:32)
11. unhappy/ happy (Ps.89:15)
12. irritated/ in a good mood (Ps.3:3)
13. fearful/ confident and assured (Ps.23:4, Ps.36:7)
14. weary/ invigorated (Ps.19:7, Isa.40:31, 2 Cor.4:16-18)
15. unmotivated/ motivated (2 Cor.5:14)
16. uninterested & bored/ fascinated and excited with God (Ps.119:32)
17. unmoved/ passionate (Ps.35:9, Ps.119:136)
18. joyless, overflowing with joy (Ps.23:5, Php.1:26)
19. confused/ understanding (Ps.19:8)
20. distracted, focused (Ps.86:11)
21. unable to enjoy pleasures/ heightened and intensified ability to enjoy pleasures (Ecc.5:19, 6:2)
22. wounded/ healed, comforted (Hos.6:1-3)
23. condemned/ forgiven (Ro.8:1)
That is the difference between v.1 and v.5 – between being in the desert and being satisfied at the feast.
In v.3 we see that the direct experience of God’s favor is better than life at its best. What is the direct experience of God’s favor like? It is the second list above. That is what it is like to experience God. Those are the kinds of results that come as a result of being in the presence of God and experiencing His favor.
That is why the experience of His love is better than life at its best. If the best life can offer is an expensive vacation or a huge house or nice car, what good is that if you are discouraged, restless, discontented, dry, distracted and unable to enjoy the vacation or the car? On the other hand, if you are encouraged and invigorated and happy and assured and rested and joyful – it does not really matter what the circumstances are.
The really big question is this – where does your heart think all the things in that second list come from? When your soul is restless, unhappy, bored, discouraged – to what do you naturally turn for relief? Be honest with yourself. TV? Friends? Family? Food? Work? Recreation? Money? Medication? When we imagine that all the things in that list come mainly from money or relationships or career or ______ That is idolatry. When we think of the things in that list coming only from the direct experience of the favor of God, then we are on the road toward treasuring Him in our affections.
Seek Satisfaction
I want to urge you as strongly as I can to seek satisfaction in God. If you think it is wrong to seek satisfaction – if you have been trained to think that is selfish – remember that God offers that to us as a motivation. God would not tempt us with sin. He would never tell us to do anything that is not what is best. And He tells us to seek satisfaction in Him. (Isa.55:2)
And if you think you are not seeking satisfaction in life, you are kidding yourself. We seek satisfaction all day long. Every time you chose not to do something because you do not want to do it – that is a function of your pursuit of satisfaction. Scripture describes your capacity for joy as being like a cup. Ps.23:5 – my cup runneth over. (I am fully satisfied) Whey your cup gets empty, that is miserable. All human beings hate that feeling. And we fear it. The experience of having our cup run dry is so miserable, we are afraid of it. And that is why we choose not to do things we do not want to do – we are afraid they will not fill our cup. That is why you have a tough time getting yourself to have your devotions – or to study your Bible or pray or engage in fellowship or share the gospel or give to the needy.
When I wake up in the morning and I think, “It is time for me to go spend time with the Lord” – but I do not want to do it, why is that? It’s becauses I am afraid. I am afraid that God’s ocean of goodness is not going to be enough to fill up my cup. When I do not want to spend time in communion with Him, I am basically looking up to heaven and saying, “You do not have what it takes God. I have big appetites. My cup is huge. And I just do not think Your river of delights is going to be enough. So instead of praying right now I think I’ll just … check my email or something.” When I choose to sin it is because I see the drops of enjoyment that sin will deposit into my cup… And I think, “If I do what God wants at this moment, I’ll miss out on those drops of enjoyment.” “And the drops of enjoyment God offers instead won’t be enough to fill my cup.” Is that rational or irrational?
Before stating too emphatically that it is irrational, let me ask you this question – If the last 10 times I resisted this temptation, what I got from God was nowhere near as satisfying to me than the thrill of the sin, why should I think it is going to be any different this time? If the last 50 times in a row that I have had my devotions, it has not filled up my cup - it has not filled me with joy or encouragement, or enjoyment, I have not walked away with overflowing joy or peace or contentment or satisfaction - why should I think today will be any different? What do you say to your soul when your soul is being honest and says, “I do not want to do it, because the last 10 times I did it it wasn’t satisfying”? If my devotions haven’t been satisfying, and haven’t resulted in the list we made above, what’s the problem? Does that mean that I haven’t really communed with God? Or is it possible to commune with God, but not feel satisfied afterward?
Food-Likeness
God uses lots of metaphors to describe His attributes in ways we can understand – He is a rock, a mother bird, a fortress, a shelter, a father, a mother, a friend, a king, a warrior, a blazing sun; but one I especially love is one we saw in the last chapter – a feast. When God wants us to know what He is like, He says, “I am food.”
And He says that a lot in Scripture – more than most of those other metaphors.
- In Ps.36 He is the storehouse of food and river of delights that satisfies both high and low among men.
- In Isa.58 He is the feast that satisfies those who call His holy day a delight instead of doing as they please.
- In Jn.6 He is the real bread and real drink that satisfies the souls of all who come to Him.
- In Isa.55 He is the milk and wine and bread offered for free that satisfies so much more than the bread that is not bread.
- In Pr.9 He is wisdom’s banquet that is so superior to folly’s banquet.
- In Lk.14 He is the food of the great Messianic banquet that satisfies all His people for all eternity.
- In Ps.63 He is the richest of foods that satisfies the soul of David.
- In Jer.2 and Jer.15 and Ps.1,42,63 and 143 He is the spring of living water that satisfies so much more than the broken cisterns and that never fails, and that supplies my roots and makes me flourish, and that David longed for like a thirsty deer.
- In Ps.34 He is the delicacy that my soul will crave if I just taste and see.
God is constantly describing Himself as a feast, because that is His nature. It is one of the most important attributes of God. Just as eternality or omniscience are attributes that describe essential aspects of His very being, so is this: that He satisfies. He is the God who is enough.
That means it is impossible to experience His favorable presence and not be satisfied. That is as impossible as it would be for God to die or to sin or to forget something or to make a mistake – it would violate His nature, which is literally the most impossible of all impossible things. To the degree that you have fellowship with God your soul will be satisfied.
He does not just call us to partake of good things; He satisfies us with good things. For so much of my life I thought of God as simply offering good things and commanding good things. I did not really believe that if I truly encounter Him in my morning prayer time that it is an absolute guarantee that I will go away feeling satisfied. If I do not, I have not communed with Him. If it is part of God’s essential nature that the experience of His presence satisfies the human soul, and I have my devotions and go away unsatisfied, it can only mean that I have not communed with Him. Whatever I did in my devotions, it was not enough of a direct interaction with Him.
If someone gives me a voucher for dinner at the Country Buffet and I go there, and I walk out starving – the only rational conclusion is I did not do what I was supposed to do in there. If you do what you are supposed to do in the Country Buffet, you will be full when you leave. If you go to the Country Buffet, how long should you stay there? Until you are full. How long should you pray in the morning? Until your soul has been satisfied by God.
David said that he would offer his prayer to God in the morning and then he would look up to Him - like an archer watching his arrow to see if it hit the target. After your morning prayer time consider, Is my soul satisfied? Or am I about to leave the buffet hungry? Are my devotions working? Am I walking away with some things from that list? Do I walk away satisfied? If not, your devotions are not working. They are not actual fellowship with God.
So how do you make them work? David will teach us that in the second half of this psalm. But for now I just want to make it clear that if your soul is not satisfied, and you are not gaining the things in that list, your devotions are not working. And if your devotions work (that is, if you experience actual fellowship with God), then it will satisfy your soul and give you the things in that list – guaranteed.
Overview – 6 Steps to satisfaction
This psalm is going to teach us at least six different ways to get that satisfaction of v.5. The first step toward getting that in your life is by resolving to prefer God. (v.4)
Another step is to learn to hunger and thirst for it. (v.1)
Another important step is to behold the glory of God (v.2)
A fourth step is to meditate on God (v.6)
A fifth step is to trust in His great and precious promises and rest in Him as your refuge (v.7)
Another step is to cling to Him and press hard after Him (v.8) Those are six things I see in this psalm that teach us how to arrive in v.5 – totally satisfied in God.
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Pick a couple things from the list for your person to pray for you this week.
