WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.479 I wanted to look at Psalm 63. 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:05.919 It's a psalm that uh that I love. 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:11.599 It's um a song you many of you have have memorized probably. 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:17.920 Um it's in so many different songs uh that you'll recognize the words of it as we read it. 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:21.920 And I hope that it going through this morning is encouraging to you. 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:30.879 Um and I've learned so much, despite this being a very familiar psalm, I've learned so much about it this week as as I've gone through it myself repeatedly. 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:36.560 Um and so I hope to pass some of that on to you this morning and that it will be an encouraging time in your soul as well. 00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:40.880 Uh let me pray for us and then I'll read the text and we'll begin. 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:52.719 Lord, we do ask for your uh wisdom uh as we look into your word, for your grace as we behold wonderful things from your word and for your mercy as we apply it to our life. 00:00:52.880 --> 00:01:15.519 In light of what uh David and his and Jesus just saying, we um do pray that our souls would be still in the midst of the chaos of the world, the nations rage, the people plot a vain thing, and yet you in heaven laugh, you're exalted, and your son is on his throne, he reigns over the world and and wonders why people rebel, wonders why our souls are in turmoil. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:25.040 And so we pray that you would use these words uh this morning to quiet our souls, to cause us to be still before your sovereignty. 00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:26.799 We ask this in Jesus' name. 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:27.760 Amen. 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:34.319 Psalm 63, a psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah. 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:37.599 Oh God, you are my God. 00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:40.079 Earnestly I seek you. 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:49.680 My soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:59.680 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory, because your steadfast love is better than life. 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:04.480 My lips will praise you, so I will bless you as long as I live. 00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:07.280 In your name I will lift up my hands. 00:02:07.760 --> 00:02:20.879 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night, for you have been my help. 00:02:21.280 --> 00:02:24.560 In the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. 00:02:24.879 --> 00:02:28.719 My soul clings to you, your right hand upholds me. 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:34.560 But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down to the depths of the earth. 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:39.840 They shall be given over to the power of the sword, they shall be a portion for the jackals. 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:49.840 But the king shall rejoice in God, all who swear by him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped. 00:02:50.560 --> 00:03:01.520 What a contrast this week has given us in our life between the steadfast and fixed hope that believers have, and really the chaos and the tumult of the worlds. 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:17.919 If you are foolish enough to read the news or get your input from the news, you see that our world is in very many regards in chaos and uh unprecedented times of despair and anxiety. 00:03:18.639 --> 00:03:25.919 And then the reality of what you perhaps and your family and your friends and their families are experiencing is just so so different. 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:31.520 I know in my household this last two weeks has been more like a vacation than a plague, honestly. 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:37.919 Um, with more time for to spend at home with uh my kids and more time to spend at home with my wife. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:46.319 And I know for many of my friends that don't work at the church but work in the Pentagon or in Capitol Hill or in various places have had the same experience. 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:49.280 This has been almost a blessing for them. 00:03:49.439 --> 00:04:01.759 I've even heard people joke that they wish this kind of thing could be institutionalized, that every year we shut down for a few weeks to bring us back at home and to just give us time with our families. 00:04:01.840 --> 00:04:05.599 And so in this regard, it is a it is a joy, and I think we receive it as such. 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:16.079 We understand that God is sovereign over what our world is going through and that he is in control and that he means it for his glory and of course for our good, if his glory is our good. 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:17.120 We understand that. 00:04:17.199 --> 00:04:26.319 And yet we also understand that there are those who are going through chaos, there are those who even jokingly say, you know, the the their trial is spending time at home with their family. 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:51.279 We know that there are those who just want out of the house, they're going stir crazy, and more personally, there are probably those who are just losing uh what momentum they have in life, that are wasting their time, that now feel justified in wasting their time and spending these next few weeks in the in the wilderness, so to speak, spending these next few weeks not doing anything productive. 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:57.360 If we're honest, we see that same tension in our own lives, we see the same pull in our own hearts. 00:04:57.439 --> 00:05:09.279 Even those who believe that God is sovereign and that God is in sovereign control over this in our own hearts, we see the temptation towards worry, we see the temptation towards anxiety, we see a pull towards despondency. 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:13.279 We see how easy it would be for us to waste our time. 00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:26.079 We know the scripture says to be busy doing the work of the light as long as it is day, and we're so quick to justify that there's no work for us to do, that we can waste our time. 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:36.480 You know, a Christian should respond to this kind of conflict and these kind of temptations with confidence and thankfulness, confidence that God is in control, thankfulness that He is good. 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:46.319 And yet we know there's a temptation to worry and anxiety because this kind of thing demonstrates to us that we're not in control of life. 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:48.480 We are not the ones in control of our life. 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:51.360 We have a facade of control going on normally. 00:05:51.519 --> 00:06:22.480 Under normal circumstances, we have convinced ourselves that if we go to the gym somewhat regularly and we do family devotionals somewhat regularly and we are good stewards of our money and we work hard at our jobs, that nothing bad will happen to us, that we have the capacity to protect us and to protect our family, and that our kids will grow up to love Jesus and we'll get promotions at work and everything will be well, and we'll live the American or Christian dream, and those two words sometimes become unfortunately synonymous. 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:28.160 And then something like this comes along and exposes that we're not in control. 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:34.560 We're not in control of how long we live, we're not in control of how healthy we are. 00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:42.560 And it should make us realize if these things aren't in our control, whose control are they in? 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:45.199 And the Christian should be able to answer very quickly. 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:49.360 They're in God's control, and that answer should give us confidence and comfort. 00:06:49.519 --> 00:06:50.639 It should bring peace. 00:06:50.800 --> 00:07:05.360 But we know that's not often the case because we too can be prone to worry, we true too can be prone to irrationality, we can respond to trials with fear, and then when we respond to these kind of trials with fear, we begin to invent things that give us a sense of control. 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:09.839 We invent things that if we do this, that, and the other thing, then we'll be safe. 00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:22.560 I watched a video that uh somebody sent us recently about a the right way to shop for groceries now to keep this kind of uh uh illness, to keep the coronavirus from coming into our house. 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:24.720 Here's what you need to do when you shop for groceries. 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:31.759 And I watched like five minutes of it and I thought to quote our president here, sometimes the cure can be worse than the disease. 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:44.720 Leave the groceries in your porch for three days before bringing them in your house, separate down the table, you know, half for the groceries that have not been washed yet, half for those that have been, put everything in new bags and all this stuff. 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:50.720 And my goodness, I just think at the time the raccoons came into my son room, and they still know how to get in, by the way. 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:55.199 There's no groceries gonna be in our front porch for three days, that's for sure. 00:07:56.800 --> 00:08:07.439 But the temptation behind that kind of thinking is that if you just do everything the right way, then you can be safe. 00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:10.079 Then you can protect yourself. 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:16.480 And of course, if we're being honest, we know there's a bit of that war in our hearts as well. 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:21.199 There's a war against worry, at least there ought to be in your hearts a war against worry. 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:25.120 There's a war against strife, at least there ought to be a war against strife. 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:29.360 You you should recognize the temptation to worry in your heart and go to battle against it. 00:08:29.439 --> 00:08:34.480 You should recognize the temptation for strife and anxiety and chaos in your heart. 00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:39.120 That's a natural tendency in our heart that produces that kind of conflict, and you should see it. 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:53.679 It should ping upon your spiritual radar, and you see conflict coming from this quadrant, and you should engage with that and try to produce a calmness and a stability and a stillness in your heart, even in the face of despair and chaos. 00:08:53.919 --> 00:08:57.440 There should be a war against despondency that happens in your heart. 00:08:57.600 --> 00:09:07.039 You should see the temptation for despair, the temptation for apathy, the temptation for laziness in your life, and you should go to war against it. 00:09:08.240 --> 00:09:16.320 And that's why I chose this psalm for this morning, Psalm 63, because this psalm is there's several psalms that show you the war against despondency. 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:24.320 There's several psalms where David himself is despondent, or David himself is anxious, or David himself is in the wilderness. 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:32.320 But this psalm is just one of the more precious of those psalms because it shows you the full arc of this, the full rainbow of this, if you will. 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:38.000 It starts with him in the wilderness and it ends with him at peace and worship in God on his throne. 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:39.759 It ends in the New Testament, really. 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:53.039 And so this whole thing brings you from David's exile in the wilderness, and you get to walk with him through his heart, and you get to see how David goes to war against this kind of temptation and what happens inside of him. 00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:54.559 Where does his thoughts go? 00:09:54.720 --> 00:10:01.679 Where does his mind go when he is prone to anxiety, where he is prone to despondency? 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:11.279 What happens to him that brings him from that wilderness all the way to the pages of the New Testament where the believer is still before the Lord? 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:16.080 That's why this psalm is so precious to so many people. 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:26.399 One commentator says, It is difficult to probe the passionate intensity of this psalm, which has enabled it to be so many different things to so many different people. 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:32.639 This is one of those psalms that if if you read this when you are going through despair, you feel like this psalm was written for you. 00:10:32.799 --> 00:10:38.559 If you read this when you're skipping on the sunny side of the glory street, you feel like this song was written for you. 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:43.360 No matter where you are in the Christian experience, this psalm is personal to you. 00:10:53.679 --> 00:11:01.039 But this psalm in particular has a beauty and an intricacy to it where there's no dangling participles in this. 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:05.120 Every little passing thought is wrapped up by the end of this psalm. 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:09.200 There is an intense and intricate beauty to it. 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:20.000 And so I want to take us this morning along the pages of this psalm from David's desperation to his contentment, from the the wilderness straight into glory with him. 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:24.879 Now, this psalm is part of a group of psalms, Psalm 61 to Psalm 68. 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:27.279 Those eight Psalms go together. 00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:34.240 The first half of them, all four of them, 61 through 64, are all about David's exile. 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:36.000 They're all about David in the wilderness. 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:38.080 They're about David being surrounded by enemies. 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:41.919 They're not David in a happy place, these first four Psalms. 00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:45.600 They're about him surrounded by his enemies. 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:51.440 They're about him lost and not knowing what to do and not knowing how he's going to get back to Jerusalem, by the way. 00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:53.840 He doesn't know how he's going to become king again. 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:56.480 He's been exiled, likely by his psalm. 00:11:56.559 --> 00:12:04.159 There's a couple different times in his life where he's forced out in the wilderness, some as he's hiding from Saul. 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:14.240 It seems like these four are written later on in his life when he is exiled by his son Absalom, and he's forced to flee in disgrace. 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:17.440 And you wonder how can this end well? 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:23.600 And then Psalms 65, 6, 7, and 8, they answer these first four Psalms. 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:34.000 Those next four Psalms all describe the messianic king reigning in glory, and it causes you to zoom out a little bit and realize, you know what, these are David may be in the wilderness. 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:38.960 This particular king of Israel may be in the wilderness, but that's not how the Bible ends. 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:43.279 When David wrote these Psalms, he didn't know if that's how his life would end or not. 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:45.440 He knew the Davidic covenant. 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:52.240 He knew that his son would reign on the throne after him, but he also knew that those were messianic, so he doesn't know how these are going to end. 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:58.480 Psalm 65 through 68, let you know how they're going to end with the messianic king, and he is the one who's reigning. 00:12:58.639 --> 00:13:02.159 The nations will come from the corners of the earth, bringing their gifts to him. 00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:04.000 They will all pay their homage to him. 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:12.320 Instead of journey to Jerusalem to pay their vows to the Davidic king in Israel, there's something more global is going on. 00:13:12.399 --> 00:13:18.080 And that's how Psalm 65 through 68 answer these first four Psalms. 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:26.000 What I love about the reason I chose Psalm 63 of all those eight Psalms to look at is because you see that same progression inside of Psalm 63. 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:33.919 You move from the wilderness to this messianic king reigning over the nations by the end of this psalm. 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:36.960 So I want to park here this Sunday and look at this psalm. 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:40.159 I think it will become one of your favorites for this season of your life. 00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:47.759 As long as your lockdown and your self-quarantine lasts, I hope this psalm becomes kind of your verse that fuels you through this time. 00:13:47.840 --> 00:13:50.480 And to help it do that, I do want to give you an outline this morning. 00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:54.559 I want to give you three soul truths to pull you out of the wilderness. 00:13:54.720 --> 00:14:10.720 And I hope these truths will be motivational to you, to guard you, to keep you in a place of productivity, to keep you in a place of confidence in the Lord, to keep you in a place of stillness before God and work before the world. 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:20.720 These three truths, I call them three soul truths in here, because if you can even look at how the ESV breaks this up, there's three paragraphs in this Psalm. 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:24.960 It's interesting that all three paragraphs begin with the same word. 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:26.720 Nefesh is the Hebrew word. 00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:28.240 It's the word for soul. 00:14:29.039 --> 00:14:32.240 The first paragraph, verse one, my soul thirsts for you. 00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:35.759 The second paragraph, verse five, my soul will be satisfied. 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:38.720 And that paragraph ends, by the way, in verse eight, my soul clings to you. 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:46.720 That middle paragraph, verses five through eight, is the kind of the highlight, the center of the psalm, the main point of the psalm, and it's bracketed with the words soul in verse five and eight. 00:14:46.879 --> 00:14:53.759 The third paragraph, verse nine, those who seek to destroy my life, that word in the ESV life, that's the same word, soul. 00:14:53.919 --> 00:14:58.720 Those who seek to destroy my nephesh, my soul, they themselves will perish. 00:14:58.799 --> 00:15:00.480 And so you have three paragraphs here. 00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:04.320 Each paragraph introduces to you a new point about the soul. 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:07.519 The middle paragraph is bracketed with truths about the soul. 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:10.000 This is a psalm about your soul. 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:18.080 It's a psalm about how to nourish your soul and how to feed your soul to keep your soul from withering in the wilderness. 00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:23.679 In fact, look at the very beginning of this psalm, the inscription. 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:26.879 And if you if you don't know this, I hope uh to help you here. 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:33.919 The inscription of these psalms, not the big black, bolded words above, you know, my Bible ESV says, My soul thirsts for you. 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:39.519 That's not inspired, but the inscription, those little caps that most English translations give, that is inspired. 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:47.279 All the inscriptions of the Psalms, those that have them, and these Psalms do, by the way, 61 through 68, those inscriptions are inspired. 00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:52.879 And so we know this is a psalm of David, and we know it was written by him when he was in the wilderness of Judah. 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:56.480 That's under the inspired, the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 00:15:56.559 --> 00:15:57.600 And that's how the Psalm begins. 00:15:57.679 --> 00:15:59.679 It is a wilderness psalm. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:04.960 Again, some commentators say this is when he was running from King Saul. 00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:06.879 He spent much of his life hiding from him. 00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:15.279 Other commentators think it's when he was hiding from Absalom, exiled from Jerusalem, forced to leave in disgrace, having his kingdom ripped from his hands. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:20.320 Certainly the low point of almost any king of Judah. 00:16:21.519 --> 00:16:27.360 But I think that which one of those two exiles is not what's significant here. 00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:29.039 I think this is a spiritual wilderness. 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:42.000 Certainly it was written when he was literally in the actual wilderness, but I think the point of this whole section of Psalms 61 through 64 is about the spiritual wilderness that you experience when you're going through difficulties in this life. 00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:44.799 Certainly David was going through a difficulty. 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:48.159 His father-in-law was trying to kill him with a spear. 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:49.759 His wife had betrayed him. 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:52.159 He was certainly in exile in his own country. 00:16:52.320 --> 00:16:57.759 His son had then violated his own wives and run him out of the country in disgrace. 00:16:57.840 --> 00:17:01.360 He was heckled at, spit at, he'd lost everything. 00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:02.960 Betrayed by his own family. 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:06.720 He's going to write later, if it was an enemy who had betrayed me, then he could endure it. 00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:11.680 Rather, it was a man like himself, his companion, his close friend, with whom he once had intimate fellowship. 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:16.799 He used to walk to worship with his his own son, and that's the one who turned against him. 00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:25.920 So certainly this concept of wilderness is speaking of a spiritual wilderness that David finds himself trapped in. 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:30.000 But he doesn't stay there for long. 00:17:31.519 --> 00:17:36.559 So to help us carve up the psalm, let's jump into these three truths here. 00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:40.559 The first truth I want to look at that our soul was made to hunger. 00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:43.519 Our soul was made to hunger. 00:17:44.079 --> 00:17:53.519 He begins the psalm by saying, Earnestly I seek you, my soul, my nephesh, my spiritual being, it thirsts for you. 00:17:54.160 --> 00:17:57.759 He describes in verse one, My flesh faints for you. 00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:02.160 His flesh here speaking of Nefesh is a spiritual life. 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:05.759 His flesh speaking of his physical existence, it is fainting. 00:18:05.920 --> 00:18:11.680 In other words, David is speaking here of his physical existence and his spiritual existence, both of them together. 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:15.599 He's not agnostic here saying only the spiritual is what matters. 00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:18.319 He recognizes that physically he's in distress. 00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:20.240 Physically he's in the wilderness. 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:21.680 Physically there is drought. 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:22.960 Physically there's famine. 00:18:23.119 --> 00:18:29.440 Physically, he doesn't know where food or water is going to come from, but spiritually he's reflecting that as well. 00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:32.160 His spirit is fainting. 00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:33.920 His soul is thirsty. 00:18:34.079 --> 00:18:37.759 His flesh is dying, and his soul is mimicking that. 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:43.200 The end of verse one, as if it were in a dry and weary land when there is no water. 00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:46.880 In these exiles, both of them, from Saul and from Absalom. 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:49.039 From Saul he went along the Dead Sea. 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:53.599 From Absalom, he'd even crossed over to the other side there of the Jordan River. 00:18:53.759 --> 00:18:56.960 And in both of those places, it is desolate. 00:18:57.519 --> 00:18:58.799 It is desolate there. 00:18:58.880 --> 00:19:01.119 It is very difficult to find water. 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:10.640 There are a few springs, and the springs are coming out of the mountains there, and those springs often shift when there's tectonic shifts or when there's even changes in the weather. 00:19:10.799 --> 00:19:14.000 The springs can disappear from one spot and appear in another spot. 00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:15.519 That's very common out there. 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:17.680 It is very difficult to find water. 00:19:17.759 --> 00:19:18.640 It is very hot. 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:20.720 There's no shade out there. 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:23.599 And this is where David finds himself. 00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:26.400 Again, both physically and spiritually. 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:28.799 He's wasting away. 00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:36.799 Now, often our response to chaos in the world is to describe that it's, you know, it's a natural response to be afraid. 00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:40.160 It's a natural response to fall to fear. 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:42.400 That's it's a normal, natural response. 00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:44.960 And in a sense, that's true. 00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:50.640 When you feel threatened, your heart rate races, and you feel a natural uh desire to defend yourself. 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:58.240 When you uh you know hear of a run on the grocery store, there's a natural desire to be worried and wonder where your food is coming from. 00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:09.440 And then you have to recalibrate around the spiritual element and recognize that the Lord provides for his children, that God is in control, and so what should be natural for the believer is to trust the Lord. 00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:27.519 And so there's a war between our fallen flesh that is prone to this kind of tumult, and our trusting flesh, our spiritual flesh, our understanding of what God is at work and in control and good that should be prone to trust God. 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:39.119 But underneath both of them is this desire for confidence in God, this desire for nourishment, this desire to be fed by God. 00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:47.839 This psalm shows that the battle that David is fighting here is not against flesh and blood, but it really is against principalities. 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:51.839 The battle that is going on in his soul is a battle for trust and confidence in the Lord. 00:20:51.920 --> 00:21:05.440 This is a psalm that is describing a wilderness of spiritual principles where David is in a spiritual wilderness because he is hungry and he is thirsty and he is desiring something to feed his soul. 00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:10.079 And perhaps that's where some of you are this morning. 00:21:10.559 --> 00:21:13.279 You're desiring something to feed your soul. 00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:15.519 Your life was good three weeks ago. 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:25.599 You had a plan, you had a task list at work, you had a promotion schedule, or some of the high school students, you had a date for prom and a plan for your sports season. 00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:34.400 And now sports are canceled, prom is canceled, jobs are canceled, promotions are put on pause, everything outside is canceled. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:41.759 And notice that David describes this as being in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:49.200 And we think it's natural to respond to those kind of adversities with despair. 00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:54.400 There's no water so we panic, there's no food so we worry, there's no shelter so we despair. 00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:59.759 But here it's critical to remember that where there is lack that shows an instinct that we desire something. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:08.000 To fill that lack, where you see something missing that is evidence to you that you were programmed to desire that thing. 00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:12.559 If if something that you don't care about is missing, you don't notice and you don't respond with worry. 00:22:12.720 --> 00:22:18.240 If you don't, you know, care about something being gone, you don't notice when it is gone. 00:22:18.400 --> 00:22:22.480 There was a particular toy in our backyard that I didn't care about. 00:22:22.640 --> 00:22:25.279 Our girls didn't uh use it anymore, they had outgrown it. 00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:29.839 And when a flood came through our backyard, the toy was swept away, and we found it down the creek. 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.799 Two weeks later, we found it in some bushes down the creek, and I didn't even know it was gone. 00:22:35.599 --> 00:22:38.000 It wasn't something I cared about and it was taken away. 00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:40.720 I didn't notice it was missing, I didn't worry about finding it. 00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:42.079 Who cares? 00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:47.200 But when you do notice something that was missing, you do go out and look for it. 00:22:47.359 --> 00:22:50.400 For example, that same flood once took away our trampoline. 00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:52.400 I noticed that was missing. 00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:54.400 I was worried about what would happen to it. 00:22:54.480 --> 00:22:56.640 I had to go fetch it and bring it back. 00:22:56.799 --> 00:23:03.839 When you notice something is missing, that is evidence, that is fingerprints on your soul that you desire that thing. 00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:08.480 And so now you need to take even a bigger step back and say, who made the soul? 00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:11.039 Who programmed us? 00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:19.359 Certainly some things we desire are sinful and wrong, but certainly some things we desire are good to want. 00:23:20.400 --> 00:23:31.519 And now you have this whole theology of fasting, even that Jesus brings out in the New Testament, that God made us with a desire to food, uh, for food, to show our dependence upon Him, that there are things we desire greater than food. 00:23:31.759 --> 00:23:37.920 God makes our desire for intimacy to show us our greater desire to be close to Him. 00:23:38.160 --> 00:23:44.640 God makes our desire for sleep as a constant reminder that we are fallen creatures, that we need a nap, and he doesn't. 00:23:44.720 --> 00:23:50.000 So all these things that are given in our life to desire, they are given from God for a bigger picture. 00:23:50.160 --> 00:23:55.519 But you need to ask a more pointed question, which is why do we desire meaning in life? 00:23:55.680 --> 00:23:57.839 Why do we desire significance in life? 00:23:58.079 --> 00:24:00.880 Why do we desire spiritual stability? 00:24:01.119 --> 00:24:04.160 Why do we desire to be in a relationship with God? 00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:08.559 And the answer to those questions is because God made us that way. 00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:12.400 It is God, Solomon writes, who said eternity in the hearts of mankind. 00:24:12.559 --> 00:24:16.720 It is God, the scriptures say, that made our souls to desire Him. 00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:25.039 The very fact that we desire meaning in life, the very fact that we desire significance in life is evidence of the Lord's work in our life. 00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:34.640 You know, animals don't lay up, don't lay awake at night wondering if they're gonna make something of their life. 00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:41.279 Your dog is not worried about if he's gonna make something of himself. 00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:46.880 Your cat might be, but that's that's the that's the result of sin right there. 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:54.400 You have animals in the world don't care about amounting to anything. 00:24:55.359 --> 00:24:56.640 But people do. 00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:00.960 And it's put into our hearts by the Lord. 00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:18.079 Just as we respond with despair when the fig tree doesn't blossom, or there's no fruit on the vines, or the produce and the olive tree fail, or the fields yield no fruit, or the flock be cut off from the fold, or there be no herds in the stalls, it is natural to respond with anxiety about that. 00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:26.319 And Habakkuk says is that those moments that you remember, those things were given to you to drive you to trust the Lord, because that is a bigger desire. 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:30.400 Your soul was made with a God-shaped hole in it. 00:25:31.039 --> 00:25:35.200 Our souls recoil at the idea of leading a superficial life. 00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:50.720 We want strength for our souls, we want food for our spirits, we want a life that means something and that is lived for someone, and when we feel like that is being thwarted, we respond with anxiety, anger, angst, or even spiritual apathy by checking out. 00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:58.400 But the lack of something only reveals that we were wired by our Maker to need that very thing. 00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:07.359 This is why Jesus says, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because theirs is the kingdom of God. 00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:14.480 When you see that that is missing, when you look at your life and you realize that I feel like I'm in a spiritual wilderness here. 00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:16.319 I long stability with the Lord. 00:26:16.480 --> 00:26:23.359 I long to experience his glory, I long to be in a relationship with him, and I don't feel it right now, and that makes me anxious. 00:26:23.519 --> 00:26:24.880 That shows a hole in my heart. 00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:31.359 When you experience that, Jesus says, Blessed are you, because now you're on to something. 00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:35.759 The person who says, I'm not hungry for the Lord, there's no blessing for them. 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:41.119 The person who says, I'm not missing anything in life when everything gets shut down, there's no blessing for them. 00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:50.799 The person who says, I need something right now, I'm desperate for the Lord, I'm starving for him, blessed are those people, Jesus says. 00:26:51.440 --> 00:26:53.759 Because theirs is the kingdom of God. 00:26:53.920 --> 00:26:56.000 Our soul was made to hunger. 00:26:56.079 --> 00:27:09.119 And so when you feel yourself being pulled into the wilderness, recognize, spiritually speaking, recognize that when you are being drawn towards a spiritual wilderness, you're being drawn there precisely because God made your soul desirous of something. 00:27:10.640 --> 00:27:14.319 You can't feed your soul until you first realize that it is hungry. 00:27:15.039 --> 00:27:21.759 But once you realize it's hungry, you can then turn to the second point that our soul was made to be fed by God's glory. 00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:25.119 Our soul was made to be fed by God's glory. 00:27:25.200 --> 00:27:26.960 It was made to delight in the Lord. 00:27:27.279 --> 00:27:30.240 And this is where this psalm really comes to life. 00:27:31.519 --> 00:27:33.039 Look at how it begins. 00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:35.440 Oh God, you are my God. 00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:38.400 What a personal cry. 00:27:39.119 --> 00:27:48.079 We sing so many songs like this now in the church, we can very easily lose sight of just what a revolutionary declaration that kind of language is. 00:27:48.319 --> 00:27:50.240 Oh God, you are my God. 00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:54.400 The nations of the world don't talk like that. 00:27:55.839 --> 00:28:00.720 The pagan religions and the other religions, they don't have a personal relationship with their God. 00:28:00.880 --> 00:28:08.640 When they say, God, that this God is my God or that God is my God, they mean it ethnically, they mean it nationalistically. 00:28:08.799 --> 00:28:13.519 They do not mean it in a personal relationship with God, and that's here what David means. 00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:25.039 David, though he's in the wilderness, you see in the inscription, though his soul is fainting, though he is famished, he has no problem declaring that his stability will come from his personal relationship with God. 00:28:25.200 --> 00:28:27.359 Oh God, you are my God. 00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:34.400 Elohim is the Hebrew word here, just the God of the world. 00:28:34.880 --> 00:28:40.880 He doesn't use God's covenant name, although anywhere in the Psalm, you would expect him to describe God as Yahweh here. 00:28:40.960 --> 00:28:52.559 But what's interesting in this whole section of Psalm, Psalm 61 through 68, you would expect it to be filled with God's covenant name because it's God's covenant king who's in the wilderness here. 00:28:52.640 --> 00:29:03.200 But instead, David is, I think, intentionally using the broader description, the word that the nations would use for God, because he's not talking here about his personal wanderings in the wilderness as the king. 00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:12.720 He's talking here about his individual, his personate David, his individual desire to be in a relationship with the God, not of Israel, but the God of the world. 00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:20.720 And so David can say, My heart is in a relationship with God. 00:29:21.039 --> 00:29:22.640 He is my God. 00:29:23.519 --> 00:29:25.119 He is the one I thirst for. 00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:30.000 The God of the nations has a heart towards me and I towards him. 00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:32.880 This is not a tribal statement. 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:35.839 This is a statement against tribalism. 00:29:36.319 --> 00:29:40.720 This is the kind of relationship that nourishes the soul. 00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:50.000 And the images in the psalm, of course, are stark, like a traveler off the beaten path, a soul that is wayward in a place where he's faint at the end of his rope. 00:29:50.400 --> 00:29:56.880 And you think a pilgrim lost in the desert could be fooled by a mirage, but for David here, God is not a mirage. 00:29:57.839 --> 00:29:58.880 He's real. 00:30:00.079 --> 00:30:00.720 He's real. 00:30:00.880 --> 00:30:07.599 He's in a land where there is no water, but David has an unwavering confidence that God is real to him. 00:30:09.519 --> 00:30:15.200 So he can say in verse 3, because your steadfast love is better than life. 00:30:16.720 --> 00:30:18.960 What a remarkable thing to say. 00:30:19.839 --> 00:30:29.680 I mean, he's in a place where physical death of starvation or dehydration is a very real danger. 00:30:30.720 --> 00:30:34.319 There's no geographic shift of here in this whole psalm. 00:30:34.480 --> 00:30:36.640 His feet never move an inch. 00:30:39.519 --> 00:30:41.119 The sun is beating down on him. 00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:43.920 He's on the verge of death in the wilderness. 00:30:44.160 --> 00:30:47.680 And yet he's here saying, that's okay. 00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:49.759 I can be still in my soul. 00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:52.720 I can feed my soul, not with food, not with water. 00:30:52.799 --> 00:31:03.839 I can feed my soul because your steadfast, your covenant love, your Hesed love, your graciousness and kindness towards me is better than life. 00:31:05.119 --> 00:31:06.480 I mean, that's just. 00:31:08.319 --> 00:31:10.160 Who says that kind of thing? 00:31:10.799 --> 00:31:12.240 Who says that kind of thing? 00:31:12.799 --> 00:31:17.039 I'm not going to worry about where my food comes from because I know where the Lord is. 00:31:17.599 --> 00:31:20.559 And that's more important to me than my next meal. 00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:24.160 But people don't talk like that. 00:31:25.519 --> 00:31:29.759 People excuse the way they act out of fear of physical threat. 00:31:30.480 --> 00:31:35.920 And here David says, Your covenant love, it is better than life to me. 00:31:37.039 --> 00:31:38.240 Better than life. 00:31:38.880 --> 00:31:42.640 That's why for our scripture reading we read, it's just, I hope it hit you. 00:31:42.799 --> 00:31:44.400 Matthew 4, verse 3. 00:31:44.640 --> 00:31:50.000 When Ron read it, the tempter came and said to him, If you're the Son of God, command these stones to become bread. 00:31:50.160 --> 00:31:51.279 Jesus was fasting. 00:31:51.440 --> 00:31:57.759 Jesus was in a very real place where physical hunger is his greatest desire. 00:31:59.359 --> 00:32:02.160 He needs food to live. 00:32:02.400 --> 00:32:06.079 And the devil says, I will give you food so that you live. 00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:11.680 You can't be the savior if you're dead, so let me give you food, and then you can exalt yourself over the nations. 00:32:11.759 --> 00:32:13.440 That's the progress of the temptation there. 00:32:13.599 --> 00:32:14.799 Here's food. 00:32:17.119 --> 00:32:23.359 And Jesus' response is not just, you know, my heavenly father told me not to listen to the devil. 00:32:24.319 --> 00:32:29.440 His response was to come back Adam with scripture, first of all, but notice the scripture he chooses. 00:32:30.559 --> 00:32:32.799 Man's not supposed to live on bread alone. 00:32:33.519 --> 00:32:39.759 There's some food that's more important, namely every word that comes from God's mouth. 00:32:39.920 --> 00:32:41.519 Better to have the book than bread. 00:32:41.680 --> 00:32:43.440 That's Jesus' answer to the devil. 00:32:43.599 --> 00:32:54.720 And that can come across as, first of all, I think many Americans don't ever appreciate the just the shocking nature of Jesus' response because we don't ever have to pray in the Lord's Prayer. 00:32:54.799 --> 00:33:01.759 We don't have to pray, give us this day our daily bread, because you know, if we don't have bread for two weeks, we panic in our culture. 00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:06.160 We don't know where bread is going to come from in two weeks, time to hit the panic button for Americans. 00:33:06.319 --> 00:33:09.920 And so we don't get just the shocking nature of what Jesus says here. 00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:16.960 But it is shocking because Jesus is very much in a culture where you pray, give me today my bread, because if you don't answer it, I don't got it. 00:33:17.039 --> 00:33:20.799 And here the devil says you haven't had bread in a month, I can give it to you. 00:33:20.880 --> 00:33:24.559 And Jesus says, What is more important than bread is the word of God. 00:33:25.599 --> 00:33:27.599 That's Psalm 63, verse 3. 00:33:27.839 --> 00:33:30.160 Your love is better than life. 00:33:33.519 --> 00:33:35.279 This is why, this is Philippians 1. 00:33:35.359 --> 00:33:37.039 This is why a Christian shouldn't fear death. 00:33:37.200 --> 00:33:38.880 This is why Christians shouldn't fear the plague. 00:33:39.039 --> 00:33:41.839 Worst case scenario is you die. 00:33:43.119 --> 00:33:44.880 I mean, it's it's like the game. 00:33:44.960 --> 00:33:46.559 You get door one or door two. 00:33:47.599 --> 00:33:49.440 They're both the grand prize. 00:33:50.079 --> 00:33:57.599 You get to live on life and a nice life with your family and your church and this world, or you go to heaven. 00:33:57.759 --> 00:33:58.480 Those are the choices. 00:33:58.559 --> 00:33:59.440 That's what can happen to you. 00:33:59.519 --> 00:34:00.720 Those are the options. 00:34:02.559 --> 00:34:04.319 And David says, you know what? 00:34:04.720 --> 00:34:06.319 Your love is better than life. 00:34:06.480 --> 00:34:07.920 Paul says, I don't know. 00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:09.760 Which which do you choose? 00:34:10.639 --> 00:34:12.960 Stay here and minister to the church. 00:34:13.119 --> 00:34:20.960 Paul, of course, is single, but for the married people to stay, stay here and minister to the church and to my family, or to part and be with glory. 00:34:21.039 --> 00:34:23.039 How how do you choose? 00:34:25.599 --> 00:34:27.599 Well, the text goes on. 00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:30.400 David's soul has left the wilderness. 00:34:31.199 --> 00:34:33.679 Instead, it's now feasting when you get to verse 5. 00:34:33.840 --> 00:34:37.119 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food. 00:34:37.360 --> 00:34:40.719 That phrase, fat and rich food, that's an idiom to mean a whole spread there. 00:34:40.880 --> 00:34:46.639 He walks in, he's in the wilderness, his feet are in the wilderness, the sun is on his head, there's no water around, drying where he lands. 00:34:46.800 --> 00:34:52.639 He closes his eyes and he thinks about God's love, and what he sees in front of him is a full Thanksgiving feast. 00:34:52.800 --> 00:34:54.400 Do you Americanize it here? 00:34:54.880 --> 00:34:56.320 There's the full table there. 00:34:56.480 --> 00:35:02.480 You know the kind of Thanksgiving meal you you go to, and there's every conceivable food on the table. 00:35:03.760 --> 00:35:06.400 That's where David closes his eyes, and that's where he is. 00:35:06.480 --> 00:35:08.400 There's everything is up there for him. 00:35:08.639 --> 00:35:10.719 Everything's available for him. 00:35:12.159 --> 00:35:13.519 It's all there. 00:35:15.039 --> 00:35:16.639 It's not physical food. 00:35:16.880 --> 00:35:19.360 It's what his soul will be fed by. 00:35:19.840 --> 00:35:21.920 What his soul will be fed by. 00:35:22.079 --> 00:35:24.159 Notice the change between verse 1 and verse 5. 00:35:24.239 --> 00:35:26.480 This is why the psalm is so intricate and so precious. 00:35:26.639 --> 00:35:28.159 Verse 1, his soul is thirsty. 00:35:28.400 --> 00:35:30.559 Verse 5, his soul is fed. 00:35:30.960 --> 00:35:33.360 It is satisfied in verse 5. 00:35:34.079 --> 00:35:36.079 And what got it satisfied? 00:35:36.800 --> 00:35:39.840 Everything that God provides him, his covenant love. 00:35:40.559 --> 00:35:44.480 Earlier in verse 1, his flesh and spirit were fasting. 00:35:44.719 --> 00:35:46.159 They were fainting. 00:35:46.480 --> 00:35:49.039 But now in verse 5, they're feasting. 00:35:50.639 --> 00:35:52.880 What do you what do you how do you account for this change? 00:35:53.039 --> 00:35:54.159 Verse 8 answers it. 00:35:54.320 --> 00:35:55.920