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We are continuing a series of sermons based on the book of Psalms. The great thing about theseancient hymns is they express the whole range of human emotions as we come before God. Theyexpress overflowing joy, lamentations of grief, passion and even righteous anger… The passageof Scripture today expresses desire, longing and thirsting after God in a spiritual desert.Psalm 63: Thirsting For God in the Spiritual WastelandA psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.1 O God, you are my God,earnestly I seek you;my soul thirsts for you,my body longs for you,in a dry and weary landwhere there is no water.2 I have seen you in the sanctuaryand beheld your power and your glory.3 Because your love is better than life,my lips will glorify you.4 I will praise you as long as I live,and in your name I will lift up my hands.5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;with singing lips my mouth will praise you.6 On my bed I remember you;I think of you through the watches of the night.7 Because you are my help,I sing in the shadow of your wings.8 My soul clings to you;your right hand upholds me.9 They who seek my life will be destroyed;they will go down to the depths of the earth.10 They will be given over to the swordand become food for jackals.11 But the king will rejoice in God;all who swear by God's name will praise him,while the mouths of liars will be silenced.Introduction: Next Monday is my first wedding anniversary. How time flies! Almost exactly oneyear ago, I married Grace… we stood in this church and exchanged our marriage vows. So I planto bring her out to a special dinner (the restaurant name is Cheapo) to celebrate our first year of marriage and look forward to many more years to come. But I won’t be giving her flowers because she thinks it’s a waste of money. But suppose I did…Suppose that at the dinner I say: “Dear, here is a bouquet of flowers just for you." And instead of complaining about the cost, she replied: “Oh, for me? Thank you so much”… Now imagine if I were to say to her: “Oh, don’t mention it. It is just my duty as a husband. As aresponsible person, it is my obligation to give you flowers on our anniversary. So here you go”…Would she be very happy about that? Why not? Isn’t duty a noble thing to do?
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You find it weird or funny if I say that because Grace is not honored by joyless duty. It’s as if Igive her flowers because I have to, and not because I want to.Imagine again a different scenario at the dinner, I gave my wife flowers and she said: “Oh for me? Why so many roses?” And this time I replied: “Dear, because it is my pleasure to give yougifts. I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather spend this evening with than with you.” Ah… is thatmuch better? Why? Because Grace’s worth as a person is magnified and honored when I delight in her character, her worth, her virtues, her beauty etc. And in case you still want to eat lunch later, I better stop thesemushy mushy stuffs. But there is a point to this mental experiment. (This analogy is adapted fromJohn Piper’s poem Then Let Me All My Pleasures Tell)Many a times we relate to God in terms of rules and regulations, a list of do’s and don’ts, of duties and obligations. Of course, there is right and wrong and holy commandments that God hasgiven us to keep. But God’s worth, beauty and manifold excellencies are not glorified by joylessduty, but by our joyful, willing and obedient delight in all that He is. We obey and serve Him because we want to, because we desire to honor and please Him. Not because we grudgingly haveto. God loves a cheerful giver and a cheerful worshipper. To put it another, our duty is to delightin God. (Psalm 37:4)And the passage of scripture today from Psalm 63 has a lot to teach us about this intimatedesiring, intense longing, thirsting and hungering for God. In the life of the early church, it washighly regarded and prescribed for daily public prayers. It was a psalm of King David, whom theBible described as “a man after God’s heart”. From humble beginnings as a shepherd boy, he wasanointed by the prophet Samuel as king. He soon proved himself to be a brilliant warrior with anartistic heart; he plays the harp and composes psalms. As a king, he secured Israel’s borders andestablished a royal dynasty from which the Messiah the Anointed One would one day come forth.Despite all his achievements, the bible is also brutally honest to tell us that king David has alsocommitted serious sins, not least adultery and murder. He was literally in political wilderness atleast twice in his life. The first time, he was pursued by King Saul (1 Samuel 23). And the secondtime, he was pursued by his own son Absalom who wanted to take over his throne (2 Sam 15). Itseems that this psalm was written while David escaped to the desert of Judah, fleeing from hisown son. So his life was in danger. He was hiding in a desert where there is no life or water. Andthat is the context in which Psalm 63 was written.In spite of many dangers and burning heat in the desert, King David still seeks after God withintense passion:O God, you are my God,earnestly I seek you;my soul thirsts for you,my body longs for you,in a dry and weary landwhere there is no water.I’d like to structure today’s message by asking three questions:
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1) How do we thirst after God and be people who pursues after God’s heart? How do weseek God in a dry and weary land?In Malaysia, we may not live in a "dry and weary land" physically, but we do live in a spiritualwasteland. In our urban and prosperous society, we are constantly bombarded with advertisingfrom all over the place telling us that our life is not complete unless we live in a bigger house anddrive a fancier car and invest in that blue chip company. Our sense of identity is tied to the thingswe buy, consume or own. Our slogan today is: “I shop till I drop. Or I shop therefore I am”. Andall of us have to struggle daily against the omnipresent sales pitch telling us that "bigger, newer and faster are better!" It’s about “me, myself and I”. Oh, we all know that "money cannot buyhappiness" but we still want more stuff that this world can offer. City folks like us have a"standard of living" to maintain. So we are always chasing that elusive fulfillment that the next purchase may bring.Yet we strangely find many urban people are living lives of quiet desperation. People yearn for meaning and purpose in life and try to satisfy this longing with ‘stuffs’.Herbert Schlossberg said this: (paraphrase) All true needs, such as food, drink, andcompanionship, are satiable. They can be satisfied but illegitimate wants - pride, envy, greed - areinsatiable. By their very nature they cannot be satisfied. In that sense, materialism is the opium of the people. It’s like drugs/dadah that for a moment dulls the sense of emptiness inside. Enough isnever enough. Greater quantities are required for satisfaction and each increment provesinadequate the next time." We cannot be satisfied by materialism.It seems like we human beings have this infinitely huge hole in our hearts and we try our best tofill it up with things, sex, music, success, health, football, religion, you name it… but it leaves usempty as before. Many people think they will be really happy when something happens tothem… Hit lottery… Retire… Make a million dollar… Marry this person… “I think I’d be trulyhappy when I’m a rich and famous superstar”.But even celebrities are often the most unhappy people around. Because they work so hard to getto the top, thinking that they will be happy when they get there but they are utterly disappointedto find that they are still the same when they do reach the top.Interview with Thom of Radiohead about what are his ambitions after achieving so much successin the music scene:“Ambitious for what? What for? I thought when I got to where I wanted to be everything would be different. I’d be somewhere else. I thought it’d be all white fluffy clouds. And the nI got there.And I’m still here.” Then why are you still making music?“It’s filling the hole. That’s all anyone does”.Interviewer: “What happens to the hole?”
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