O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; my soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

    Psalm 63:1

This Psalm was written by David while he was in the wilderness of Judah but it’s the heart of David that we need to see and appreciate. We don’t need to be caught in the wilderness to have this kind of heart for God, in fact, it is this thirsting for God that indicates that we have found what we have been looking for all along. Nothing in the temporal world, money, power, fame, position, enjoyment, or material prosperity will even come close to matching the fulfillment that comes from walking with God. Whether the world realizes it or not, it is a relationship with God that they are seeking.  Everyone wants be appreciated, accepted, and live a fulfilling life and all of these things are found in a born again relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ!

Seeking God Earnestly

David begins by stating that he is seeking God earnestly. To pursue anything earnestly is to approach the task, action, or process with great sincerity and intense conviction. Do you seek the Lord with intense conviction? Do you find yourself having a burning in your soul for the presence of God? This is there essence of earnestly seeking God.

A Thirsty Soul

The soul is the portion of our being that will move into eternity after we depart this life. When coupled with the heart, the soul becomes who we really are and in what we truly value. We might hear someone say, “I love you with all of my heart and soul.” That kind of statement means that every fiber of their being is full of love for that individual. Our soul should be thirsty for God. Consider the words of Jesus:

Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” 

      John 7:37-38

If we should find our souls thirsty for God, thirsty for what is pure, trustworthy, and good, we need look no further than going to God in prayer and asking Him to fill us with His presence. His presence is a reality for all born again believers however we can often find ourselves needing a fresh filling of the Spirit. While Jesus’ invitation is for anyone to come to salvation, it is the second portion of this passage in which Jesus points out the spiritual outcome for those who sincerely come to Jesus by faith. “From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.” This is a description of the Spirit of God at work within our hearts. People should be able to see the passion and thirst that our souls have for the Lord. Not everyone will join us and there will be people quite “turned off” by our determination to serve God, but should we find ourselves with a thirsty soul, we have the Living Water, the Lord Himself ,who will come to our aid bringing the refreshing newness of His Sprit.

Yearning For God

It’s not difficult to see a pattern in David’s verbiage. “Earnestly seeking,” “my soul thirsts for you,” and now, “my flesh yearns for you.” This is not the speech of a Christian stuck in mediocrity or the words of someone who merely pretends to be a believer rather these are the words of a man who desires nothing other than the presence of God in his life. How about us? Are we enjoying the presence of God in our lives daily? Do we live in a constant state of fellowship with Him? This is not a radical view of the Christian life rather it is the very desire of God, to provide us with His presence and to equip us in every good work. 

The last three (3) installments of the “Seeking God Series” has dealt with the big picture in seeking God, namely that a relationship with God is the goal of life and that this intimate relationship with Him is what everyone is looking for whether they realize it or not. We will now move into the next five (5) installments of this series and look at the benefits enjoyed by those who “seek the Lord with all of their heart and all of their soul.”

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Matthew 5:6