May 8, 2005 •  Pastor Randy Smith

An author once said, "Who, then, are we, we prideful late-twentieth-century creatures? Lord knows, we no longer think of ourselves as belonging to anyone or anything. We do not belong–we own; we possess. And that, to say the least, is not the same thing. We plunge into self-aggrandizement convinced that the dazzling success of our projects will prove definitely who we are. But this fails to satisfy. Our triumphs ring hollow. Our victories so often turn to ashes in our mouths. But never mind. Tomorrow we will run faster, climb higher, and one fine morning…. Who are we? We are creatures who have forgotten what it means to be faithful to something other than ourselves" (Jean Bethke Elshtain, Who Are We? Critical Reflections and Hopeful Possibilities, Eerdmans, 2000).

From the CEO in the corner office to the drug pusher 30 stories below him, everybody is seeking satisfaction in life. We have been created to find meaning, fulfillment and happiness. Unfortunately few, according to most polls, are truly satisfied, despite the advancement of countless philosophers, gurus and religious leaders. More advice than ever is being disseminated and more people than ever are discontent, disheartened and depressed.

Take the great American writer Ernest Hemingway for example. Born in 1899, he was the epitome of the twentieth-century man. At age 25 he sipped champagne in Paris, and later had well-publicized game hunts in Africa and hunted grizzly bears in America's northwest. At the age of sixty-one, after having it all–wine, women, song, a distinguished literary career, Sunday afternoon bullfights in Spain–Hemingway chose to end his life, leaving a note saying, "Life is one [expletive] thing after another" (Taken from: Gary D. Preston, "Our Endless Pursuit of Pleasure," Discipleship Journal, Nov/Dec 1983).

Now some of you many be thinking, "Pastor, I already know where you are going with this one. This is going to be one of these sermons that tells us we cannot be satisfied unless we have God in our lives. Well, I have been a Christian for 15 years and I still have not received the satisfaction that my heart desires." If this applies to you, you are the primary individual I wish to address on this fine Mother’s Day morning.

Many, if not all of you here would profess to have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. And if you do, over and over in the Scriptures, God promises to satisfy your heart. But how many of you when we strip away all the facades truly feel satisfied? How many of you deep down in the recesses of your heart where nobody is permitted to look would say you are really satisfied with life? We want satisfaction and God promises satisfaction, but so few Christians are experiencing authentic satisfaction. What went wrong?

Many wish to blame God for failing to come through on His promises.

Now if we go this route we should not be surprised that we are unsatisfied because this route is the route of pride and pride is the source of all discontentment. Not only is it prideful for the creature to question his or her Creator, it is also prideful to blame God so we can absolve ourselves from any fault in the matter.

Rather than questioning a God who is faithful to keep His Word, we need to take a closer look to see if our dissatisfaction with life results from our own misconceptions regarding our relationship with God. Maybe we have concocted an image of God and a distorted expectation of the Christian life that is foreign to the Scriptures. Child of God, maybe you and you alone are the cause of your dissatisfaction?

When we think of King David, we often think of a man who had everything the world would covet — Money, women, power and fame. Yet the great King of Israel did not find contentment in any of these worldly treasures — a lesson his son Solomon (like Ernest Hemingway) was to learn painfully all too well. David found his satisfaction in God and God alone. "As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Your likeness when I awake" (Psm. 17:15). "You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever" (Psm. 16:11).

You might be thinking, well, that’s easy for David to say. We often visualize David’s path as a life of ease, yet we must not forget that this man was plagued with trials that exceeded anything we have ever experienced. On many occasions, beyond wartime combat, his very life was threatened.

On one such account, he escaped to the wilderness as a fugitive to flee from his very own son, Absalom (2 Sam. 15). Put yourself in his shoes: Away from home, running for your life, threatened by the harsh elements of the desert, responsible for the troops loyal to you, and pursued by your beloved son. Did David hold fast to his God? Was he still satisfied in the midst of such overwhelming pressure? If so, what was his secret to complete satisfaction?

When many might have complained, when many might have questioned God’s goodness, David praised God and even wrote the 63rd Psalm to celebrate God during this trial. And in this Psalm lies the key for ongoing satisfaction. Do you want true satisfaction like David? Then follow along as we reveal his proven method, which is God’s proven method, outlined in this Psalm. To be truly satisfied we must know God, seek God, remember God and praise God. Those are the four points of this message.

1. KNOWING GOD

First, in order to be satisfied we must know God.

Now, there are two levels to this thought. The primary level is to have a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. Apart from having your sins and guilt washed away in His blood, satisfaction is a sheer impossibility. If you are here this morning without Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, your life will never have any purpose and the reality of your life after death is far from a pleasant thought. Because you are at war with your Creator, the Scriptures and even logic declare that you will never find true rest and contentment. To have satisfaction we must know God. Our Lord said, "This is eternal life (satisfaction!), that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (Jn. 17:3).

But there is another level. Some who claim to be Christians may know about God, but they really do not know God in a personal and intimate way.

Let me explain. It is one thing for me to say I know about the President. I may be well aware of his favorite foods and hobbies and place of residence. It is quite another to say, "I know the President. He is my friend. We speak to each other frequently."

King David had this kind of personal relationship with the living God. In verse 1 of Psalm 63 he said, "O God, You are my God" (italics mine). You are not some distant deity. You are my God! The mighty Creator, the Sustainer of the world, the One who calls Himself a "Consuming Fire" (Heb. 12:29) is none other than the lover of David’s soul. And David took great confidence in knowing that. In a popular Psalm, he said, "The Lord is my shepherd" (Psm. 23:1). David was confident that God was on his side. What could bring us greater satisfaction? His joy came in the fact that both he and God had a sweet personal relationship. Christian, that is the kind of relationship God wants with you. And God wants you to know it for your joy.

Over 100 years ago, Henry Law said, "They are seated on the highest throne of joy, and revel in the sweetest sunshine of delight, who know that God is their sure possession. They who hold Him as their own by the hand of faith have greater riches than earth can give, and surer property than this world can amass."

Therefore, coming to God through faith in Christ is only the introduction to a grand relationship. Far from entering this relationship and leaving God on the shelf is the man or woman who cultivates this relationship and desires to know God more intimately. "That I may know Him," the Apostle Paul mentioned in Philippians 3:10, as the goal of his life. May that be the goal of our life as well! The more one confidently knows God, the more one will find satisfaction in life.

2. SEEKING GOD

The second point logically follows. Consider it from both ways. First, the more we know God, the more we will seek God. When we "taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psm. 34:8), we will pursue Him with greater zeal and passion. Second, the more we seek Him, the more we will know Him. When we pursue Him and commune with Him, the stronger and deeper our relationship will become. Therefore, a second way to be truly satisfied is to diligently seek after God.

In verse 1 David said, "I shall seek You earnestly." How earnest did David seek after his God? Well, since he was abandoned in the desert he likened it to person panting for water in an arid climate as if his life depended on it. He continues in verse 1. "My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water." That is how earnestly David sought his God.

For us in America, the metaphor breaks down. We run the sprinkler as an amusement toy for our children. But those who have experienced dehydration compare it to "the most terrible of all human sufferings" (Langewiesche, Sahara Unveiled).

Recently in the news we have heard of two young boys who licked the side of their boat and even consumed some salt water as they were stranded at sea off the coast of South Carolina for 6 days. Other stories speak of greater measures when one is desperate to slake a thirst. People have succumbed to the consumption of blood or urine. I read this week about two men who drank rusty radiator water to stay alive when their truck broke down in the desert. It just goes to show we will do whatever it takes to slake a thirst.

This ardent single-focused pursuit to find liquid to satisfy a thirsty body is the same as David’s pursuit of God to satisfy a thirsty soul.

We may not live in a "dry and weary land" physically, but we do live in a "dry and weary land spiritually. And as one desperately seeks water in a physical desert, we must desperately seek God in a spiritual desert as if our survival depended on it!

Satisfaction will never come if we claim to have God, but then quench our souls on the short-lived, inadequate pleasures of this world. These "thirst quenchers" are really spiritual poison and condemned by our Lord. Through the prophet Jeremiah God said, "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jer. 2:13)

Our only hope comes if we like David "thirst" and "yearn" to drink from the living God. Jesus said, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink (Jn. 7:37). While David was in one of the driest climates in the world, he had an oasis in his heart because he had (as C. S. Lewis said) "an appetite for God." In other Psalms he said, "For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, and the hungry soul He has filled with what is good" (Psm. 107:9). And "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God" (Psm. 42:1).

David’s intense desire for God is also brought out in verse 8 when he said, "My soul clings to You." The Hebrew word translated "cling" is the same word used in Ruth 1:14 when it spoke of Orpah departing, but Ruth "clinging" to Naomi. We see it in Genesis 2:24 to speak of a husband and wife "clinging" to one another, becoming one flesh. We could translate it by saying, David’s soul was "glued" to God or as the King James Version puts it, "(David’s) soul followed hard after (God).

Verse 8 also brings out a comforting truth in our pursuit of God. David said as he clings to God "(God’s) right hand [His strength] upholds me." God helps us to seek Him. And He is there to catch us when we fall. As the great hymn writer Charles Wesley penned it so well, "Hangs my helpless soul on Thee; still support and comfort me."

Thirsting for God brings for true satisfaction. Wasn’t this what Jesus taught as well? The One who said to "seek first His kingdom and His righteousness" (Mt. 6:33) also said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied" (Mt. 5:6).

3. REMEMBERING GOD

A third way to be satisfied in God naturally flows from the first two. The more I know God, the more I will seek Him. And the more I seek Him, the more I will cherish the sweetness of our relationship — the more I will remember and meditate on His greatness.

I believe we follow this whole process in the human relationships that are most special.

I can remember when Julie went from being someone I knew about to someone I knew personally. It then became my desire to seek her out and come to know her better. Though we had demanding jobs, attended different churches and lived an hour apart, we spent as much time together as possible. I can vividly remember driving home down I-88, one, two, three in the morning, nearly falling asleep at the wheel. I’d wake up early for school, barely make it through the day and repeat the process all over again that evening.

Knowing led to seeking and seeking led to remembering. Since there were times and even days that we couldn’t see one another, I would spend that time looking at pictures, reading her cards and cherishing her in my memory. Isn’t it only natural to treat the greatest individual of our love in such a manner? Do we treat God this way?

This is how David pursued his relationship with God. He was in the desert. He was running for his life. He was separated from God’s people and the Temple where God promised to be present among His people. But David, during these painful times of adversity, brought comfort and satisfaction to his soul by meditating on God. The Lord was always in His thoughts even while he lay awake in bed. Verse 6, "When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches" (cf. Psm. 1:2).

In verse 2 he said, "Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory." According to one commentator, "Our vision in the mountain should be our comfort in the valley. In days of rapture we should store up delights for days of depression. In solitude the memory of the sanctuary should gladden us. It matters little how dry and weary the land is, so long as we are sure that God is ours" (Scroggie, A Guide to the Psalms, p. 77).

Do you want this kind of comfort? Notice carefully what brought David comfort as he meditated on God. It was God’s attributes! In verse 2 he spoke of the sanctuary, which was akin to God’s holiness. In that verse he also spoke of God’s power and His glory. In verse 3 He exclaimed, "Your lovingkindness is better than life."

God’s attributes define His character. The more we come to know the character of God, the more we will come to know God. And the more we come to know God, the more we will find satisfaction in meditating on His attributes.

Furthermore, David meditated on more than just His attributes. He also meditated on the sweetness of his relationship with the Lord. David didn’t just recall God’s character, he recalled the times when God demonstrated the goodness of His attributes specifically in his life.

My wife and I were laughing last night as we recalled some pleasant memories from our daughters. Sweet memories warm the soul. Since God’s dealings with us are always good, what can be sweeter than meditating on the ways God has worked in our life?

As Spurgeon said regarding David, "Meditation had refreshed his memory and recalled to him his past deliverances" (Spurgeon, Treasury of the Psalms, p. 67). He remembered God’s faithfulness to him in the past and such memories brought David great confidence for the present and the future. In verse 7 he said, "For You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy."

As we get a glimpse of David’s heart for God, could it be that we thirst too little for God and too much for the trivial things in this world? Even a rat can desire good food and reproduction and a nicer cage. But we as humans have a capability unlike any lower form of life. We have the ability to seek after the living God! To know Him and find great joy meditating on His wonderful character and delighting in our awesome relationship.

Even in the midst of extreme suffering, David knew that God was powerful enough to deliver, wise enough to know the best way, and loving enough to do it with tenderness and compassion. No wonder David could sing in this Psalm, "Your lovingkindness is better than life" (verse 3) and "in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy" (verse 7).

4. PRAISING GOD

Our final point is the natural overflow of the first three. The more we desire to know someone, the more we will seek after him or her. And the more we seek after a person, the more we will understand that person and recall pleasant memories with that individual. And the more we love and respect and cherish the individual (here it is!), the more praise we will ascribe to that person.

The command to praise God is everywhere in the Bible. I have seen some very nebulous definitions, but praise is simply this — It flows from everything we learned so far — Praise is reciting back to God His wonderful character and His wonderful deeds. Therefore praise is logical and natural climax of a heart that loves and knows and cherishes an individual.

As you are well aware, today is Mother’s Day. Although they deserve it every day, Mother’s Day is one special day we set aside to praise our moms. And it goes without saying that the more you know your mother and the more you have tasted your mother’s love and the more you think about your mother and the more you respect your mother, the greater will be the praise she receives. And a woman after God’s own heart should receive the greatest praise if her children have eyes to appreciate that. This is the teaching of Scripture. "Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised" (Pro. 31:30).

Many will be going through the motions today. "Happy Mother’s Day. Here is the card and here is the flowers." Yet for others, praise for their mothers will be a very natural and very delightful response. Do you know why? Because our delight in an object is brought to completion by praise. As C. S. Lewis said, "all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise" (Lewis Reflections on the Psalms, p. 94-95).

Because of David’s relationship with the Lord, his life continually overflowed in praise to God. At the end of verse 3 he said, "My lips will praise You." Verse 4, "So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name." The end of verse 5, "My mouth offers praises with joyful lips." In verse 7 David said, "In the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy." And verse 11 reads, "But the king will rejoice in God."

The great Puritan, Thomas Manton remarked, "Self-love may lead us to prayers, but love to God excites us to praises." According to Thomas Watson, another Puritan, "Praising God is one of the highest and purest acts of religion. In prayer we act like men; in praise we act like angels."

Praise for God is really a barometer revealing the strength of our relationship. Praise reveals a heart that is grateful, happy and content in one’s relationship with the Lord. The pagans can praise God when things are going well, but how many children of God act like them and grumble, reproach or scold the Lord because the situation has turned out different than they desired. Ongoing praise is knowing God and trusting Him in all circumstances. It is "walking by faith and not by sight." It is living like Job, "Though He slay me, I will hope in Him" (Job 13:15). Ongoing praise is the key to a satisfied life and the culmination of a satisfied life.

Psalm 63 commands our affections. The late radio Bible teacher Vernon McGee said, "This is a special Psalm. It is an ointment that is poured out upon all kinds of sores. It is a bandage for bruises. It is a balm to put upon wounds to help them heal. It has been a marvelous Psalm for the church" (McGee, Thru the Bible, Joshua through Psalms, p. 780). Chrysostom testified, that it is ordained and agreed by the primitive fathers, that no day should pass without the public singing of this Psalm. We have seen the snapshot of a man who found his satisfaction in God. As one said, "(David) learn(ed) by God to sing in the desert" (W. Scroggie).

We are all searching for satisfaction and we will never find it until we seek and savor the Lord. Our heart demands an infinite satisfaction which can be supplied only by an infinite Person.

May we emulate David by following hard after God. May we ever seek to find all that our heart desires under the shadow of His wings. And may He keep us clinging to Him by His strength so we can praise Him and find rest and satisfaction for our souls.