Authentic Prayer: Seeking
Psalm 63:1-11
This morning we are starting a series which I’m calling “Authentic Prayer: Insights from the Psalms.” I am praying that this summer Jesus will deepen and strengthen our prayer lives – so that as we head into the Fall, we will be praying more frequently, more authentically, more effectively, more meaningfully.
And this is crucial, because prayer is to our spiritual life like breathing is to our physical life. If you only breathe shallowly, or just once in a while, you will be physically weak and could die.
Same with praying. If you only pray shallowly, or just once in a while, you will be spiritually weak and could die.
But if your breathing is deep and frequent, then physically you will be strong and alive. And if your praying is deep and frequent, then spiritually you will be strong and alive. Don’t you want to be strong and alive spiritually? So let’s get to work on our prayer lives.
Turn to Psalm 63. If you need a Bible go ahead and raise your hand and we’ll bring a Bible to you. Psalm 63 is on page 479 in the Bibles we are passing out.
Each Sunday I’m going to focus on one aspect of prayer that we find illustrated in the psalms, like confessing, praising, asking, waiting, lamenting. Each week I’ll focus on one psalm that emphasizes that aspect of prayer, so we can grow in that aspect of prayer. And this morning I want to focus on seeking – from Psalm 63. This is a powerful prayer prayed by David.
We start off reading about what condition David is in. Look at the beginning of v.1 --
A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
So David is not in Jerusalem; he’s in the wilderness of Judah. He’s fleeing for his life, either from Saul, or from Absalom. So David is in the wilderness, fleeing for his life.
But that’s not the focus of his prayer. What is the focus of his prayer? Look at what David prays in v.1 --
O 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.
The main thing David is feeling is thirst for God. He’s fleeing for his life, but he’s thirsting for God.
Now what does that mean? It means that in some ways God is like water. We all need water. If we don’t have water we will feel thirsty, and when are thirsty and drink water we will feel refreshed and satisfied.
Two weeks ago Jan and I were in Vail, Colorado. During the summer they turn the ski slopes into spectacular mountain bike trails. So one afternoon I decided to rent a mountain bike and check out these trails. It was pretty hot, and so I decided to take an extra water bottle, and was I glad. After an hour of uphill riding – with spectacular scenery – I was thirsty. Really thirsty. I needed water.
And so I opened up my water bottle, and drank – and my thirst was quenched. Before -- I was thirsty. Then -- I drank. And the result was -- my thirst was quenched.
The same is true with God. Just like your body needs water, your heart needs God. Your heart will only be satisfied when you behold God, experience God, connect with God. Nothing else will satisfy your heart.
And the good news is that you can behold God, experience God, connect with God – when you come to Him in and through Jesus. See, we’ve all rebelled against God, and are guilty before God. But Jesus was punished in our place. So if we will repent of our rebellion and trust Jesus, we will be completely forgiven and welcomed by God. And when we repent and trust Jesus from the heart – for the first time we will behold God, experience God, connect with God, and our heart thirsts will be completely satisfied.
But -- as we live our lives trusting Jesus, our experience of God is not constant. There’s lots of factors that weaken our experience of God. And so at times we find that we are not beholding God; we’re not experiencing God; we’re not connecting with God. We still believe all the truths about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit – but we’re not feeling it. We realize that it’s been a while since we have felt God’s love pouring into our hearts, as Paul describes in Romans 5:5. It’s been a while since we’ve rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory, as Peter describes in I Peter 1:8. It’s been a while since we’ve felt rivers of living water in our hearts, as Jesus promised in John 7:38.
And when that happened to David, he thirsted for God. And when that happens to us, we thirst for God. Or do we? Do we thirst for God?
I am afraid many of us don’t. It’s easy to settle for a Christian life in which we just believe truths and obey commands – but we are not beholding God, experiencing God, connecting with God. We are not experiencing God’s love poured into our hearts -- we are not experiencing joy unspeakable and full of glory – we are not experiencing rivers of living water. It’s easy to accept this as normal. And so we don’t thirst for God; we don’t seek God.
So what can we do to thirst? Let’s try a little exercise. How many of you are thirsty right now? Just a few. But now let’s all think about this bottle of ice cold water. Think of what it would feel like taking a sip. And then think about the amount of moisture that’s in your mouth. It feels a little dry, doesn’t it? OK – now – how many of you are feeling thirsty?
That’s what we can do to stir up thirst for God. Think about what God’s Word says about what we can experience in knowing God through Jesus: about how we can have His love pouring into our hearts; how we can have joy unspeakable and full of glory; how we can experience the Spirit as rivers of living water. And then think about your heart – how you are not experiencing that in your heart.
When we do that, if we have experienced Jesus’ saving work in our hearts, the result is that we will be thirsty.
So let’s look at what David does about his thirst. We just saw it in v.1: he earnestly seeks God. What happens if you are thirsty for water but you don’t seek water? You stay thirsty. And what happens if you are thirsty for God but you don’t seek God? You stay thirsty.
So a crucial part of prayer is seeking – seeking God. We all know that prayer includes asking God and confessing to God and thanking God. Those are all crucial. But so is seeking God. Have you had times this past week when your prayer included seeking God?
So what does that mean? How did David seek God in prayer? I saw two steps in this psalm.
First, David expresses to God his desire for God. That’s right there in v.1 – read it again --
O 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 when you want to seek God, express to God your desire for God. Tell Him how much you desire Him. Maybe open up to this verse, and pray this verse. Not in a mechanical, wooden way. But in a heart-felt way, read these words --
O 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.
That’s a crucial step for seeking God: express to God your desire for God.
Then second, David remembers God and meditates on God. I see that in vv.5-6 –
5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
6 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
Don’t misunderstand that word “meditate.” The kind of meditation that satisfies your thirst for God does not involve emptying your mind so you can achieve some mystical experience. The kind of meditation that satisfies your thirst for God involves filling your mind with the truth of God as revealed in the Bible.
So while lying on his bed David might have remembered how God created the heavens and the earth; how God how God delivered the people of Israel from Egypt. And while up during the night watches David might have meditated on God’s goodness and power and wisdom and sovereignty.
So when David is not experiencing God, when he’s not beholding and experiencing God, he thirsts for God. And when he thirsts for God, he seeks God, by expressing to God His desire for God, and by remembering and meditating on the truth of God.
And then notice how God responds to David. We see that in v.2 --
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.
V.2 begins with the word “so” – which shows that v.2 shows what happens as a result of David’s thirsting and seeking in v.1. In v.1 David is thirsting for God, and seeking for God – and as a result -- v.2 – David looks upon God in the sanctuary and beholds God’s power and glory.
This is huge. The Hebrew word translated “look upon” is a special word that usually refers to something more than physical sight or intellectual understanding; it refers to times when God allows you to see and behold Him directly.
Now this isn’t easy to put into words. If you are trusting Jesus, you know what I’m talking about. But let me try to explain it.
It’s one thing to read about God’s power and glory in the Bible. That’s important. But there are times, especially when we are thirsting for God and seeking God, when as we read about God’s power and glory in the Bible, God does something supernatural: he lets us move from understanding concepts about God to experiencing the reality of God – so we look upon God and see His very power and glory.
We can’t make this happen by our efforts. It’s ultimately God’s free sovereign grace that from time to time gives us a glimpse of Himself – so we look upon God Himself, and behold His very power and glory. But He usually does this in response to our thirsting and seeking.
For example, this past week I was walking and praying by the creek near our house. And I wanted to pray specially that Jesus would save someone in my extended family. But before I prayed about that, I focused on truth about Jesus. I thanked Jesus for His love, and talked to Him about His power, I meditated on His wisdom and goodness and sovereignty.
And as I did that, God mercifully gave me a little taste of what David describes here. I went from thinking about Jesus’ love and power and goodness – to seeing the reality of Jesus’ love and power and goodness. I was seeing and experiencing Jesus’ very love and power and goodness.
And that deeply satisfied my heart – and filled me with joy as I started to pray for the salvation of this person in my extended family.
That’s what’s going on here. As David thirsts for God, and seeks God, God responds by enabling David to look upon God’s power and glory – to sense the reality of God’s power and glory – to feel the beauty of God’s power and glory.
And then notice how this affects David -- in two ways.
First, David was completely satisfied in God Himself. Notice what a contrast there is between v.1, and vv.3-7. In v.1 David thirsts for God, he is seeking God. Then in v.2 God enables David to sense and feel God’s power and glory. And then look at how this affects him, in vv.3-7 --
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
6 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
David was completely satisfied in God Himself.
And second, David was completely confident in God’s promises. Remember, David is in the wilderness while people are seeking his life. And David’s thirst was focused not on his well-being, but on God.
But when David thirsted for God and sought God, God let David see His very power and glory. And the result of this was that David knew God was real, He knew God was good and faithful, and He knew that God would keep all the promises God had made to David – keeping him as king, and sparing his life. Look at his confidence in God’s promises in vv.8-11 –
8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
9 But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth;
10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword; they shall be a portion for jackals.
11 But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped.
David was completely confident in God’s promises.
What this means for us. Let me spell out three implications.
First, don’t settle for thirst. How long has it been since you have had God’s love poured into your heart? How long has it been since you have rejoiced in Jesus with joy inexpressible and full of glory? How long has it been since you have looked upon God, beholding His power and glory?
Don’t settle for a version of Christianity that’s less than what this book promises. Don’t settle for thirst.
Second, trust that as you seek God, in and through Jesus, your thirst will be satisfied.
When you come to God, trusting Jesus as the reason you can come into God’s presence, and you seek Him with all your heart – He will meet you. He will pour His love into your heart. He will give you joy unspeakable and full of glory. He will enable you to see His very power and glory. And your thirst will be satisfied.
And so, third, make seeking a regular part of prayer. If you don’t settle for thirst, and if you trust that as you seek God in and through Jesus, you will find him, then you’ll make seeking a regular part of your prayer.
Take time to express to God your desire for God. And take time to remember and meditate on God as He is revealed in the Scriptures.
And as you do this you will find God. He will reveal Himself to you in the truth of God’s Word. Your thirst will be completely quenched.
Questions?