Psalm 63

This evening I was going to think about Paul’s instructions to Timothy regarding the qualifications for Bishops and Deacons (1 Tim 3) that we heard in the New Testament reading. However I always worry about the place being bugged so don’t ever think that it’s a good idea to comment on qualifications for Bishops.

However one brief point I would make is that you’ll notice that Paul only comments on Bishops and Deacons, and for those of you who are against women Priests there is some bad news, because actually nowhere in the N.T. are Priests specifically mentioned at all, whether they be male or female !

So, ignoring controversy I decided to think about the Psalm - last week we thought about some verses from Psalm 27, and this time it’s Psalm 63…

There was a man who bought a new hunting dog. Eager to see how he would perform, he took him out to track a bear. No sooner had they got into the woods than the dog picked up the trail. Suddenly he stopped, sniffed the ground, and headed in a new direction. He had caught the scent of a deer that had crossed the bear's path. A few moments later he stopped again, this time smelling a rabbit that had crossed the path of the deer. And so, on and on it went until finally the breathless hunter caught up with his dog, only to find him barking triumphantly down the hole of a field mouse.

Sometimes we as Christians are like that. We start out with big ideas and with the firm intention of keeping Jesus first in our lives. But soon our attention is diverted by things that are not so important.

The great hymn writer, William Cowper, realised one day that something like this had happened in his life, and it was then that he wrote the hymn, "Oh, for a Closer Walk with God."

O for a closer walk with God, a calm and heavenly frame,

a light to shine upon the road that leads me to the Lamb!

And it goes on :-

Where is the blessedness I knew, when first I sought the Lord?
Where is the soul-refreshing view of Jesus and his Word?

What peaceful hours I once enjoyed! How sweet their memory still!
But they have left an aching void the world can never fill.

The writer of the hymn is expressing a deep longing for God, and it seems in this psalm that that is what David, the writer, is also doing. When he wrote it he wasn’t in a temple; he was in the Desert of Judah. There in the desert he was alone, isolated and separated from every comfort and from his friends. There he suffered thirst, hunger, pain, loneliness, and exhaustion. But David makes it clear that none of these were his biggest need. He writes, ‘O God, you are my God, early will I seek you. My soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.’

Right away we see that David is not first of all seeking food, water, comfort, or rest – even though he is in the desert and badly needs all of these things. What David hungers and thirsts for above anything else is God. He seeks to be fully satisfied in God alone. He wants to have a closer walk with God.

And as David mentions a "dry and weary land," you get the feeling that he is talking of far more than his geographical surroundings. As far as his relationship with God is concerned, David has reached or had reached a dry spell. He wasn't as close to God as, for instance, when he was a shepherd boy. At that time he played his harp while he sang God's praises and at night he marvelled over all the stars God had put in the night sky.

But this "dry and weary land" mentioned by David is also a picture of much of the church today. And like David we, as a Church, need to recapture that longing for God above everything else.

In the psalm David tells us four elements that are important for a closer walk with God.

The first is to go to Church. David writes, ‘I have seen you in the holy place.’ To have a closer walk with God one of the things we have to do is attend worship services. They may not always be perfect. We may not always find complete peace with God at a service but they remain important. This is so simple and so basic yet many Christians can't be bothered with regular and faithful attendance at worship.

There are many reasons for coming to Church, but the most important one remains to meet with God. We don't come out of habit or obedience. We don't come because of the prayers and songs. We don't come because of the building and fellowship. We don't come because of anything else other than a desire to meet with God more closely.

King Louis XIV went to Church one Sunday and when he and his party arrived at church, no one was there except Archbishop Fenelon, the court preacher. Surprised to see all the vacant seats, the King inquired, "Where is everybody? Why isn't anyone else present this morning?" The minister answered "I announced that Your Majesty would not be here today, because I wanted you to see who came to the service just to flatter you and who came to worship God."

Even today, many people come to church for the wrong reason – ultimately if we don't come to meet with God we are coming for the wrong reason.
If we want a closer walk with God then attendance at worship will be important.

The second important element in our closer walk with God journey is praising and glorifying God. David writes (vs.3-5), ‘Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.’

David mentions glory and praise. And, he also tells us how and when to do this: with lips, mouth, and hands as long as we live. To have a closer walk with God one of the things we have to do is always praise and glorify Him with all of our being and in all of life.

And thirdly we will meditate upon the Lord – David writes, ‘On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.’ To have a closer walk with God one of the things we have to do is meditate upon God and the things of God. To have a closer walk with God it is important that we fill our mind and our thoughts with the right things. In the words of Paul in his letter to the Colossians (3:2), "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things".

And finally David's fourth prescription for a closer walk with God is ‘They who seek my life will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth. They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals. 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.’

To have a closer walk with God one of the things we have to do is to rejoice.

To rejoice in God is to rejoice in God's gifts. David thinks especially of God's gift of grace and mercy for him a sinner. But he also thinks of many other blessings that God showers upon him. David reminds us that those who want a closer walk with God rejoice despite the circumstances of their life. David is in the desert because he has enemies who pursue him and hate him and seek to kill him. He is hungry and thirsty and tired. Yet, he announces that he will continue to "rejoice in God."

And Paul said the same to the Church in Philippi: (Phil 4:4) Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Whatever the circumstances, no matter what happens, we are to rejoice in God.

And so David's message to us is to go to church, to praise and glorify God, meditate upon the Lord, sing, and rejoice. And if we do those things, then the result will be a closer walk with God. AMEN