A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water.A Psalm by David, when he was in the desert of Judah. God, you are my God. I will earnestly seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you, in a dry and weary land, where there is no water.A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. 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;A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, thou art my God; earnestly will I seek thee: My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee, In a dry and weary land, where no water is.
5 sermons cite this verse
Let's pray. Father, this evening, God, I come and Lord, in desperation, I ask on my behalf, and behalf of my brothers and sisters in Christ tonight, that your Holy Spirit would teach us. That there was something unique about the life of David, in which you referred to him as a man after your own heart. Well, Lord, we're a room full of people tonight that desire the same. Your word says that we have not because we ask not. And so tonight we're asking. Tonight we're asking that we would be able to leave here knowing what it looks like to be men and women who pursue you with all of our hearts. And Father, that it wouldn't just be talk. That it wouldn't just be words. That this would not be just another Bible study. but God that this would be a roadmap for how we ought to live our lives. Father help us give us understanding because apart from you we can do nothing and so Lord we're gratefully and entirely dependent on you tonight. Lead us, guide us, teach us we pray in Jesus name. Amen. You guys can take your seats. As we come to this psalm tonight as I mentioned you must recognize that it is a psalm of David. Now this is important because immediately knowing that this is a Psalm of David, there should be a certain amount of familiarity we feel with David. If you guys are anything like me, if you've read through your Bible at least a half …
… you will seek me and you will find me when you seek for me with all your heart. Or Psalm 63, oh God, you are my God. Earnestly I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. And then one of my favorite, Hebrews chapter 11, God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Diligently seek him. Now, when it comes to daily devotions or quiet time, there's a few ways to go about it. Some people try to sort of do it on their own. They want to figure it out on their own. They read a portion of scripture that resonates with them or they're drawn to, or they like in particular, and then they will pray according to what they read. So it's sort of like freestyling. Not everybody's like that. A lot of people would like to have some kind of structure, something prepared something directed for them a portion of scripture marked out with devotional thoughts given now I thought a lot about when I was writing this book about a couple of books that have resonated with me as daily devotions and I I happened to find them I kept them so the very first daily devotional was this exact book that I bought in 1975 and you can tell it's from 1975 because it's sort of fallen apart but it is a daily devotional called morning and evening by Charles Haddon Spurgeon and I remember I was two years old in the Lord I found I heard about Spurgeon I think I bought a book back in early 1973 or four …
… so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Psalm 42. Or, oh 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's no water because your steadfast love is better than life let that sink in your steadfast love is better than life my lips will praise you I've got a friend named Carl might be dead before I get home on Tuesday I wrote a long letter to him today. I'm just trying to help him cross the river. the steadfast love of the Lord is better than life. If you believe that, you can cross the river. He's younger than I am. I should be gone, not him. Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. So, what is obvious from the Bible is that God intends for his glory, his radiant fullness, himself to be the ground of our fullest and longest happiness. …
… And there's a third psalm I remember from those days. Psalm 63, verse 1. O God, you are my God. Earnestly I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh faints for you. resonated with me. I knew I had a thirsty soul. And as a college student, I was coming awake to that for the first time. And I wanted to be more like the psalmist. I wanted to know where to go with the pursuit of satisfying my soul. So the psalms had my attention. Again and again, they They tapped into my soul. They discouraged my mere sense of duty in the Christian life, and they highlighted the central place of the heart in Christian faith. Both in the Psalms' honesty about the pains and difficulties and discouragements of this life, and in that hopeful command, rejoice in the Lord, rejoice in the Lord, rejoice in the Lord. Some of you may hear that only as a command. this as a promising possibility. It's commanded because it's possible. …
And let those Christians who are in doubts and fears concerning their condition, renewedly fly to Jesus Christ, who is a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest. Most Christians are at times afraid whether they shall not miscarry at last. Such doublings are always through some want of the exercise of faith, and the best remedy for them is a renewed resort of the soul to this hiding-place; the same act which at first gave comfort and peace, will give peace again. They that clearly see the sufficiency of Christ, and the safety of committing themselves to him to save them from what they fear, will rest in it that Christ will defend them; be directed therefore at such times to do as the psalmist. Psal. lvi. 3, 4. “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word; in God I have put my trust: I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.” II. There is provision in Christ for the satisfaction and full contentment of the needy and thirsty soul. This is the sense of those words in the text,” as rivers of water in a dry place,” in a dry and parched wilderness, where there is a great want of water, and where travelers are ready to be destroyed with thirst, such as was that wilderness in which the children of Israel wandered. This comparison is used elsewhere in the Scriptures. Psalm lxiii. 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.” Ps. cxliii. 6. “I stretch forth my hands unto thee; my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land.” Those who travel in such a land, who wander in such a wilderness, are in extreme need of water; they are ready to perish for the want of it; and thus they have a great thirst and longing for it. …