Subtopic: “A Personal Quest For God”
Text: Psalm 63:1-8 ( A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Ju’dah) “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; (vs2) To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. (vs3) Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. (vs4) Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. (vs5) My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: (vs6) When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. (vs7) Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. (vs8) My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.”
PREMISE
The Pulpit Commentary, Vol.8, Page 25, A comment on Psalm 63:1-8 1. THE SOUL’S LONGING “When we “ thirst for God”, we naturally look back and recall the times we had the truest and fullest enjoyment of his presence. We think of “the sanctuary.” It was not the outward glory; it was not the splendid ritual; it was not the excitement of the great congregation; but it was the vision of God that then brought peace and joy to the soul. And that is what is craved again--- more life and fuller: “To see thy power and thy glory.” There are often circumstances which intensify and strengthen our longings. When we come to know God, not only as God, but as our God and our Redeemer, we feel that it is a very necessity of our being, that it is our life, to see him and to serve him, to love him, to worship him, to rejoice in him as all our salvation and all our Desire.”
Text: Psalm 63:1-8 ( A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Ju’dah) “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; (vs2) To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. (vs3) Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. (vs4) Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. (vs5) My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: (vs6) When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. (vs7) Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. (vs8) My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.”
PREMISE
The Pulpit Commentary, Vol.8, Page 25, A comment on Psalm 63:1-8 1. THE SOUL’S LONGING “When we “ thirst for God”, we naturally look back and recall the times we had the truest and fullest enjoyment of his presence. We think of “the sanctuary.” It was not the outward glory; it was not the splendid ritual; it was not the excitement of the great congregation; but it was the vision of God that then brought peace and joy to the soul. And that is what is craved again--- more life and fuller: “To see thy power and thy glory.” There are often circumstances which intensify and strengthen our longings. When we come to know God, not only as God, but as our God and our Redeemer, we feel that it is a very necessity of our being, that it is our life, to see him and to serve him, to love him, to worship him, to rejoice in him as all our salvation and all our Desire.”
“Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” St. Luke 13:24
2.THE SOUL’S SATISFACTION “What alone can satisfy the soul is the vision of God; not God afar off, but nigh; not God in nature; or in the Law, or in the imagination of our hearts, but God in Christ. Here is true and abiding satisfaction, infinite truth for the mind, eternal righteousness for the conscience, perfect love for the heart. The more we meditate on this possession, the more we rejoice and give thanks. We cannot but praise.
3. THE SOUL’S RESOLUTION “There is mutual action. The soul cleaves to God, and God cleaves to the soul. There is a double embrace--- we both hold and are upheld. The result is invigoration--- the quickening glow of life through all our being, the free and joyous resolve to cleave to God, and to follow him in love and devotion all our days. Our needs are constant, and God’s love never fails. When we are weak, his strength makes us strong; when we are weary, his comforts sustains our fainting souls; when we are ready to sink in the waters, his voice gives us courage, and his strong arm brings us salvation. God ever comes to them who want him. Desire on our part is met by satisfaction on his part. More and more as we love and serve we enter into the joy of our Lord. Our heart is a prophet to our heart, and tells of victory over the enemy, of the coming glory and the pleasures which are at God’s right hand evermore.”
DEFINITION
Thirst “a strong desire or craving(to long for, yearn for; desire strongly.) For our purpose “thirst is the ardent, eager, famishing and keen all consuming craving and passion of the soul for complete union with God and the fullness of his Spirit.”
1. WHAT CONDITIONS OR NECESSITIES MAKES ONE’S SOUL THIRST FOR GOD.
(a) A Dry Spiritual Environment---Amos 8:11-12 “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: (vs12) And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.”
(b) My Duty To God And The Pressure Of It---Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. (vs14) For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.” Deut.10:12 “And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,”
(c) The Continual Quest In Seeking For God --- 2 Chron.7:14 “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
(d) The Increasing Spiritual Desire For God---Psalm 42:1-2 “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. (vs2) My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?” Psalm 84:1-2 “How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! (vs2) My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.”
(e) My Holy Ambition for God--- Phi.3:13-14 “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, (vs14) I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
(f) My Ongoing Striving To Be Acceptable To God---St. Luke 13:24 “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” St. Matt.7:21-23 “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. (vs22) Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? (vs23) And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
(g) My Ongoing Plea For Cleansing, Reviving and Restoration--- Psalm 51:1-4 & 7-12 “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. (vs2) Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. (vs3) For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. (vs4) Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.(vs7)Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me , and I shall be whiter than snow. (vs8) Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. (vs9) Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. (vs10) Create in me a clean heart, O God; renew a right spirit within me. (vs11) Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. (vs12) Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.”
3. THE SOUL’S RESOLUTION “There is mutual action. The soul cleaves to God, and God cleaves to the soul. There is a double embrace--- we both hold and are upheld. The result is invigoration--- the quickening glow of life through all our being, the free and joyous resolve to cleave to God, and to follow him in love and devotion all our days. Our needs are constant, and God’s love never fails. When we are weak, his strength makes us strong; when we are weary, his comforts sustains our fainting souls; when we are ready to sink in the waters, his voice gives us courage, and his strong arm brings us salvation. God ever comes to them who want him. Desire on our part is met by satisfaction on his part. More and more as we love and serve we enter into the joy of our Lord. Our heart is a prophet to our heart, and tells of victory over the enemy, of the coming glory and the pleasures which are at God’s right hand evermore.”
DEFINITION
Thirst “a strong desire or craving(to long for, yearn for; desire strongly.) For our purpose “thirst is the ardent, eager, famishing and keen all consuming craving and passion of the soul for complete union with God and the fullness of his Spirit.”
1. WHAT CONDITIONS OR NECESSITIES MAKES ONE’S SOUL THIRST FOR GOD.
(a) A Dry Spiritual Environment---Amos 8:11-12 “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: (vs12) And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.”
(b) My Duty To God And The Pressure Of It---Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. (vs14) For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.” Deut.10:12 “And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,”
(c) The Continual Quest In Seeking For God --- 2 Chron.7:14 “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
(d) The Increasing Spiritual Desire For God---Psalm 42:1-2 “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. (vs2) My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?” Psalm 84:1-2 “How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! (vs2) My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.”
(e) My Holy Ambition for God--- Phi.3:13-14 “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, (vs14) I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
(f) My Ongoing Striving To Be Acceptable To God---St. Luke 13:24 “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” St. Matt.7:21-23 “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. (vs22) Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? (vs23) And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
(g) My Ongoing Plea For Cleansing, Reviving and Restoration--- Psalm 51:1-4 & 7-12 “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. (vs2) Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. (vs3) For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. (vs4) Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.(vs7)Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me , and I shall be whiter than snow. (vs8) Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. (vs9) Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. (vs10) Create in me a clean heart, O God; renew a right spirit within me. (vs11) Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. (vs12) Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.”
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