God Satisfies
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· 5 viewsDespite the trials that David was facing in the dessert and on the run, his comfort is in God.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
If you have your Bible with you this evening, please turn to .
As you turn to this passage, I do need to give a bit of background to get you into the mindset of what is occuring in this passage.
As you probably already know, the Psalms form a collection of songs that were sang by the Jewish people during different points of their lives. So if you read closely when you look throughout the Psalms, you’ll see phrases like, “To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David” or “To the chief musician, a Psalm and Song of David.” Occasionally, you’ll see Psalms that are called Psalms of ascent or Psalms of descent, which simply meant that they were to be sung when walking up and down the mountainside on their way to and from the temple.
, which again is our text for this evening simply states that this is “A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.” In order to understand this passage, let me explain to you when and where David wrote this Psalm.
In order to understand this passage, let me explain to you when and where David wrote this Psalm.
, was written by David during a time of great distress (this
is recorded in 2 Samuel)—his son, Absalom had stolen the throne from David and was planning to attack him—which if you know anything about Absalom, you realize that it isn’t too much of a stretch to think that he would do any of this. Absalom has essentially poisoned the people against David and David is now in the wilderness (which just as a reminder, is a desert) both hiding for his life and preparing to defend himself militarily against his son.
So, imagine with me (and this could be a bit difficult for those of us that don’t have children yet), but imagine that you have a child that you loved and cared for for the child’s whole life. You’ve taken care of his every need and the child completely rejects you. In David’s scenario, Absalom steals the whole kingdom from David, in our society—maybe you own a business and this would be like your child stealing your business from you. Maybe you own your house, this would be like your child stealing your house from you and threatening your life. Imagine the emotional and psychological strain that this would have on you—for your child to act with hatred against you; for him to completely reject you; and for him to want you dead.
Now remember, while David’s struggling with just dealing with that emotional and psychological devastation, he is also hiding in the desert preparing for war. And just in case you don’t really know what its like in a desert, let me describe it a little bit. In the Judean wilderness, the average temperature in the summer is 100-110º. Which, if you’ve lived in the south for any amount of time, you might be thinking, “oh, that’s no big deal,” but remember in Greenville, it may be 100º, but we have access to air conditioning, water, and shade. In the Judean desert, it rains less than 2 inches per year, so compare that to Greenville, where it rained at least 2 inches on Monday.
David is hiding somewhere where the average temperature sits around 100º, there is little to no water, and he’s physically drained and exhausted.
David is emotionally drained, psychologically strained, and physically exhausted when he writes this, starting in .
A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
1 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;
2 To see thy power and thy glory,
So as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
3 Because thy lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips shall praise thee.
4 Thus will I bless thee while I live:
I will lift up my hands in thy name.
5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness;
And my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
6 When I remember thee upon my bed,
And meditate on thee in the night watches.
7 Because thou hast been my help,
Therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
8 My soul followeth hard after thee:
Thy right hand upholdeth me.
9 But those that seek my soul, to destroy it,
Shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
10 They shall fall by the sword:
They shall be a portion for foxes.
11 But the king shall rejoice in God;
Every one that sweareth by him shall glory:
But the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.
Let’s Pray and we’ll start breaking this passage down.
We’re going to look at this passage in three sections and we’re going to study this passage as a passage that we can personally pray. Vs. 1-4 will focus on God as our Desire; Vs. 5-8 will focus on God as our Delight; and Vs. 9-11 will focus on God as our defense.
All of which will lead us to better understand that it is God who satisfies and it should drive us to seek satisfaction in Him alone.
God, our Desire (vs. 1-4)
God, our Desire (vs. 1-4)
Let’s start with Vs. 1-4 with God as our Desire:
David writes,
1 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;
2 To see thy power and thy glory,
So as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
3 Because thy lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips shall praise thee.
4 Thus will I bless thee while I live:
I will lift up my hands in thy name.
David starts this Psalm with, “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;”
This is clearly a statement of David longing after something that he is familiar with—when David says, “O God, thou art my God”, he is doing two things (1) he is openly stating his position before God—similar to when we claim our belief that Jesus is our Lord and (2) He is:
personalizing his message. Derek Kidner, “The longing of these verses is not the groping of a stranger, feeling his way towards God, but the eagerness of a friend . . . to be in touch with the one he holds dear.”
In other words, David isn’t content with just stating that God is the God, but rather God is his God. He is declaring that he is a partaker of the relationship that God openly gives to anyone who repents and believes in Him.
Because David has personalized his relationship with God, the Bible says, “early will I seek thee:” Some translations render the word “early” as “earnestly.” I don’t think that the difference of words is vital, the idea remains the same. , states that the “blessed man . . . [delights] in the law of the Lord and on His law, he meditates day and night” or in other words, he meditates on God’s law earnestly or with sincerity or conviction. The idea is that David will seek God with sincerity, he will seek God seriously with purpose.
This is a statement of longing and David utilizes his experience in the desert to help express this desire—remember, he has suffered from dehydration in the desert and he has experience what it is like to not have that need met.
Just like the body thirsts for water; so does his soul thirst for God. It correlates with what the Sons of Korah write, when they state, “As the deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.”
Maybe we don’t understand how great this desire is, so let me try to illustrate it differently. We typically don’t understand what it is like to have a lack of necessities, so lets think about something that we all take for granted, the ability to drink coffee. I don’t know about you guys, but when I wake up in the morning, the first thing that I typically drink is coffee. Get about halfway through the day and I have yet another cup of coffee. If its Sunday or Wednesday night, I usually have a mug in my hand as I drive to church filled with coffee.
Generally, every day, I drink 2-3 cups of coffee and if I skip a cup, I find myself wanting another cup and when I get the chance to enjoy another cup it is like my heart rejoices (which might actually be signs that I’m addicted to coffee).
Now I know that a lot of you are the same way with coffee, but not all of you are coffee drinkers, but I’m certain that there’s something you can think of that you enjoy and you find delight in that when you don’t get it, your day just seems kind of off.
Maybe its the feeling you get when you have a good book and a cup of tea and you get to sit and read by a fireplace. Maybe its the feeling you get when you binge-watch ten hours worth of the Office or something like that. Its the feeling of satisfaction that you get when you do these things.
If you can’t think of anything, then just stop drinking water for a few weeks and you’ll eventually start to understand David when he says that he thirsts after God.
Vs. 2, “To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.”
Essentially, David is making this statement that because his soul longs after God, he has looked upon Him in the sanctuary.
a. Essentially, David is making this statement that because his soul longs after God, he has looked upon Him in the sanctuary.
This is David reminding himself of what it was like to worship Yahweh during a better time. With the same intense desire that David experiences for God in the desert, he had previously worshiped God in the sanctuary.
Because of David’s desire for God, he had beheld God’s power and glory.
Vs. 3-4 “Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.”
David’s inner worship of God has resulted in outward praise. Because God’s “lovingkindness” or “steadfast love,” which David states is “better than life” itself, his lips will praise Him and, in His name, David will lift up his hands in worship.
In a sense, Vs. 1-4, speaks of a perseverance of faith despite being in terrible situations. Despite everything that has happened to David and everything that is continuing to happen to David, he still seeks for God and he still worships God.
And it all stems from his innermost desire for God—because his desire of God is so great, he can state that God’s steadfastness or lovingkindness is better than life itself.
David expresses this inward desire to worship God in Vs. 1-4 and we can see that David truly desires God. In Vs. 5-8, that inward desire is rewards with satisfaction as we start to see David express this delight that comes in seeking and worshiping God. God is truly David’s delight.
King James Version Psalm 63
5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness;
And my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
6 When I remember thee upon my bed,
And meditate on thee in the night watches.
7 Because thou hast been my help,
Therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
8 My soul followeth hard after thee:
Thy right hand upholdeth me.
God, our Delight/Satisfaction (5-8)
God, our Delight/Satisfaction (5-8)
In Vs. 5, we see a contrast from Vs. 1. Whereas David’s soul thirsts for God and his flesh faints for God in Vs. 1, in Vs. 5, we see his soul satisfied. Vs. 5, “My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness.”
As much as rich and fat food would satisfy his physically pained and hungered body, so does God satisfy him spiritually.
I can’t help but to think of the Samaritan woman in , and the water that Jesus promises her that can truly satisfy, When speaking of water from the well, Jesus states that “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,” but when speaking of the water that only He could provide He states that “whoever drinks of the water that [He] gives him will never be thirsty again” because “The water that [Jesus] gives him will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” It’s probably not a coincidence that Jesus utilizes similar illustrations in the New Testament that talks about the peace, joy, and satisfaction that He fulfills, that the Old Testament utilizes.
It seems clear to me that in David’s seeking of God, that God satisfied or delights his soul.
Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.
Because God brings satisfaction or delight, we see David respond with praise, “And my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips” and with meditation on God, Vs. 6, “when I remember thee upon my bed, And meditate on thee in the night watches.”
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .
Vs. 6
If we’ve truly experienced the grace of God through Jesus Christ, we should and we would respond with praise and meditation on Him. This is a natural response to salvation.
Vs. 7-8 states, “Because thou has been my help, Therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. My soul followeth hard after thee: Thy right hand upholdeth me.”
The immediate cause of David’s meditation and praise is in the simple fact that God provided safety and support to David found only in God. God was David’s help and strength. And because of this, David stayed close to God and continued to sing praise to Him.
In Vs. 8, when David states, “My soul followeth hard after thee:” the word rendered as followeth hard, is utilized in to describe how a husband is to hold fast to His wife. In a similar way, David’s soul and in turn our souls should cling to God—it is the only way we can find true satisfaction in our soul.
Now we’ve seen David’s expression of inward desire to God, we’ve seen David finding delight and satisfaction in God, and now we’re going to look at this last section, which honestly, may feel a little out of place. And if we’re really honest, we might read it and wonder how exactly they would utilize this to sing and worship God, but remember, when David writes this, he is at war with Absalom. Remember that as we read Vs. 9-11.
King James Version Psalm 63
9 But those that seek my soul, to destroy it,
Shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
10 They shall fall by the sword:
They shall be a portion for foxes.
11 But the king shall rejoice in God;
Every one that sweareth by him shall glory:
But the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.
God, our Defense (8-11)
God, our Defense (8-11)
David makes this final statement and it’s a statement not only about David’s enemies, but Absalom is an enemy of God. Remember that David is the chosen king—and David wasn’t chosen by the people, David was chosen by God. Not only is Absalom attacking David, but Absalom is attacking the person that God had selected to be king over Israel—so this is very much a statement about how God will avenge His people.
David condemns those who seek to destroy his life. He condemns them to go into the depths of the earth; he states that they will be given over to the power of the sword; they shall be devoured by the jackals—Just a side note, remember that the Psalms are a series of songs that the Israelites sang—imagine if we sang a hymn like this.
But the point isn’t the judgment that’s coming upon them, it’s actually about the God who is caring for David by enacting justice on those who have lied and have stolen the throne from David. Let’s be abundantly clear, Absalom and his friends are in sin and have acted wickedly for what they have done, and God because of His holiness and His justice has to act justly towards Absalom.
And while you could make the argument that David had to prepare an army for war against Absalom, it seems pretty clear in David’s writings that he was 100% certain that God would handle the war and that God would defend Him.
And that really, despite the fact that he is about to go into battle, to defend his throne again; the only thing that David really has to do, is what Vs. 11 says, “the king shall rejoice in God”
David calling himself the king is more than him just utilizing “king” as a synonym for “I”. David calls himself the king to reassert his calling. David is the rightful king, because God has called him the rightful king.
God is David’s defense, because David has been called by God to be king and David has trusted in God to defend him.
We’ve seen David claiming that God is his desire, we saw how God fulfills and delights those who desires after Him, and we’ve seen how God protects those who are his.
So, as we wrap everything up, let’s look at some application.
Application
Application
Vs. 1-4 looks at God being our desire
And just like David, we ought to be able to make the same statement about God. “God, you are my God.” And while this isn’t necessarily an evangelistic message, the natural question from this verse is, can you say that God is truly your God?
If we all our truly believers, can we all honestly say, “Earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you?” If you’re like me, you could probably agree that in word, God is the one we seek after; God is the one whom our souls thirst for, but how many of us could say that our actions reflect this truth?
David is on the run from someone who stole his throne, rejected him, and wants to kill him and yet David can honestly say, “Early I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you”
And it seems fairly clear that David’s mindset to seek God, thirst after God, and desire God started before he was hiding in the desert, because he “looked upon God in the sanctuary and beheld his power and glory.”
He earnestly sought God before he was ever in the wilderness
Are you earnestly, seriously seeking God? Have you made it a point to seek after Him above all else?
Vs. 5-8 looks at God being our delight or God giving us satisfaction when we desire and seek after Him.
David states that his soul will be satisfied as food satisfies the body and that part of this satisfaction is found in praising God, remembering God, and meditating on God.
This satisfaction and delight is far greater than the satisfaction and delight that I get from sipping a cup of coffee, This satisfaction is far greater than the satisfaction you get while reading a book or binging The Office. This satisfaction is far greater than anything you can accomplish in your own strength at work or at school.
David makes the point that his soul clings to God and this only occurs because he’s taken the time to earnestly seek God.
The question then is this, are you finding satisfaction in God like the woman at the well finds living water or are you still trying to find this satisfaction that can only be found in Jesus by utilizing other things. Absalom tried to find satisfaction in the throne and in stealing from his father, but true satisfaction comes only through knowing Jesus Christ.
And lastly, Vs. 9-11 looks at God being our defense
David shows no concern over the future of his throne in because he was certain that God would take care of him.
While we don’t necessarily have a throne to think of, let me remind you that if you truly believe in Jesus Christ, your future is secure. Your position in this household of God is secure because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And He has promised a place for us and we know that Jesus keeps all His promises.
We can have comfort in Jesus Christ, because Jesus has already won the war despite us still being in the midst of the battle.
And just like David, we can rejoice in God.
In short, the facts that Jesus has already won, that He has claimed us as His own and that He protects us motivates us to find our satisfaction, to find our delight in Jesus through desiring Him.
True satisfaction comes from knowing Jesus, worshiping Jesus, meditating on Him, and finding our strength in Him.
Let’s Pray.