Seeing God - Psalm 63:2 Series

Review

Last time we took a brief look at v.2, where David spoke of his experience in the sanctuary. We found the focus was not on what he offered God, but what he received from God.

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 Therefore 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

The solution to all the lazy, do-nothing, pew-sitting sluggards is not to convince them to come to give instead of to get. The solution is to get them to come and feast upon the grace of God, because God’s grace is not without effect. The love of Christ, when we have a profound enough experience of it, will compel us just as it did Paul in 2 Cor.5:14. If you want to get people serving in the church, get them to have foremost in their mind, “I’m coming to church to receive grace from God – the kind of grace that has an overflow effect that drives me and compels me to give and to serve.” We should come to church seeking that kind of grace specifically, because that is the only kind of grace there is. Grace that has no overflow is not grace. David does not say, “God, I felt I owed You a favor for all You have done for me, so I went into the sanctuary and polished the gold in there and did some repairs on the altar.” He went there and got to see God’s power and glory, and experience God’s love which is better than life at its best, and he got all the longings and cravings of his inner man completely satisfied. And so now he wants to go back and get all that again. That is what going to the dwelling place of God is all about. That is how you glorify and magnify God in the way you come to church.

God has made the claim that He is like a spring that produces a never-ending flow of satisfaction - just simply being in His presence will satisfy all the needs and desires and longings of the soul. And you magnify and glorify and please Him when You believe that – when you come to church convinced that His claim is true - fully expecting satisfaction in your soul. When you come to church saying, “I don’t feel like going, I don’t expect that my soul will be refreshed and ravished and satisfied by God; but I will go anyway because I need to do this for God” – that belittles and insults and dishonors God.

If the 2-year-old is not going to enjoy giving the gift to mom, then it is pointless for mom to take him to the store and help him get her a gift. We are the 2-year-old. If we are not going to enjoy serving God, it is pointless; because the only thing we were offering God by serving Him was our glad, joyful, willing love. So if that is not there we are giving Him nothing.

That is why when Peter speaks to pastors he emphasizes eagerness and willingness more than anything else.

1 Pe.5:2-3 Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers-- not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve

That phrase “as God wants you to be” is one of those wonderful snapshots right into the heart of God. “I want you to enjoy opening the presents. I do not need your help. I just want your joy.”

Do you see why God will not allow Himself to be found by us unless our seeking is earnest and wholehearted? When we are not earnest in our seeking we are saying something about the value of what we are seeking. You show the value of the object to you by the way you seek. You do not search your house for a lost quarter the same way you search for a lost million dollar winning lottery ticket. If your little child has been lost in the mountains for 12 hours and it is getting dark, and you search for him in a lazy, half-hearted way worrying about whether you are going to miss your favorite show tonight if you search too long; you are saying something about how much you value your child. God is an infinite treasure, and He will not be mocked and belittled by children who seek Him in the same way they seek lesser things.