How to Have Satisfaction Now

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This sermon reminds us that nothing should hinder our passion for God. David found himself in a wilderness fleeing from Absolom but he remained passionate about God.

Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
In the time and age we live in now, we have thousands of desperate small businesses fighting to stay open and win our loyalty, to the extent they will guarantee us near anything. The most important guarantee they will offer us is our satisfaction. They will do everything they can to satisfy your perceived need as their customer with the hope they can maintain you and your business and primarily maintain the influx of your money. I’m sure you are too familiar with the promises from these businesses: “I guarantee you that you will be satisfied for life!” “Guaranteed to love it or we’ll buy it back from you (for a lot less than what you paid!)” These same businesses are also so desperate that not only do they want you loyal to them, they push you to be passionate about their goals: “If you enjoyed your time here, then fill out this review to tell others how wonderful we are”
And then there is the political realm. There we find empty, broken promises along with unsatisfied anger. Not so with the Bible.
In the book of Psalms, we find a few godly men who were, for a season, distressed and unsatisfied. However, by the end of each of these song/poems, these godly men renew their strength & passion, and find lasting satisfaction. Psalm 63 is no exception.
Transition:
The 63rd Psalm begins with a heading that says, "A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah." In verse 9 he speaks of "those who seek to destroy my life." So he is likely a fugitive of some kind at this moment. Someone is chasing him in the wilderness.
We are inclined to think of the days when King Saul chased David in the wilderness and tried to kill him much like we saw in the previous weeks. But verse 11 hints at a later time. It seems to say David is the king already: "But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall glory." But when Saul was chasing David, he wasn't king yet.
But there was a time when David was king and a fugitive from his own land and forced to flee to the desert, namely, the time when his son Absalom rebelled and tried to overthrow his father's throne. According to 2 Samuel 15:23 David fled the city, crossed the brook Kidron, and went into the wilderness. This is probably the experience behind the psalm. I want to look in God’s Word now and see a true satisfaction guarantee from our Lord.
Scripture Reading: Psalm 63:title–11
Psalm 63:title–11 LEB
A psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. 1 O God, you are my God; I will seek you diligently. My soul thirsts for you; my flesh longs for you as in a dry and weary land without water. 2 Thus I have seen you in the sanctuary, beholding your strength and glory. 3 Because your loyal love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4 So I will bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name. 5 My soul will be satisfied as with the best and richest food, and with joyful lips my mouth will praise. 6 When I remember you on my bed, I meditate on you in the night watches. 7 Because you have been my help, therefore in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. 8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. 9 But as for them who seek my life for ruin, they will go into the depths of the earth. 10 They who would deliver him to the sword will become a portion for jackals. 11 However, the king will rejoice in God. Everyone who swears an oath by him will boast, because the mouth of the liars will be stopped.
This Psalm reminds us that nothing should hinder our passion for God. David found himself in a wilderness fleeing from Absolom but he remained passionate about God. The word passion means to be animated, vivacious or enthusiastic. Enthusiasm come from the word; en theos...which means; in God or possessed by God. All other enthusiasm follows our enthusiasm for God. Who are you passionate about?
In times of discouragement, we rest in God’s Attributes. Knowing Who God Is, brings us confidence in times of difficulties of our daily lives. David knew his God.
Transition:
Having fled from his son, David is in the desert region in Judaea. It’s dry, arid, and the conditions are brutal. Church tradition records that this psalm was read every day by early church fathers. Why? Because it invites us to join in with David in a thirst for God, as we vow to God, knowing that a brighter future is ahead.

I. A Thirst for God (vv.1-2)

We can see the pure passion from King David in the very first words of this Psalm:
Psalm 63:1 LEB
O God, you are my God; I will seek you diligently. My soul thirsts for you; my flesh longs for you as in a dry and weary land without water.
I will seek you diligently/early will I seek thee
There’s something about seeking God early in the day that I find extremely helpful. The manna came down morning by morning but by the time the sun began to rise, it would melt and disappear (Exodus 16:21). So too, if we want to be nourished spiritually, many of us have found that we need to seek the Lord early because, once the day gets underway, temperatures rise, activities and demands jostle for our attention, and we don’t have time like we do early in the day to wait upon the Lord. This isn’t legalism, just a piece of practical advice.
Psalm 63:1 LEB
O God, you are my God; I will seek you diligently. My soul thirsts for you; my flesh longs for you as in a dry and weary land without water.
My soul thirsts for you; my flesh longs for you
In his theological Book: When I Don’t Desire God: How I Fight for Joy, John Piper writes about fasting as a way to deepen our hunger for God. He quotes William Law: “If you don’t feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great.”
John Piper, When I Don’t Desire God: How I Fight for Joy (Wheaton: Crossway, 2004)
Almost everyone wants to genuinely say with integrity, “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you”. If you do not hunger for God, it is not because God does not satisfy. Rather, it is because your heart is divided between the Lord and the desires of the world.
Psalm 63:2 LEB
Thus I have seen you in the sanctuary, beholding your strength and glory.
David was in a dry place physically and spiritually as well. During this time, he remembers what he experienced when he was in the sanctuary. The verb “to see” sometimes means “to have a vision” in the Hebrew. King David might have had a vision YHWH in the sanctuary. Verses 2 and 4 begin with “thus, so”, this word is a resultant meaning, “for this reason,” so King David’s longing of verse 1 was a result, at least in part, of his experience in the sanctuary: “Thus I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and glory.”
This calls to mind the special times God has met me or to you, the times He has been real to you
Why don’t we experience the sweetness of the sanctuary or the thrill of the mountaintop constantly? So that we will learn to walk by faith and not by feeling. Our faith will grow, our walk will mature if, during times of dryness, we determine to hang in there and keep going.
I fear that many people have a very low expectation for worship. They just show up at church out of tradition or to “put in their time.” This was not the case for David.
Illustration:
Journalist Chris Berdik has argued, based on science, that expectation matters. Discussing the power of the “placebo effect” in medicine, Berdik argues that this same principle can be applied broadly to all areas of life. For instance, Berdik writes, “brain scans reveal that expectations about a wine’s quality (based on price or a critic’s review) actually change the level of activity in the brain’s reward centers when a person takes a sip. Highly-trained weight lifters can out-do their personal bests when they believe they’ve taken a performance booster.” In other words, expectations matter. What might happen in worship if every Christian came with the expectation that they were going to see the power and glory of God? Choose to prepare for worship by expecting to meet the Lord!
Transition:

I. A Thirst for God (vv.1-2)

What are we to do when we feel dry, when we feel as though we’re in a spiritual desert? In this psalm, we see what David did…

II. A Vow to God (vv.3-8)

He Vows to praise God because the value of God’s love is better than anything. Even though David was in a dry place, he sought to bring blessing to God.
Psalm 63:3 LEB
Because your loyal love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
better than life
Stop and think about the ramifications of this phrase! Do you realize that this could be put to the test in the near future?
Are you prepared to believe this? We all must face the reality that God is worth infinitely more than our own lives; and therefore, we obey God even unto death and if things keep up the way they are going for our country, then it could happen sooner than later just as it already has with the Patriot Prayer man shot dead in Portland.
Psalm 63:4 LEB
So I will bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name.
In the similar manner to verse 2, the “thus, so” that begins verse 4 is a result of the vision of God in the sanctuary: (As a result of the fact that I have seen you in the sanctuary,) AND because your Love means more than my life... We need to remember the vision we had on the mountain to enable us to go through the dryness of the valleys. The word “bless” in the Hebrew mindset means “to convey happiness or prosperity.” We can’t bring God prosperity, but we can bring Him happiness with our lifted hands.
Illustration:
Many times when I am gone for hours from the family, Anna will be at home anticipating my arrival. When she was younger, she came running my direction with her hands up immediately when I opened the door. Oh, how seeing this sweet little girl running to me with uplifted hands blessed my heart just to greet me and welcome me home. And that’s how our Father feels about each of us.
Psalm 63:5 LEB
My soul will be satisfied as with the best and richest food, and with joyful lips my mouth will praise.
True lasting satisfaction
Psalm 63:6 LEB
When I remember you on my bed, I meditate on you in the night watches.
David meditates on God. If you can’t sleep, don’t toss and turn. Don’t try to figure out situations. Meditate. How? Think about one of your favorite gospel stories. For example, think of Jesus touching the blind man’s eyes and the joy that he must have experienced. Think about Jesus and how He ministered and you’ll find yourself entering into new realms of understanding.
Psalm 63:7 LEB
Because you have been my help, therefore in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
True lasting joy!
Psalm 63:8 LEB
My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
My soul clings/followeth hard after thee:
David seeks after God. The term “clings to/followeth hard” is also seen in the Book of Ruth. When Naomi told her daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, to return to Moab, Scripture tells us that Orpah kissed Naomi, but Ruth clave to her (Ruth 1:14). The word “clave” is literally “followed hard.” In other words, Ruth said, “I’m going to stick by you. I don’t care how dry it gets. I don’t care how hot it is. I don’t care how unfruitful it might be initially. I’m going to cling to you day by day.” And that’s what Ruth’s great-grandson, David, said concerning the Lord. Oh, that we might say it as well.
In Deuteronomy the verb “cling” describes Israel’s intimate relationship to God. The “right hand” usually being the stronger hand denotes God’s strength or YHWH Himself.
Transition:

II. A Vow to God (vv.3-8)

With a thirst for God coupled with a vow, our Future is sure:

III. A Brighter Future (vv.9-11)

King David now looks forward to the result of the relationship he has with YHWH
Psalm 63:9 LEB
But as for them who seek my life for ruin, they will go into the depths of the earth.
they will go into the depths of the earth
The idea is that the human spirit descends below the subterranean waters to the deep recesses of the earth. While the ancient Hebrew view of hell is not very clear, there are substantial Old Testament passages that suggest hope of a better afterlife and heaven, even a bodily resurrection
[(Isa. 26:19]]
Isaiah 26:19 LEB
Your dead shall live; their corpses shall rise. Wake up and sing for joy, dwellers of the dust, for your dew is celestial dew, and the earth will give birth to dead spirits.
This is talking about a future time pointing first to Christ’s Resurrection, but then even further to the bodily resurrection for all believers
[[Dan. 12:2)]
Daniel 12:2 LEB
And many from those sleeping in the dusty ground will awake, some to everlasting life and some to disgrace and everlasting contempt.
But in our Psalm sadly, the picture this morning is one of doom for the psalmist’s enemies.
Psalm 63:10 LEB
They who would deliver him to the sword will become a portion for jackals.
The horror of war can be seen in the word pictures of verse 10: “the sword,” where the expression is literally, “they will pour him out [ngr, “to pour”; cf. 2 Sam. 14:14] on the handles [lit., “hands of”] the sword”; and “food for jackals,” a picture of the scavengers of the wilderness devouring their carnage. The slain would be eaten by these omnivorous scavengers and not be given a proper burial, something that was greatly feared in ancient Israel.
Psalm 63:11 LEB
However, the king will rejoice in God. Everyone who swears an oath by him will boast, because the mouth of the liars will be stopped.
David rejoices in God. David chose to bless God. He chose to meditate on God. He chose to seek God. And here, he chooses to rejoice in God. It’s all a matter of choice.

So What?

When a psalm presents us with a memorable saying such as verse 3, we should try to determine what role that saying plays in the total message of the psalm: Is the saying:
Psalm 63:3 LEB
Because your loyal love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
your loyal love is better than life
Is it the centerpiece of the message and every other piece fits around it? Or is it an auxiliary message that is just one component of a larger message complex? To determine that, we need to examine the context of the saying. In our present case, David begins by declaring that he has seen God “in the sanctuary,” where he has beheld his power and glory (63:2). Verse 3 then says something more about what he has learned there: “Your love [hesed] is better than life,” and because of that, he will praise the Lord. He would prefer to die rather than to live without God’s love [(Phil. 1:21)]
Philippians 1:21 LEB
For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.
In the totality of biblical revelation, the love of God is absolutely necessary for understanding God, so much so that John can equate God with love and write: “God is love” (1 John 4:8).
1 John 4:8 LEB
The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Then our Psalm goes into a section of praise (vv:4–6) that flows naturally out of the statement of verse 3, thus suggesting that the statement of verse 3 is the fulcrum on which these two pieces move. That leads us to seek the theological ramifications of this saying, especially in the verses that follow it. The first is that it leads us into praise (“Because …, I will praise you” 63:3–4). The more we learn about God, the more we will love him.

1. “Because your loyal love is better than life, I will praise you”

The second ramification is the satisfaction this conviction brings him:

2. “Because your loyal love is better than life, I am satisfied”

God’s love has been laid before him as a feast of the “richest of foods” (lit., “marrow and fat”; v:5), reserved only for God but laid on the banquet table of the psalmist’s life. It is not overstating biblical theology to say that when God gives us his best, he gives us himself: [(Rom. 8:32)]
Romans 8:32 LEB
Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, together with him, freely give us all things?
Third, the truth of verse 3 has infused the psalmist’s whole life to the extent that he thinks about God not just in his waking hours but also in the “watches of the night” (v:6).

3. “Because your loyal love is better than life, I am passionate”

This gives his statement in verse 1 (“my whole being longs for you”) a ring of authenticity.
Fourth, the truth of verse 3 means that the psalmist “clings” to God, and God’s “right hand upholds” him (63:8).

4. “Because your loyal love is better than life, I am Yours”

That is another way to express the truth of verse 1. The psalmist’s relationship to God—and ours should imitate this model—is encompassing, and he has come to the recognition that God is everything, his all in all.
We owe Him everything, He owes us nothing

So What?

In Conclusion:
When we are spiritually famished, God satisfies our craving with “the richest of foods.”
God’s love is “better than life.”
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