MAN'S THIRST FOR GOD
Part 2


A. "AS THE HEART PANTETH AFTER THE WATER BROOKS SO PANTETH MY SOUL AFTER THEE, O GOD. MY SOUL THIRSTETH FOR GOD, FOR THE LIVING GOD; WHEN SHALL I COME AND APPEAR BEFORE GOD?" - PSALMS 38:3
  1. This is one of the most touching, pathetic and beautiful psalms:
    1. We have no way to know its author - one assumes that it was David
    2. It reveals a close and intimate relation with God, as perhaps nothing else can
  2. It challenges us, who profess faith affections for the Lord:
    1. Can it be that the unjust persecution by soul, and the many other hardships in the life of David caused him to thirst for God in this most dramatic manner
    2. Whatever the forces were behind this cry and thirst for God; it is as inspiring as it is challenging to Christians
B. IT IS THE DEEP CONVICTION OF THIS WRITER
  1. This longing after God by the Psalmist is:
    1. The highest and deepest affection of which human nature is capable
    2. It is so because it is fixed on the highest object and capable of lifting human character to the highest level
    3. What we love most both tests and molds our character; shows what we are and makes us such
    4. Ignoble, foul, false and trivial objects degrade in proportion as they are tested; pure noble, worthy objects of affections do the opposite to our lives - Phil. 4:8
  2. This thirst for God is in truth, God's own voice within the soul:
    1. It is the voice of the Holy Spirit within the soul that cries - ABBA FATHER - Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6
    2. It is the Spirit of Jesus Christ that makes the soul thirst for the living God
  3. This thirst for God is indeed a searching test of character:
    1. It tests our sincerity - when we pray
    2. Such a thirst attests to our experience with God and its genuineness beyond all doubt
C. NOTE MORE IMPLICATIONS OF OUR OPENING TEXT
  1. Only the living God can satisfy the cravings of the human Spirit:
    1. This was the deep conviction of the Psalmist expressed so glowingly in our opening text - Ps. 84:2
    2. And this is the desire of every enlightened soul - born of God; Examples: Paul is a typical case - Phil. 3:7-11; Mary Magdalene is another example - Luke 7:38; the inquiring Greeks are still another vivid illustration - John 12:21; Zacchaeus is still another example - Luke 19:1-9
    3. Cried the Psalmist, "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help; my help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth" - Ps. 121:1-2
  2. At times of sore depression, the believer longs for God and His thirst satisfying grace:
    1. Our blessed Lord is a typical example of great thirst when he suffered on the shameful cross - "I thirst" - John 19:28; that was more than thirst of the body, it was thirst for His heavenly Father
    2. The persecuted saints of the last days will cry to God day and night for help - Luke 18:7-8
    3. We know from experience that when the waters of persecution, sickness, and sorrows threaten us, we thirst for God - the living God - 2 Cor. 1:4
  3. Best of all - at the darkest moment, a gleam of sunshine brightens the path of the distressed children of the Lord:
    1. That was true in the experience of Hagar and her dying son - Gen. 21:15-19
    2. That was true in the experience of a deeply sorrowing mother who was on the way to bury her only so - Luke 7:11
    3. That will be true too of the remnant of God's children in the days of final persecution - Is. 33:15-17 Dear reader, do you see the above in the same light? Has your relationship with the Lord created in your soul the same thirst for God?


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