Are You Thirsty?

Main text: Psalm 63:1-8

Read Psalm 63:1-8

Introduction:

Who is your God?

What are you seeking after?

What are you thirsty for?

Why have you come to church today?

This psalm was written by David, and it was written during a time when his life was in danger and he was in the desert hiding from his enemies.

Think about it, David was in a difficult situation where his life was in danger and he was far from comfort, he had to hide in the wilderness for a long time, with little to no water and without proper food, without comforts of any kind yet in the midst of such dreadful situation he was thirsty for something greater than than his physical needs.

Exposition:

• Read verse 1

Firstly, he acknowledges who his God is, he says Elohim you are Eli, thus declaring that he (David) was not the god of his own life, but that God was in control of his life, David was in total surrender to God. And he is saying because You are my God I will seek You earnestly, I will seek You early. His first priority of the day every day was seeking the LORD, early in his situation his mind is set on seeking the LORD.

– What is the first thing that occupies your heart when you wake up in the morning? How do you spend the first few minutes after you wake up? Do you quickly open your phone and check social media? Maybe you start looking for food to eat or do you start worrying about the tasks of the day? How do you spend the early moments of your day?

– The word ‘early’ does not only mean the sense of early in the morning, but it also speaks of eagerness, urgency. David is longing for God now. He isn’t waiting for his situation to get better before he can comfortably focus on God, no. Rather, while in his difficult situation he sets his heart to seek the LORD, he has a yearning for God.

Here’s a comment from Charles Spurgeon on this, he says; “Learn from this, and do not say, ‘I will get into communion with God when I feel better,’ but long for communion now. It is one of the temptations of the devil to tell you not to pray when you do not feel like praying. Pray twice as much then.”

– ‘My soul thirst for You’

Remember that David was in such a terrible situation, his life was really in danger, he had no water and had no proper food, he couldn’t move around freely because people sought to kill him and in the midst of all these troubles he said his thirst and his earnest desire was for God, his utmost need for was for the LORD. He wasn’t seeking the comforts of his bed at home, he wasn’t focused on his thirst for sweet wine or water to drink, he wasn’t focused on his need for companionship with his wife or friends, he wasn’t focused on his physical needs. Yes, he had those needs and they are important, but regardless of those needs, his utmost desire was for the LORD.

My question to you is: are you thirsty? What are you thirsty for?

Many of us today don’t even know what our soul is thirsty for. And so we waste time and energy seeking satisfaction in things that will never satisfy us. Some people seek satisfaction in money, social status or career success, some people seek satisfaction in human relationships, husband or wife seeking satisfaction in their spouse, parents or grandparents seeking satisfaction in their children, some seek satisfaction in their friends. But none of these things will ever satisfy us. Our soul is thirsty and we try to quench that thirst with the wrong things.

David here expresses his desire for God, and it is so real to him, even more real to him than his physical need. He recognizes that he is in a dry land without water, but his main thirst wasn’t for ordinary water, his thirst was for the living water.

• Read Psalm 42:1

In this verse we see another psalmist (the sons of Korah), expressing longing for God, just like David.

David was thirsting for God, but what was it he so passionately wished for? What exactly was his request? We see the answer in verse 2

• Read verse 2

David was thirsting to see the power and glory of the LORD. That is, to see it there in the desert as he has seen it in the sanctuary, to see it there in private as he has seen it in the assembly with the congregation.

– It is a sad reality that many of us do not thirst for the LORD, we do not seek Him privately. Yes, we come to church on Sundays, we dress well and look good, we sing the songs, maybe you even listen to the to the preaching, because some people don’t, but maybe you do listen to the preaching when you’re in church, and we have a good time together and then that’s it. We go back home and throughout the week there is no pursuit of God in your life, there’s no thirst for God, there is no fellowship with the holy spirit, but then you claim that Yeshua is your LORD? And you do not have a desire for Him? You do not have an active relationship with him, how then do you expect to see the power and the glory of God in your life if you do not seek Him? That is why I asked, why do you come to church? Are you here because it’s just a routine for you? Or you’re simply gathered so you can have a good time? 

Many of us have become comfortable with with being a churchgoers, you don’t have an active personal relationship with the Holy Spirit, you don’t make time to pray, you don’t make time to read your Bible, some of us  spend a lot of time watching YouTube videos on biblical facts and mysteries rather than spending time reading the actual book or listening to sound biblical teachings. Some of us only attempt to pray when in church, you only try to read your Bible when you’re in church, and some people don’t even have a personal bible, you have phones and you don’t have the bible downloaded, you wait for the scriptures to be shown on the screen.

Brother, sister, how about your personal, private fellowship with the LORD? You have time for many other things but you don’t have time for God? You realise your need for many other things but you don’t have an active desire for God? And many of us have become spiritually lazy, we’ve become complacent, we have a false sense of satisfaction. We think, “yes, I believe in God, I’ve received salvation, so I’m good”. We think to ourselves, “God understands, He knows that I’m busy He knows that I don’t have much time, so He knows my heart” and some of you are honest in your thinking, but friend I must say to you that you are honestly wrong. 

Our relationship with the LORD is not to be a passive kind, but it is to be an active kind where we seek him daily, continuously and consistently. I understand the dynamics involved in a relationship, there are high times and low times, but you must decide where you want to be. Do you want to know the LORD more? Do you honestly want to experience the real presence and power of God in your life? If yes, then you need to make a decision to seek Him, to develop a thirst for Him, because the more you know Him the more you’d want to know Him and you let him be your utmost desire instead of those other things.

• Read Matthew 6:33

We’re encouraged by scriptures to seek God first but it seems we have it backwards. Instead of seeking God, we are focused on seeking our own physical needs first.

• Read verses 3 to 5a 

As we seek the LORD, as we thirst for Him, it stirs up praises to God in our hearts. We won’t be waiting until we’re in church, we wouldn’t be waiting for the worship team to sing a song that we like before we praise God no, if we truly have that desire and thirst for God, praising him will be something that we do every day praising him would be something that we do even when we’re alone, because you realise who He is to you.

• Read vs 5b to 6

David here says he remembers God on his bed and he meditates on Him. Meditating on the LORD, how many of us here today can say we meditate daily on the Word of God? How many of us make time daily to read even just one verse from the bible? Do you take time to think about the LORD and who He is and what He has done for you? David says he meditates on the LORD in the night watches. The phrase ‘night watch’ is used sometimes to refer to the time of prayer. Taking out time at night to watch and pray. How many of us here today can say that you pray at night or at the end of your day? Some of us here just sleep too much, the night for us is only about sleep or watching movies. We love to sleep but we do not love to pray. Some of us don’t have a prayer life at all, prayer is not something you do, in the morning you do not pray, throughout the day you do not pray and at night you do not pray. If you do not take out time to pray, how then do you expect to see the power of God in your life? Maybe that’s why the enemy (the devil) is always playing with you and frustrating you, because you do not discipline yourself to pray. David says I remember You on my bed, and I meditate on You.

• Read verse 7 to 8

And here we see that he recognises that God has been his help and he has a reason to be joyful. Do you have a reason to be joyful? Do you recognise that the LORD has been your help? I understand that there may be difficulties in your life at the moment, but do you recognise that the LORD has been your help?

He says “my soul clings to you”, that is to be joined firmly with something.

‘Your right hand upholds me’ — David recognises that it is God who upholds him, it is the LORD that has kept him safe. It’s not because of how smart he was or because he was so good at hiding. And some of us here don’t recognise that it has been the hand of God that has kept us alive. We think we are successful because of our own intelligence and skills, and you do not realise that it’s the hand of God that supports you.

• Read verse 1

Are you thirsty? If you’re thirsty, then Jesus says to you to come to Him.

• Read John 7:37 – 38

Now one may say, how can I get this desire and thirst for God?

• Read Philippians 2:13

Understand that the Holy Spirit is able to stir us up to thirst and yearn for God. But firstly we have to desire it, we have to draw near to God and He will draw near to us (James 4:8). If you realise that  you’ve not been thirsting for Him, if your relationship with God has been a passive relationship and not an active one, if you realise that you want more than just going to church, then you should pray to Him and ask Him to stir you up and cause you to thirst for him, to put a holy desire for Him in you and He will surely, surely reveal Himself to you, because He says in His word, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. And He also said in His word you shall seek Me and find Me when you search for me with all your heart. Seeking the LORD is not something we do half-heartedly, if indeed we are thirsty for Him, if indeed we want to seek Him, we must be intentional and intense. To seek Him with all your heart and he will reveal Himself to you. 

We seek Him by continuous and consistent fellowship with the holy spirit in prayer and in the study of God’s Word, be intentional about studying the word of God, take time every day to pray, and your life will be gloriously changed.

Conclusion:

The psalmist says, O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek You. I thirst for you. I want to see Your power, I want to see Your glory. If you want to see the power of God in your life you need to seek Him continuously, thirst for Him and He promises to satisfy you. And as He satisfies your soul He also satisfies your physical needs, but you have to thirst for Him.

Are you thirsty?