DESPERATELY SEEKING GOD

Psalm 63:1-8

Psalm 63:1-8 (TNIV) – 1 You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. 2 I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. 3 Because your loe is better than life, my lips will glorify you. 4 I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. 5 I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. 6 On my bed I will remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. 7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. 8 I cling to you; your right hand upholds me.

INTRO:  We’ve all been through the dry desert places in our lives.  Maybe you are currently going through a dry desert place in your life right at this moment.  Maybe you are wondering, “Where is God in the midst of my situation?”

Let me tell you something, we have all gone through those times.  It is a time of testing, heartache, frustration, fear, doubt, and confusion.

Death was walking toward a city one morning and a man asked, “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to take 100 people,” Death replied.
“That’s horrible!” the man said.
“That’s the way it is,” Death said. “That’s what I do.”
The man hurried to warn everyone he could about Death’s plan. As evening fell, he met Death again. “You told me you were going to take 100 people,” the man said. “Why did 1,000 die?”
“I kept my word,” Death responded. “I only took 100 people. Worry took the others.”

This interesting tale portrays so well what the National Mental Health Committee reported a few years ago – half of all the people in America ’s hospital beds are constant worriers. Mental distress can lead to migraine headaches, arthritis, heart trouble, cystitis, colitis, backaches, ulcers, depression, digestive disorders and yes, even death. Add to that list the mental fatigue of nights without sleep and days without peace, then we get a glimpse of the havoc worry plays in destroying the quality and quantity of life.

And you see, these desert times can make us constant worry warts if we focus on what we are going through during these times.

The good news is we have a few examples from Scripture of how men and women of old dealt with the desert times.  David is one example.  You see, he wrote this Psalm when he was literally going through a real desert time.  Scholars think that David wrote this in the wilderness as he was fleeing for his life from the court of Achish.  We also know that perhaps the Children of Israel sang this Psalm during their exile in Babylon.

We can see David’s attitude during this desert time and we can learn to have the same attitude.  You see, David was in that wilderness, desperately seeking God.  Let’s look and see what we can apply in this Psalm to our desperate, desert times.

1.  Desperate times require desperate measures.

Verse 1 – You, God, are my God; earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

A.     The first thing that we see is that David gets desperate with God.

1.      He declares that The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and only Him, is His God.

2.      He will earnestly seek Him.

3.      He will thirst for Him.  He is literally in a desert, but instead of talking about thirsting for water, he declares that he thirsts for God.

4.      Not only that, his whole being longs for God. 

5.      You see, there is an aching in David’s heart in the wilderness that nothing can feel but God Himself.  And because of this, he himself is desperate for God.

B.     Notice the word here, “earnestly.”  It can mean in Hebrew, “To seek early, to seek diligently, to seek out with all your heart.”

1.      You see, David is consumed with seeking the face of the Lord. 

2.      He needs Him in this situation.

C.     In our desert times, we do must get desperate for God.

1.      In our heart of hearts, we’ve got to realize in the midst of our desert places, we don’t need what worldly wisdom offers, we don’t need what our own flesh feels it needs.

2.      Sometimes we need more than just an encouraging word. 

3.      Not only do we need  Word from God – we need the presence of God Himself in our desert.

D.     Now how do we know that we are desperate for God?

1.      When our prayers become earnest.

2.      When we recognize that we have no where else to turn.

3.      When we New Testament Christians finally push our plates back, our desires, and our wants, and seek Him and Him alone.

2.  Desperate people desperately want to be in the presence of God.

Verses 2-5 – 2 I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld  your power and your glory. 3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. 4 I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. 5 I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

1. David was in the wilderness, but he longed to be in the sanctuary of the Lord, gathering with other believers, singing the Psalms of praise.
   1. Notice something here: David said he saw God’s power and glory in the sanctuary, or the gathering for worship.
2. Truly desperate people understand what our meetings at church is all about.
   1. You see, it is not about wearing our Sunday best.
   2. It is not about having everyone seeing us give in the offering.
   3. It is not about singing the songs that we only like or hearing the preaching that we only want to hear.
   4. It is not about the programs that a church may or may not have.
   5. Our meetings at the church is for one reason:  To lift up the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  To glorify Him with out testimonies of His goodness.  To praise Him in songs of all kinds.  To hear sermons that encourage us to pursue the Lord Jesus Christ and walk in His teachings even more.
   6. We’ve come here to behold His power and glory.  It won’t happen though until we get our focus off of our wilderness, and get our focus on God.
3. I’m saying this in Christian compassion so please understand that.  But those who are struggling and because of their struggles are missing church more than they should are honestly just not desperate enough for God!
   1. Sure they love the Lord.  They want Him to meet His need.
   2. But if they would just understand that our meeting together to lift up Jesus Christ is a power thing, they would be here every chance they would get.
   3. They wouldn’t let their desert place prevent them from experiencing the Lord.

3.  Desperate people are people who desperately remember God in the night.

Verse 6 – On my bed I remember you ; I think of you through the watches of the night.

A.     Desperate people often wake up in the middle of the night seeking the face of God.

B.     Oh, nothing really has to be going on, sometimes they just wake up just to spend time in His presence.

C.     Now all of you know that I really don’t sleep well at night.  Often times I wake up stressing and calling on His name.  But there are other times as well, when I’ve waken up, not having stress, and just spend time in the Presence of the Lord, quietly so as not to wake up Laura.

4.  Finally, desperate people know where there strength comes from.

Verses 7-8 – 7 Because your are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. 8 I cling to you; your right hand upholds me.

A.     You notice that David knew that God would sustain him by His right hand, or His strong hand.

1.      He knew that whatever awaited him, He was secure in the Lord His God.

B.     Take courage believer!  God is your help.  He holds you in the palm of His strong right hand – you are secure in the midst of your desert place.

CONCL:  Are you currently going through a dry desert place in life?  You are not sure of what direction you should take?  Get desperate with God.  Seek His face.  Cry out to Him for help.  Come into His presence with singing.  Come to church expected God to be present because the body is lifting up His name and are gathered in His name.  Praise Him in the night and recognize that He is your strength.  He holds you in His hand.  You are secure.  Be encouraged.