MAN'S THIRST FOR GOD
Part 3


A. "MY SOUL THIRSTETH FOR THEE, MY FLESH FAINTS FOR THEE" - PSALMS 63:1
  1. Bible students know that David was a man of prayer:
    1. His prayers are simple and direct
    2. They are very personal
  2. This prayer is most revealing:
    1. It shows David's deep affection and attachment to the god of his fathers - Ps. 73:25
    2. It constitutes a real challenge to God's professed people today - Rev. 3:14-17
B. LET US CONSIDER THE BACKGROUND AND SOME OF THE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS PRAYER
  1. The background:
    1. The conspiracy of Absalom - 2 Sam. 4:15
    2. This plot came near succeeding - David fled into the wilderness
    3. It was there where he waited for help from the Lord
  2. The implications:
    1. David's background to this bitter experience with King Saul and the Lord's intervention to save David, gave him encouragement to look to the Lord for help in the hour of great crisis
    2. David had, during his reign as king, enjoyed the special favors of the Lord, and it was the knowledge of this mercy that made him thirst for the Lord
  3. Furthermore:
    1. David senses a deep-rooted alienation between himself and the Lord - a constant reminder to him of the terrible sins he had committed - Ps. 32:1-7; 51:1-5
    2. It is very obvious that the Spirit of the Lord had gotten control of David to a point where David had a heart-passion to commune with the Lord
    3. Thirsting after God meant that he was hungering and thirsting for a renewal of his former experience with God
  4. Whatever David's shortcoming may have been:
    1. He was deeply penitent - Ps. 51:1-19
    2. He loved the Lord and that made David a man after God's own heart - Acts 13:22
    3. He was a man of great faith in God's mercy - Ps. 103:1-11
C. A THREEFOLD LESSON ON EFFECTIVE PRAYER
  1. The prayers of David were fervent and without guile - James 5:16:
    1. That was not true of the prayers of the Pharisees - Matt. 6:5-6; Luke 18:11-12
    2. The Lord warns us against the Pharisaic prayers - Is. 29:13
  2. The prayers of David have been recorded:
    1. For us to emulate - Jer. 29:12-14
    2. It is God's promise to His people to pour out upon them the spirit of prayer Zech. 12:10
    3. We are in great need of this special experience - Zeph. 2:1-3
  3. Our opening text constitutes a real challenge to the Laodicean church:
    1. Think of the testimony of the true witness - Rev. 3:17
    2. Many of our churches have abandoned the midweek prayer meetings
  4. Think, dear reader, of the implications in our text:
    1. David was conscious of his backsliding; lost that intimate experience or touch with the Lord
    2. He yearned to regain his former experience with the Lord
    3. The prayer of our opening text shows deep penitence and a longing to regain his former relation with the Lord
    4. Can we, who are living in the hour of God's judgment, do less to break away from our spiritual lethargy
    5. Why is it that we are so cold and lifeless in our prayer life? Many of our people tell me that they really do not know how to pray. Of course, none of us knows how to pray as we ought - Rom. 8:26


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