Hungering for More of God | Psalm 63 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

To have found God and still pursue Him is the soul's paradox

of love, scorned by the all too satisfied religionist, but

justified and happy experience by the children of burning

hearts. This famous quote from AW Tozer,

the renowned author and long standing pastor of a church in

the South Side of Chicago, captures one of the greatest

paradoxes in the Christian life. On one hand, a believer has

already found God, meaning they have encountered him, they have

experienced him, they've been saved by him.

But on the other hand, the pursuit continues of him,

meaning even after finding God or being found by him, there is

a deep longing and desire to know Him, to experience him, to

grow in a relationship with Him. That being said, that desire is

not universally shared by all professing Christians.

Tozer calls them the religionists, those who have a

basic knowledge of God and are satisfied in that place, feeling

as though they have already arrived spiritually.

Whereas you have those that he calls the children of burning

hearts, who have this overwhelming desire and longing

to know him more and more. And to those believers, it's not

a burdensome obligation, It's the natural response of being

exposed to the glories that they have seen in the Lord Jesus

Christ. Now, is what Tozer said

something that you can find in your Bibles?

I say absolutely. And we can go through the entire

New Testament to find examples and exhortations of this truth,

but nothing demonstrates this reality more, I believe, than

the book of Psalms. And within the book of Psalms,

one of the most notable chapters that paints this paradox is

Psalm 63. And I invite you to turn there

with me as we read it in its entirety.

Psalm 63, a Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of

Judah. Oh God, you are my God.

Earnestly I seek you. My soul thirsts for you, My

flesh faints for you. As in a dry and weary land where

there is no water, so I have looked upon you in the

sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.

Because your steadfast love is better than life.

My lips will praise you, so I will bless you.

As long as I live in your name, I will lift up my hands, my soul

will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will

praise you with joyful lips when I remember you upon my bed and

meditate on you in the watches of the night.

For you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wing I

will sing for joy. My soul clings to you.

Your right hand upholds me, but those who seek to destroy my

life shall go down into the depths of the earth.

They shall be given over to the power of the sword.

They shall be a portion for jackals.

But the king shall rejoice in God.

All who swear by him shall exalt, for the mouths of liars

will be stopped. Lord, it is my sincere prayer as

we come together as a family to expound Your word that it would

enlarge our hearts. Again, Lord, it has to be Your

power. It has to be Your work in us.

It has to be an intervention from heaven if there's going to

take any change in our hearts. So we ask for that.

That would be our portion today, and we thank you for it in Jesus

name, Amen. There are two vital details that

you and I have to acknowledge if we want to make the most out of

this song. The first one is a

superscription, the heading of this Psalm.

We read it, but look at it again, a Psalm of David right

before verse one when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

Now people debate, was this when David was running away from King

Saul? Or is this when David was

running away from his son Absalom?

You can make a case for both, but I think there's a clue that

tells us that this was happening while David was fleeing from his

father-in-law. Look at verse 11 again.

But the king shall rejoice in God Speaking of himself.

The king shall reduce. Well, David wasn't a king while

Saul was occupying the throne. Obviously.

So I believe that's a helpful way of helping us understand

that this is David when he was running for his life from Saul.

Either way, he penned this while in the wilderness and we're

going to make reference to that throughout this text because

it's going to bring a depth to some of these statements and

declarations. The second vital detail that we

have to grasp here is that I believe there is a structure to

this piece. Why I say that is because if you

read carefully, David mentions his soul three times, and when

you look at it even more carefully, you'll realize that

every time he makes reference to his soul, there's a progression

that's taking place. Look again with me and verse one

to the last part. My soul thirsts for you.

Look at verse 5. My soul will be satisfied.

And come here to verse 8. My soul clings to you.

Do you see it? Should we expect any less for us

as an invitation? Should we expect anything for us

who obey? What David models here?

That when you seek after God, he's not talking about seeking

God in salvation. He's saved.

He's seeking after God, and when he seeks after God, he is

satisfied in his soul. And when he is experiencing that

satisfaction, he realizes I still have a responsibility and

that's the cling to my God so that I can continually drink

from this. Well, in order for the

satisfaction to be sustained. Oh yes, there's a development

taking place here and I want to organize our thoughts with those

points, meaning they serve as headings and we're going to

collect our reflections under these three headings.

So this day you came to church to hear about 3 things.

You came to hear about the seeking soul.

The second thing is the satisfied soul.

And lastly. The clinging soul, The seeking

soul. Verse 10 God, you are my God.

Earnestly I seek you, my soul thirst for you.

What a way to set up this prayer, he says.

Oh God, he doesn't just address God as God, but as.

His God. Oh, God, you are my God.

The Lord is not just a concept to David.

He's not just a distant figure. No, no, no, no.

He's a living reality, a personal companion in his

everyday life. Don't you dare make the mistake

that by David saying oh God, you are my God.

That he is making merely a Pledge of Allegiance, as though

he was saying I believe in God and though I live in a time

where there are many, many, many gods that are acknowledged, I

ascribe to the God of Israel. It's much more meaningful than

that. He's not just declaring that God

is the true God, that God is infinite.

He's declaring that God is intimate.

He's my God. He's personal.

In other words, the way you can summarize his his understanding

here is that God is knowable and he is approachable.

I belong to him, He belongs to me.

He is my God, and that's why in the next part he says earnestly,

I seek you. Now the the word earnestly in

the Hebrews is interesting because it can be translated as

early, like early in the day, or diligently so.

If you have an English translation like the King James

for example, it would read and it would be rendered as early.

Will I seek you? Either way, the same conclusion

stands. David, in his heart of hearts,

saw the seeking of God. As his top priority, whether

it's early or it's earnestly, what he is reflecting here is

that this is my ultimate desire. And that longing was so real to

him that he defines it as thirst.

Earnestly. I seek you.

My soul thirsts for you. That's helpful because all of us

in here know what it's like to be thirsty.

Whether you're exercising, working outside, running from

meeting to meeting. When your mouth is parched, it

occupies your mind. And even in the midst of

activity, you are periodically planning, how am I going to take

care of this dry mouth of mine? How am I going to quench this?

And in the same way, listen very carefully.

When the soul longs to know God more deeply, it cannot be

satisfied with where it's at, in the same way that a thirsty

person will not be content remaining thirsty.

My soul thirsts for God. How does that look like?

Lord, I know that You have opened my eyes to Your Word in

the past, and I thank You for all those precious moments where

You have manifested Your sweet presence to me.

But I want more. I'm desperate for more, I'm

thirsting for more and so intense can that desire be not

just in David, but in any person who has tasted of the goodness

of the Lord that this Holy Spirit reveals an extraordinary

phenomenon at the end of verse 1, something that can occur.

Look what he says here after he says my soul thirsts for you, my

flesh faints for you. He didn't say my soul faints for

you. He said my flesh faints for you.

How can that be? Because when you read your New

Testament, you learn very quickly that the flesh is

naturally opposed to God and to the things of God.

And Galatians 517 we're. Told that the flesh is against

the Spirit, wages war against the Spirit.

And then you read this, for example, and you discover

something different. Not that the flesh is against

the things of God, but it's actually in concert.

Not my soul faints for you. No, no, no, no, no, my flesh

faints for you. Do we have a contradiction here?

No, there is no contradiction in the Bible.

You have a deep, deep theological truth that is

experiential. He says here.

In other words, our longing to know the Lord can become so

fierce that it consumes every part of who you are, silencing

the lust of the flesh in the process.

Your soul can become so fervent, and your.

Desire to know God, that he can overpower the impulses of the

carnal man. And some of you can remember

even when you were first saving, you first were exposed to the

mercy of God, the reality of who Jesus Christ was.

It just envelops you. You feel like you're on a

different planet and you came from a different planet almost.

It doesn't have to remain in the first parts of your salvation.

David here is in the wilderness experiencing one of the greatest

hardships of his life, yet he can say my flesh, every part of

who I am is committed to this cause of knowing God.

You know what the appropriate follow up question would be to

this truth? How can I arrive at that place?

You're saying that this is possible for me?

Then how can I get there? And I believe David provides a

very helpful clue at the end of verse one.

Notice what he says after my flesh faints for you.

As in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Can you see it, David? There sitting in the wilderness,

looking out to that barren land, dry and cracked up?

And the thought came to him. This is what my soul is like,

without the ever increasing presence of God.

In the same way that water is the only thing that can bring

life to this desert. So only God can give my soul the

vitality and delight that it craves.

My soul thirsts for you. And listen, if you want to know

what Davis anger because I'm going to get to this point in a

moment. I don't want to get ahead of

myself. But if you want to to be able to

look at these verses and say I know what that's like.

I know what David is speaking about here.

I I argue that what you find at the end of verse one is the

first step for you to even entertain the possibility of it.

What's the first step? You have to be convinced of the

same truth that David spells out here, that nothing in this life

will actually and truly satisfy you.

Yes, there are things in God's creation that satiate the

material parts of who we are, but listen to this.

Only closeness with Jesus Christ can address the deepest.

Part of who you are. You're not just material, you're

not just physical. You have a spirit, you have a

soul and only nearness with Christ, only communion with

Christ can touch that part. If you don't even believe that

to begin with, if you, if you don't have that kind of

foundation in your understanding how your relationship God works,

you'll never, you'll be a wanderer forever.

David is convinced in the same way that I'm looking here and

there is nothing there is not. It's barren.

I look out to this world with all its shiny toys and all its

trinkets. It does nothing for me.

It's surface level. It bounces off of me.

It's there for a moment and evaporates the next day.

Oh, I need God. If it's possible to know God,

then I I thirst for that. I need that.

I'm seeking for that, and I can hear it.

Now some might be wondering, OK, you're talking about thirsting

for God and seeking it, but what does that actually look like in

practice? I'm glad you asked.

Look at verse 2. So I have looked upon you in the

sanctuary, beholding your power and glory, because your

steadfast love is better than life.

My lips will praise you. So David here is reflecting.

He's recollecting. He's exiled in the desert, and

he remembers. He remembers something that

stimulates this seeking and this thirsting.

He remembers the days where he would go to the House of God,

because he's speaking about worshipping at the temple here.

He remembers going to the House of God and beholding.

Something of his power and glory.

I wonder what that looked like for David.

I'm sure it had something to do with him witnessing the

elaborate protocols of the sacrificial system where he

would see all those beasts. Slain in the.

Bloodshed. And as he was processing all of

this, he he stood in awe of the holiness of God.

And as he considered further and looked at these unworthy

priests, imperfect vessels doing the ministry, he stood back and

he reflected on the absolute mercy of God to use such people,

to be able to mediate and to come into such contact with his

presence. I wonder if he considered the

ark of the covenant that was behind that veil.

And more than being scared about it, he was actually moved by it,

because for God to create that space demonstrated to the people

that he longed to come and dwell with man.

And so he was, he was enthralled by the love of God.

I what? I have looked upon you in the

sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.

David experienced something. So again, don't make the mistake

that David, when he would go to the House of God, was analyzing

things doctrinally and trying to have a more accurate theological

understanding. Theology is important, but David

is doing more than studying God. He has truly savored him.

This isn't just head stuff. This is heart stuff.

This is like my soul has moved. You're saying, How do you know

that? Look at verse 3.

Because your steadfast love is better than life.

That is not the vocabulary of somebody who just studies and

can give you good definitions. That is the language of somebody

who has come into contact with the truth in a personal way.

Because your steadfast love is better than life.

Life is not life without God's love being experienced and

known. What is life?

This is what he is saying. And the point that I'm trying to

make is if you want to know what it means to seek God, if you

want that seeking soul to be activated and to experience Him

the way that David experienced them, then here's what it

includes. It includes beholding Him.

Beholding Him to the degree that the conclusions that you make

from what you see in God's Word primarily apply to you on an

individual basis. And here's what's so glorious.

This invitation to behold God's power, His glory, to taste His

love, is not reserved for kings and Old Testament prophets.

In fact, you and I have greater access.

What did Paul say in 2nd Corinthians 318?

And we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,

are being transformed into the same image from 1° of glory to

another. This comes from the Lord who is

the Spirit. So you and I also have access to

behold the glory of the Lord and Christ.

Remove the veil from our faces, from our eyes so that we can see

clearly beholding. Can I just pause here and do

something? I want to pause here and

actually kind of show you by way of example what that might look

like so personally. Not my sermon prep, no, no, no.

My sermon prep is a different thing.

My personal reading, my personal beholding of God's Word.

I'm in the gospel of Luke. I started in Genesis.

I end in Revelation. I don't keep count.

I'm not trying to follow a pace. If it takes me a year, 10 years

to go through the Bible once more, doesn't matter to me.

I'm not counting. You ask me.

I don't know how many times I've read through it.

I'm not interested in counting numbers.

I'm interested with meeting with God every time I come to His

Word. But I'm now in the book of Luke

and in Luke 1, I was this is earlier this week I was looking

at Mary's song and in the same chapter Zacharias prophecy, the

father of John the Baptist. So I want you to just see, come

with me to Luke chapter 1. And this is just person again,

Luke 1 · chapter mention

not sermon prep, just reading my Bible before the day starts.

Look at Luke 1. 50. I discovered a few things that

moved me not just in the moment but listen revelations of God

that have kept me full till today.

Luke 150 Look what Mary says. And his mercy is for those who

fear Him from generation to generation.

So I read. That, and I thought, that's

wonderful. Yeah.

His mercy is for those who fear him.

And then I'm reading through the same chapter and I come to the

Zacharias prophecy over his son. And look what it says here in

Luke 174. He talks about Christ earlier,

talks about John the Baptist later in the same text.

But notice that we, being delivered from the hand of our

enemies, might serve him without fear.

So here's what happened just two minutes ago.

I'm reading a merry song and I learned verse 50.

And His mercy is for those who fear Him.

And then I come back here, the 7174 of chapter one, that we may

be delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him

without fear. Well, which one is it?

Do you want me to have fear or no?

No Fear. And then what dawned on me was

one of the verses from that glorious hymn, Amazing Grace,

and I think most people miss it. Twas grace that taught my heart

to fear and grace my fears relieved.

Another paradox, if you will. What is John Newton saying

there? This grace that I've experienced

has caused my heart to fear you the way God wants you to fear a

reverential awe of Him. And that same grace has relieved

me. From all other illegitimate

fears. So you have Mary saying here,

yes, his mercies for those who fear him.

And then in the very same chapter you have a promise that

Christ has come, that we might serve him without fear doesn't

end there. I kept reading.

Look at verse 76 of Luke 1 as he now turns to John his son, And

you, child will be called the prophet of the Most High, for

you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways to give

knowledge of salvation to His people and the forgiveness of

their sins. Pause there.

This is not a point for this message, but just worth noting

just in case. Notice that John was called to

give the message of the forgiveness of people's sins.

What was John's favorite word in his sermons?

Repent. So for those who think that

repentance is not necessary for salvation, what are you going to

do with this? Because by the Holy Spirit he

was called to give knowledge of salvation to his people.

When John opened his mouth, you know what he said?

Repent. That's not the part that moved

me. Verse 78 because of the tender

mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on

high. You know what touched me?

The Holy Spirit could have simply said in 78 because of the

mercy of our God, but he included a word before it.

Because of the tender mercy of our God.

And there I am on my little chair in my office, in my house,

and I'm looking at that word after I was just wrestling and

dealing with that fear. Fear him.

Fear Him. Don't fear.

Yes, I come to this and I realized something about God's

mercy. It's not just there, it's

tender. What does tender mean?

So I look it up. You know what it means.

Ready for this bowels saying what's the point of that?

His mercy comes from the inside. It overflows from his heart.

It it's not merely a duty, it's not forced mercy, it's not

superficial, it's not surface level.

It comes from it's a feeling mercy.

God has he, he has mercy and he feels merciful.

Ready for this towards me. So what are you?

What are you doing? Why are you explaining all this?

I'm trying to show you, at least to the best of my ability, what

beholding looks like Beholding him.

So there I am. You said, well, you're a pastor.

You. No, no, no, no, no.

There's nothing to do with being a pastor because this isn't

sermon prep time. That's later in the week.

And I can show you markings in my Bible from the days when I

was a college student and when I was working in advertising where

the beholding was taking place. This is available to any of us

where you look at these things. And it's not just OK, I read my

book. No, it's beholding.

And then you're moved by it and you're drawn to it.

And then what happens? Now God speaks to you, and now

you speak to him. Lord, help me believe that your

mercy is tender for me. Like your heart is moved when

I'm broken in my sin. When I seek you, help me really

believe that you feel tenderly. And help me understand that you

have mercy for those who fear you.

So help me have this reverential of you.

That's what it looks like. And you go about your day and

you do your things and you do your hobbies, but you're still

meditating on those things. And when you're when your mind

goes into default space, it rests there, the seeking soul.

And you do that long enough and you practice it and you believe

that it can work and you'll come to the next point.

And that's the satisfied soul. Come back to Psalm 63.

Notice what he says here in verse 5.

My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my

mouth will praise you with joyful lips.

Listen, David compares the gratification that comes from

beholding to sitting at a table before the most exquisite,

delicious feast you can. Translate his point in the

following way when the Lord manifests His presence to me.

It's like feeding at a banquet and he gives us a glimpse of the

incredible impact of of what it's like for the Lord to open

your eyes, open your ears, open your heart to Him beyond.

What you knew in the gospel, The gospel is paramount.

The gospel sustains us. Everything stems from the

gospel. But deeper things about who he

is. When you taste it and you taste

it and you taste it, look at this impact.

Look what he says here in verse 6.

When I remember you upon my bed and meditate on you in the

watches of the night. Here's what's so significant.

David is writing this again. Remember the heading of the

Psalm. He's in the wilderness, he's in

the desert, he's sleeping in random caves.

And as he's reminiscing, being in the wilderness, being in

exile, Listen, he's, he's cut off from virtually everything,

but you know what he is not looking back to?

He's not aching for the comforts of his palace.

He's not remembering the taste of royal delicacies.

He's not even rehearsing the relationships and the

interactions that he had with people that he had to walk away

from when he had to leave into the wilderness.

None of that. What is he thinking about?

At the end of the day, when the stillness of the night comes and

all the busyness slows down and it's just you and your soul with

your heavy head on that pillow, what is he thinking about?

He's reflecting on past testimonies of his walk with God

and it's only causing him to want more testimonies.

That's what he's saying here. He's saying, how do you know

that? Because look what he says in

verse 7. For you have been my help.

You've been my help. This is what he's reflecting on

as he's laying there. I I'm remembering the times when

the Lord has intervened in my life.

Beyond coincidence. Beyond a sermon.

Beyond. What I've heard from other

people know I have my own testimonies of God coming

through, and the thought of it alone is satisfying me and it's

causing me to want more. But it's the second part of

verse seven that deserves our attention.

For you have been my help. In the shadow of your wings I

will sing for joy. If you read this over and over

again, the whole Psalm, you'll observe something.

You'll observe that there's numerous mentions of praising

God in it. So let's revisit it.

Look at verse three. What does he say?

Because your steadfast love is better than life.

My lips will praise you. My lips will praise you.

Look at verse 4. So I will bless you as long as I

live. Look at verse 5, the second

part, My mouth will praise you with joyful lips.

And finally, verse 7, I will sing for joy.

I will sing for joy. I will praise you.

I will bless you. Or he even goes beyond that to

something that might make some people uncomfortable.

He says I will lift my hands in your name.

What's happening here? There's a clear connection and

here's what I want to say. In love, there are well meaning

believers who, if they are honest, struggle to relate what

David is expressing here because what he is actually writing

about is spontaneous praise and heartfelt joy.

It's one thing to sing, it's another thing to sing with joy.

He's singing with joy here and he can't help himself and listen

it. It genuinely, genuinely breaks

my heart. I'm fully aware that we are

living in a day where our land is plagued with biblical

illiteracy. I believe in the.

I believe you need to get back to truth.

Truth Trump's over everything you're feeling, your emotions,

your experience. I'm there, but it breaks my

heart also to learn of believers who have very little feeling in

their religion. Some of those believers have

been taught that having feelings that are stirred within you or

even expressed is dangerous and should be discouraged.

Meanwhile, you have other believers who listen.

They believe the gospel, they believe in the saving message of

Jesus Christ, but they find themselves in mechanical motions

and they can't seem to break free.

This joy stuff, this songs of praise being overcome by the

revelation of who God is. That's foreign to many people.

And to some people it's even offensive.

They they came from a certain denomination of background where

it's like, let's look down upon, OK, how do you read the Psalms?

Like how do you do it? It's like offensive to read it

with a monotone voice. How it's like it's, it's, it's

has life in it, emotion in it, and emotions are not sinful.

They are gifts from God. Can they lead you into sin?

You better believe it. Can they cause you to not trust

the truth? Yes.

Can they betray your convictions?

Absolutely. But what a joy it is when they

line up with the truth. That's God's will.

And does a spirit provide any kind of instructions for those

who find themselves in such a spiritual rut?

Yes, he does. Look carefully at verse 7 again.

For you have been my help, For you have been my help.

And in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.

Where does he say that he experiences this ability to sing

for joy in the shadow of God's wings?

God doesn't have literal wings. This is poetic.

Wings speak of protection. Wings speak of power.

Wings speak of ability. Sure, but that's not what he's

even getting at. Being in the shadow of anything

demands close proximity. I can't stand in your shadow

even if I'm in the same building as you.

I can't stand in your shadow even if I'm in the same room as

you. I can only stand in your shadow

if I am shoulder to shoulder with you.

Here's a point that I'm trying to make.

David could sing. With joy, because he was near

God, He was close to God. And I was reflecting on this and

I thought to myself, this is true throughout the Scriptures

and this is from months ago. There are many verses that you

read and you should just keep it in your pocket.

And don't forget about a highlighter.

Do whatever you need to do because you never know when it

will come and help. Sometimes I'll help you with

your sermon, by the way, But can I can I invite you to turn to 1

little sentence from the book of Job.

It's it's right by Psalms. So it's not going to take too

much effort. But go to Job 35 verse 10.

Job 35:10

I was sharing this with some brothers on a Wednesday night.

We read, but none says, where is God my Maker?

Who gives songs in the night? It's that second part that

touches me. What does God do?

He does many things. You know what He also does?

He gives songs in the night. I love how He gives it in the

night, because no matter what you go through the day, if

you're close to God, close enough where He can reach out

and give something to you, He'll give you a song.

At the end of the day, no matter what happened, no matter what

was taken from you, no matter what burden was added to you,

God is able to give you a song in the night.

That's what David is talking about here.

Even if you're in the wilderness, only God can do

that. I read a Spurgeon quote where he

says the following. We read of beds of ivory, but

beds of piety are far better. We read of beds of ivory, the

beds of piety are far better. The satisfied soul.

And the same cause and effect is found in our last point, the

clinging soul. Notice what he says here in

verse 8. My soul clings to you.

Your right hand upholds me. You know what that word cling is

in the Hebrew. It's the same word found in

Genesis 224, where we're told that a man shall leave his

father and his mother and he shall hold fast to his wife.

Or in the King James shall cleave to his wife.

Speaks about being glued to somebody.

And David uses the same word with his relationship with God.

My soul clings to you. Here's what he's saying.

Yes, in this season, I have sought you.

In the past, I have been satisfied.

In this moment, I'm satisfied. But oh, I know the temptations

of life that can take me away from this.

Place so I'm committing myself to yes, seek you and continue to

seek you and to stay there. I'm clinging to you.

I want to be near you for the rest of my life.

And he, he unveils yet another incentive for you to have that

ambition above all other ambitions.

No matter what you do, how much money you make, how many

responsibilities you have, this is possible for all of us.

And he gives another reason for you to make it a reality.

Look at verse 8 again. My soul clings to you.

Here's the outcome of that. Your right hand upholds me.

So here's what David's saying. Now only does closest to God

open up. The ability to sing but also

grants me supernatural strength. Is it not true?

Listen, is it not true that when there is needless distance

between you and God, always on our part, needless distance that

we create, that it always causes us to feel depleted, That there

is that sense of strength and energy that is drained from us?

Temptations feel stronger when you are walking at a distance

from Him. Sin looks shinier, lies become

louder, irritations become more familiar, and even persecutions

feel. Harsher.

And this is so, so crucial for you and I to know because this

man here who seeks God sets an example for anybody who seeks

God. If you know how to do that and

you know that satisfaction and you cling to him, it does not.

It promises many things, but it does not guarantee you the

elimination of afflictions. To get the notion that if I walk

with that kind of walk, it's going to blast away all trials.

No. Did you read the last two verses

of this song? Look again.

Let's read it right after. He talks about my soul clinging

to you. He says, But those who seek to

destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth.

They shall be given over to the power of the sword.

They shall be a portion for jackals.

But the king shall rejoice in God.

All who swear by him shall exalt, for the mouths of liars

will be stopped. So in the same breath where he

says I'm pursuing God, David says people are pursuing me.

Having a close walk with God doesn't delete your problems,

but it does provide a strength. To endure them.

My soul clings to you, Your right hand upholds me and it's

upholding me in this moment while I'm in the wilderness,

fleeing my enemies who are slandering me, who hate me, who

actually want to kill me. I know the stability and the

strength that only can come from you and OK can come from him

when you're close to him and this incredible.

Way of life is not only spelled out here, it's found throughout

the Bible, including the Psalms. And some, some of you have

probably read some of these verses and thought, what is he

getting at? Can I give you an example?

As we're ready to close in a moment, go to Psalm 119.

Many people believe that this Psalm, which is the largest

Psalm when the Psalm tree is from David, Psalm 119, verse

Psalms 119:161

161. So don't go too far.

Back. Notice what he says here.

Princess persecute me without cause.

But my heart stands in awe of your words.

What? What are those two things have

to do with each other? Princess are planning my death.

They're persecuting me. They're lying about me.

But I stand in awe of your words.

Seems cryptic. It seems sporadic.

Doesn't seem cohesive. No, it's actually spirit LED, as

you know. You know what David is saying

here. He's confessing that although

there is leaders who are plotting against him, he's not

overcome by their threats. He's not shifting by their

slander. He doesn't feel the heat of

their hatred. You know why?

Because he is already captivated by the promises.

And the presence of the one who is greater than his enemies.

This man has beheld God long enough, consistently enough.

He has tasted of the sweetness of who he is, enough so that

when even Princess have plotted against them, he's unshaken.

I know the one whom I believe. My soul has seen.

My soul has tasted. My soul is convinced.

And I'm captivated and so I'm standing in awe even though

people want my head. There's reward in this.

There's life altering truths in this and this kind of calm can

only be known in a place. Of clinging communion.

Where's David's strength in this season of his life?

It's not in retaliation. It's an adoration.

I love Mary of Bethany. She's there demonstrating one of

the most beautiful acts of worship in all of the Bible.

And while she is worshiping the Lord with the revelation that

he's going to die and I want to anoint him and honor him, you

have disciples of all people that are criticizing her.

Doesn't take that much, Mary. We can actually use that for

other causes. And what I love about that story

is that when Mary is doing this, she doesn't open her mouth to

defend herself. Who defends her?

Jesus defends her. And when you're in that place

where you love the Lord, you worship the Lord, you honor the

Lord, it's amazing what he does on your behalf.

It's amazing how his love is louder than what other people

say. I don't want to be the Christian

that with every wind, every attack, every visitor, every

surprise I'm knocked over. I'm here.

I don't want that. And I'm, I'm granted here.

The secret to that strength? Stay close to him, behold him.

Behold them until those truths are stamped on your eyes so that

when you see anything or anything comes before you that

you didn't invite, you see it through the lens of the one that

you've been staring at. I don't just have that verse,

the famous verse Psalm 23, The Lord is my shepherd.

Have you ever considered verse 5 as we use this text as our

closing text? Psalm 23, verse 5, You prepare a

Psalms 23:5

table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil. You know what most people would

want? You removed my enemies from me,

so I thank you. That's not what he says.

God didn't take the enemies away, He just brought a table to

fellowship with. The Lord does not always remove

the presence of our foes, the knowledge of their cruel plots,

or the sting of their sharp slander.

But He always makes a way for fellowship, even if you're in

the wilderness and He's with us in the midst of it all.

And it's in that fellowship that you know of fortification.

This is possible for each of us in this place.

You don't have to be a minister to know what I'm speaking about.

In fact, can I say something that's so sobering?

There are many ministers who don't know what I'm talking

about and they might have those letters beside their name and

have studied years and years and years.

They've studied God, but they haven't savored Him.

You could be a construction worker, you could be a stay at

home mom. You could be working in

business. You can be an entrepreneur, you

can be a policeman. You can be anything.

And this is available to you, the seeking soul.

How do I even start? Well, you first have to be

absolutely convinced that no amount of entertainment, no

amount of traveling, no amount of fashion, no amount of

improvement on your physical looks, no amount of people that

you know, the networking, nothing ultimately will satisfy

you. That's the ABC's of this thing.

And then beyond that, now you trust God and you seek Him in

His Word. And you ask?

Him, the same David who said I'm satisfied as with fat and rich

food, is the same one who said open my eyes that I may behold

the wondrous things out of your law.

I can't do this. Do you know how many times I've

prayed that prayer? How many times?

Lord, if you don't satisfy my soul, I know myself enough, I

will go searching for broken vessels and dirty wells.

You need to satisfy me. You need to sustain me.

This needs to become more than just duty and discipline.

I need the light. Unlock that for me and he's so.

Faithful. He's so faithful because if he,

if he didn't do that, I wouldn't be preaching to you today.

And then when you're there to stay there, to stay there to

stay close to him. And if you if you drift away,

come back. And you know well, I've never,

ever, ever, ever met a genuine Christian.

Christian who is lukewarm and was happy.

Have you show me? I've never seen it.

And they know it well, but they stay there.

Snap out of it. I know I'm not where I'm

supposed to be with the Lord. OK, Move.

What are you waiting for? The table's been set.

Come to him. Come to him with your dryness.

Come to him with your indifference.

Tell him about it. He already knows.

Not telling him something that's going to surprise him.

Lord, I'm lukewarm as it can be. I love my job more than you.

I find more pleasure in basketball, not against sports.

Don't, don't pin this on me. Don't I know it can go out

there. No, no, no.

I'm not against things. I don't want to sound legalistic

here. I'm not against any of those

things. What I'm trying to tell you is

that there's something better than those things.

That's what I'm saying to you. I Lord, I, I'm just honest.

But I come to Psalm 63 and I read this language and it's like

doesn't resonate. Can you show me what it's like

for my soul to be satisfied as with fat and rich food?

I don't know how this works. Lead me.

You know Psalm 23, five where it says the Lord is my shepherd.

That's all about God's guidance and verse 5 is included.

So guide me to that table. Like, I want this word to be

fulfilling. I want prayer to be enjoyable.

And it's not going to happen every single day.

It's a fight, I get it. But at least the knowledge of it

should encourage you to seek after it.

Ministry is a misery if you don't have what I'm speaking

about, it is. And ministry becomes tragedy for

many people because they got caught up in the mechanics of

serving God and not enjoying Him.

This is for all of us, and I want you to seek after it today.

Can we bow our heads? Listen, please, as you're about

to pray. This is the way to answer.

This is the way to response. Lord, if this is true, this is

real, I want it, but I don't know how to do it.

You have to help me. That's how you do it.

Let him lead you. Don't strive and and and wrestle

and beat yourself up. Now seek God in honesty.

And I believe that if you're sincere, you can walk out of

here with a fresh motivation. A fresh motivation as people's

heads are bowed. If I can ask the praise team to

join me because we're going to sing heartfelt songs to the

Lord. Just take your time.

Please take your time. Oh Lord, how we need you.

How my heart needs you, Lord, Oh, deliver us from complacency,

God, Lord, by your spirit, renew a hunger for you.

Help us know how to navigate through all our responsibilities

and all the things that occupy our thoughts.

Lord, bring us to the place of thirsting.

That even while we're doing things in our mouths, our

parched, we still think about water.

Lord, help us be the same way. That through all the things that

we have to do, you are ultimately there in our

meditations, in our longings, Lord.

And on those days where it's hard, on those days where we

don't feel like our flesh is even close to crying out to you,

help us seek you in that place. Say, Lord, I want, I want more

than this. Help us know the freedom of

being able to communicate that to you.

So Lord, if there's anybody here that wants this, Lord, we pray

by your Spirit today that this would be the turning point in

their lives for those who once knew it before they, they, they

can say, I know what it's like. I know, but I haven't known that

in the years. Let today be a new day.

We pray that your Holy Spirit would do what no, nothing or no

one can do. We admit that.

And Lord, even now as we sing, may it be with joyful lips, may

we really bless. Your name may come from the

place, because we have beheld your glory today and your power

and your steadfast love in Jesus name, Amen.

Listen, if you really want to meet with God, you don't have to

stand at this point unless you want to.

If you want to stay seated with your head down and as they're

playing and singing over you, you can do that.

You can stay seated and talk to the Lord.

If you want to stand and sing, you can do that as well.

There's no rush here. We don't all have to do this

this thing the same way we always do it.

This is a time to respond to the message.

So if you want to stay seated, if you want to stand up, you can

do whatever you need to do as long as it's not distracting.

Let's spend a little bit time with the Lord before we close

the service.