RIVER OF LIFE CHURCH – CHRYSTAL F.

Worship and Prophecy Through the Psalms

Session 9 Longing for God – Psalm 63

1 O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a
dry and thirsty land where there is no water. 2 So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your
power and Your glory. 3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. 4
Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. 5 My soul shall be satisfied as
with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips. (Ps. 63:1-5)

I. DESIRING GOD

A. David wrote Psalm 63 when he was in the wilderness of Judah fleeing for his life from Saul (1
Sam. 22:5; 1 Sam. 23:15). One characteristic that marked David’s life was his willingness to let
God lead his life and his refusal to take control over the events that took place.

B. He showed how much he trusted God’s direction and promises in his life in 1 Samuel 22 when he
respected the prophet Gad’s direction and left the stronghold to run in the wilderness. He
repeatedly refused to take the opportunity to kill King Saul (1 Sam. 24:6-7; 1 Sam. 26:9-12) and
executed the man who claimed to have killed Saul in battle (2 Sam. 1:14-15).

C. Psalm 63 opens with David establishing just who God is, saying, “God, you are my God.” In this
way, he is establishing the right to access the throne room of God because the relationship they
have is personal. However, in spite of their closeness, God is not immediately accessible
because David’s next statement shows he’s chasing God. Yet again, David reminds us that there
are seasons when we must pursue Him.

4 My beloved put his hand by the latch of the door, and my heart yearned for
him. 5 I arose to open for my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my
fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the lock. 6 I opened for my
beloved, but my beloved had turned away and was gone. My heart leaped up
when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he
gave me no answer. (SoS. 5:4-6)

D. God removes Himself to see if we will chase after Him. By definition, love pursues.

E. David set himself to seek God early in the morning. He acknowledged that from the moment he
awakened in the mornings, his soul longed for God as much as his body craved the nourishment
of breakfast.

F. David wrote in a physical desert, and yet he attributes his symptoms of physical hunger and thirst
to his spiritual state-of-being. His soul and body longed for God more than they did for physical
comfort.

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G. Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well that He was giving to her the water of life. The Holy
Spirit is the water of life that flows out of us and brings refreshing to the world.

13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst
again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.
But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water
springing up into everlasting life.” (Jn. 4:13-14)

38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow
rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those
believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because
Jesus was not yet glorified. (Jn. 7:38-39)

H. David’s analogy of a soul-thirst was an acknowledgment that he was disconnected from the flow
of the Spirit. That the Holy Spirit had not yet come. David was still bound by the restraints of
the law under the old covenant, waiting and longing for the day Jesus would come and set in
place a new covenant.

II. OUR EXPRESSION OF WORSHIP

A. God’s favor to David was so great that David was permitted to see Him in His sanctuary, the
place where His power and authority was manifest. David saw glimpses of the power, the
majesty, and the glory of God, and yet his heart was most captivated by the awareness of God’s
love and His goodness towards man.

B. Our primary focus in seeking God needs to be motivated out of our love for Him and His love
for us. To seek Him for the benefits of His power and authority without pursuing intimacy robs
us of the joy of truly knowing Him.

C. David’s discovery that God’s love toward him was both loyal and satisfying prompted him to
bless the Lord and lift his hands. This was a common reaction for him, and one that we have
adopted ourselves. We raise our hands in church as an expression of prayer or of respect.

2 Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to You, when I lift up

my hands toward Your holy sanctuary. (Psa. 28:2)

19 “Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches; pour out
your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift your hands
toward Him for the life of your young children, who faint from hunger
at the head of every street.” (Lam. 2:19)

2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD. (Psa. 134:2)

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2 Let my prayer be set before You as incense, the lifting up of my hands

as the evening sacrifice. (Psa. 141:1)

I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands,
without wrath and doubting. . . (1 Tim. 2:8)

A. The nature of God’s grace towards us is that He satisfies and fulfills like nothing else can. David
was able to praise God and seek Him because he knew that God’s love fulfills us.

B. The danger of seasons of leanness and sacrifice is that we can fall into the mindset that life is
only about bleakness. Wholehearted love of God does not mean that we settle for second-best.
The Father’s love for us is, by definition, better than. When we respond to His love with pursuit
of our own, He always gives us the best.

2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: 3 who forgives all
your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from
destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, 5 who
satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the
eagle’s. (Psa. 103:2-5)

C. Jesus reiterated that responding to the Father in love was like food for our souls in John when He
told His disciples that He had food they did not know anything about. In the same way, our
satisfaction comes from doing the will of God and seeking after His desires.

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish
His work.” (Jn. 4:24)

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 rejoice. 8 My soul follows
close behind You; Your right hand upholds me. 9 But those who seek my life, to destroy it,
shall go into the lower parts of the earth. 10 They shall fall by the sword; they shall be a
portion for jackals. 11 But the king shall rejoice in God; everyone who swears by Him shall
glory; but the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped. (Ps. 63:6-11)

III. MEDITATING ON GOD

A. David understood that his heart remained in a posture of worship only when he allowed himself
to meditate on God. The word “meditate” here is “hagah” in the Greek, and it was often used in
connection to continual, day and night analysis of the Word.

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This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate
in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in
it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good
success. (Jos. 1:8)

But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and
night. (Psa. 1:2)

B. We can trust that God is our help and our position of safety—however, it’s only when we
continually study His Word and have it written on our hearts that we renew our minds. Worry
and doubt creep in when we relegate God to a passing thought on occasion instead of a constant
source of nourishment for our spirits.

C. What logically follows from a heart that is constantly contemplating the Word is an attitude of
rejoicing. When we see firsthand the goodness of God in our lives, and the faithfulness that He
has shown throughout His word, we cannot help but rejoice because we know He has protected
and nurtured us. We gain strength to pursue God when we remember just how great He is.

D. Not only does God satisfy us beyond anything we can do for ourselves, but we have a promise
that one day, our Father (who loves justice) will right all wrongs and silence the lies and
accusations that come against us. King Saul constantly falsely accused David, but David’s hope
was that one day God’s truth would prevail.

E. When we trust the Lord, we often must relinquish the right to defend ourselves. Jesus was the
perfect example of this in His humble faithfulness, and because of His humility, God exalted
Him above all others. In the same way, we have the promise that our Father will take the role of
defender and judge for us if we will relinquish our rights.

16 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “ Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a
foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever
believes will not act hastily. 17 Also I will make justice the measuring line, and
righteousness the plummet; the hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the
waters will overflow the hiding place. (Is. 28:16-17)

17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises
against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the
servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me,” says the LORD.
(Is. 54:17)

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