The Thirst Of The Soul - Psalm 63 Part 3 Series

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.