Psalm 63 - Bodies That Worship: Soul - Michael Hinnen - 7/11/21 - BCC

Psalm 63 - Bodies that Worship: Soul - Michael Hinnen - 7/11/21 - BCC

FQ: What do we learn about our souls and how to use them to worship God? DT: Our soul is designed to delight in God. Outline: Our soul desires God (vs. 1), our soul delights in God (vs. 2-8), and our soul is defended by God (vs. 9-11).

Intro- SOS- Save our souls – Although SOS officially is just a distinctive Morse code sequence that is not an abbreviation for anything, in popular usage it is associated with phrases such as "Save Our Souls" and "Save Our Ship". Only Jesus knows can do that—DT: our souls are designed to delight in God-- In fact, Jesus says this about our souls- Mk. 8.35-37—Jesus is saying this in the context of discipleship, in the context of following him- which means there is a war being waged over our souls. We can trade what our soul needs for something else… something that actually goes against the design of our soul and causes our soul to disintegrate.

But what is the soul? — Sometimes we think of this (Soul Disney Movie, or maybe this, a death experience where the soul is separated from the body after death…). But I think there are two really helpful pictures of the soul in the Bible. Gen. 2.7, “then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” Ps. 103.1, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!” The soul is the totality of our being, it is all that we are. It includes our bodies, but it is even more than our bodies. — See Dallas Willard graph—

All of these components, our hearts, our minds/thoughts, our bodies, shape our soul and who we become.

The soul is the totality of our beings, sometimes also described as our inner world. Sometimes we will say things like, “man, I really need a vacation.” Or, “Wow! I felt so close to God on that walk outside.” Or, “My job is really sucking the life out of me!” All of those statements are indicators of what is really going on deep inside of us, inside our souls. The soul is the totality of your life, but it is also your inner world. So, let me ask you: how’s your soul? How’s your soul? Everything we do forms and shapes our soul in some way. And if we are not aware, our soul is going to be like a car without a steering wheel. We might still be running, but at some point, we are going to wreck and crash. Because our soul is designed to delight in God. So today we are going to look at Psalm 63, because it will help teach us about the soul and how to worship God with our souls.

1. Our soul desires God (vs. 1). “A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

Our soul desires God. We don’t know exactly when this Psalm was written in David’s life, but it was probably written when he was running away from his son, Absalom, somewhere in 2 Samuel 15-17. His son, Absalom, wanted to be king and so he chased his own father out of the kingdom and into the wilderness. David is in the wilderness, and he desperately wants to experience God’s presence. David is in the desert.

Since David is in the desert, it makes sense why he would say that his soul is yearning for God, thirsty for God. This is a very palpable image. David is dehydrated and yearning for the living water that only God can provide.

You ever been dehydrated before? … Like every morning when you wake up your body is longing for some water, and you guzzle down that water. Or you’ve been outside mowing on a hot and humid day, and you go inside, and drink some nice cool water to refresh yourself. David is saying here that this is what he is longing for. He is longing for his soul to drink from God’s goodness and experience his refreshment, like he has in the past! Our souls NEED God.

Harry Potter- The Mirror of Erised was a magical mirror, which, according to Albus Dumbledore, shows the "deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts." Harry wanted to see his parents. His trusty sidekick and best friend saw himself as a quidditch star. They say someone healthy would see themselves exactly as they are right now… If you looked in a mirror like that, what would you see? I think if we are the healthiest we can be, we would see the person of Jesus in that mirror because our souls find their greatest satisfaction in him.

In John 4, Jesus is talking to the woman at the well, a woman who has had 5 husbands and has no friends. She is ashamed of her life. And she is at this well, in the heat of the day, alone. And Jesus says to this woman (John 4.13-14 ESV), “Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Jesus knows that he is the living water that we all need. Jesus knows that he is the one who can satisfy our souls. And we know that deep down too. Augustine says it this way, “Our souls are restless until they find their rest in God.” Deep down, all of our souls desire God.

But what do we do when we are in the desert, like David was? Remember at the beginning of our Psalm, David can’t feel God’s presence. So, what does he do? This is important for all of us because there are going to be moments when we feel disconnected from God. There are going to be moments when we read that first verse of Ps. 63, “I seek you… thirst for you… faint for you…” and say, “I wish that was me… but I just don’t seem to desire you, God. You seem too far away. You seem too distant. I don’t want you right now.” WHEN you get in a moment like that in your life, which will happen, be honest with God and tell him… “God I don’t yearn for you. Please help me to desire you.” That’s the first step. All of God’s people will have to go through a wilderness, a desert journey before they get to the oasis.

But then listen to David and how his soul finds delight in God. 2. Our soul delights in God. (vs. 2-8). “So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.”

In his moment of dryness and drought, David goes back to the sanctuary and uses his body to worship. David goes back to the time and place that he has experienced the beauty and presence and living water of God. He goes back in his mind to the sanctuary, where he would worship God day after day because it was there in the sanctuary that he beheld, he saw, he experienced God’s power and glory. I’m reminded of Ps. 27.4, where David says these words, “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” The only thing David wants to do is dwell with God and look upon his beauty. David is using his eyes to gaze on God.

But not only does he use his eyes. He also uses his lips and his hands. Look at vs. 3-4, “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4 So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.” David knows that God himself is greater than life. It doesn’t matter if he dies, as long as he has the LORD, he has everything he needs. He will praise him with his lips, and he will lift up his hands.

David is using his entire body to worship, to help his soul delight in God. Our souls are designed to delight in God. And to help us in moments of desperation, worshiping with our bodies can pull us out of the drought that we are in and help our souls delight in God. That’s what this series is all about… worshipping God with everything we have. Because if we worship God with our bodies - our eyes, our heart, our hands, our feet, our mouths - even when we don’t feel like it, our soul will follow suit. So, David worships God with his body to help his soul delight in God.

The Apostle Paul also finds his delight in God in Philippians 3.8-9. At this point in his life, Paul has been radically changed by Jesus. At one point he persecuted and killed Christians, now he has been persecuted because he is a follower of Jesus. He was beaten multiple times for telling about Jesus, and he was in prison as he wrote this letter… Was it worth it to Paul? Is the love of God found in Jesus worth losing his life? Paul says, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish (as dung, as garbage), in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” Paul says losing everything is worth it as long as he has Christ! Paul knows that everything he needs and could ever want is found in Christ. Paul knows that his soul’s deepest desire is Jesus, and so he delights in him.

How’s your soul? Do you delight in him? Guru Story—takes the person and shoves them under the water… Do you want God as bad as you want to breathe? Our souls were made for that. Our souls were made to delight in God.

David continues to talk about how his soul delights in God in vs. 5-8. He says, “5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, 6 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; 7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. 8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.”

David basically says his soul is feasting on God, delighting in God, WHEN (vs. 6) he remembers him on his bed and meditates on him in the watches of the night. So, David shows us that our souls delight in God when we remember and meditate on him!

The problem is that God’s people have a hard time remembering … All throughout the Scriptures you see God’s people forgetting … Forgetting how God had delivered them from Egyptian slavery. Forgetting how God provided for them in the desert. Forgetting God’s promise of salvation. Forgetting that Jesus said he would rise from the dead after 3 days. Forgetting that only Jesus’ work on the cross can save us. God’s people often forget.

And when we forget, we don’t feast on God. When we forget, we don’t find our satisfaction or delight in him. One pastor once said, “If you don’t feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great.” It’s like having a get together on Thanksgiving and nibbling on food all throughout the day. A little cheese dip here, some little smokies there. And eventually, by the time Thanksgiving dinner is ready to go, you can hardly even eat because you have been snacking the whole time and now you are going to miss the feast. You’re missing out on the best part because you were so preoccupied with the snacks.

Our souls do the same thing when we forget God. We start delighting in other things … money, success, power, sex, popularity, perfection. These momentary desires are distracting us from the greatest desire of our souls, Jesus. The distractions are actually deforming us. That is why sin is so destructive. It’s because every sin is like a little crack in our soul. And over time those cracks add up, and our souls disintegrate.

I think it is because of our forgetfulness that David reminds us to remember and meditate and then to cling to God. David says in vs. 8, “My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.” I love how the message paraphrases this. It says my soul, “holds on for dear life.”— One time, when Jonelle and I were dating, we were riding horses at night. I was Riding Jonelle’s horse, Mindy. As we were riding back in the trees, an animal spooked all the horses. I didn’t have my feet in the straps, but she was going faster than I like to go on a horse anyways, so I was just holding on for dear life! I clung to that saddle as if my life depended on it, because frankly, my life did depend on it!

In the same way, we must cling to Jesus like our souls depend on it. Because they do. The enemy, Satan, is out to attack and devour us. He is prowling around like a lion. And the only thing that can keep us safe is clinging to Jesus. He is the anchor of our soul. He is the assurance of our salvation. He is our hope. When we cling to Jesus, no matter life’s circumstances, our soul delights in God.

To help us not forget God, I want to challenge you tonight, when you go to bed to think about your day. And like David did, I want you to cling to Jesus by remembering and meditating on him. Thank Jesus for where he was during your day. There is an ancient prayer practice called the Ignatian Examen, and basically all you do is pray right before bed, and see where God was during your day, and thank him for being there. And if you sinned against him, you confess and ask for his forgiveness. Our souls must desperately cling to Jesus because our souls find their delight in him.

Lastly, our soul is 3. Defended by God (vs. 9-11). “9 But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth; 10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword; they shall be a portion for jackals. 11 But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped.”

Here, David expresses his confidence in God. Though he is running for his life, he knows that ultimately his enemies will be destroyed. They will fall by the sword and their mouths will be shut. David knows that even when he is on the run, he is defended by God.

In the same way, our souls are defended by God, but in a slightly different way. Throughout the Bible, God does not promise physical protection to his followers. In fact, in the NT, he promises the opposite. He promises that persecution will come. Many of you have experienced this at some point… the moment you became a Christian, your life did not just magically get better in every way. You’ve still experienced the pain of losing a job, of losing health in your body, losing a loved one. God doesn’t always promise us physical protection, but he does promise us the protection of our souls. The soul is defended by God when we trust in him.

In Mark 8, Jesus has just finished telling his disciples that he is going to die on a cross for the salvation of the world. And then he begins to speak to a crowd and his disciples, and he says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.35 For whoever would save his life (soul) will lose it, but whoever loses his life (soul) for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” What Jesus is saying there is the paradox of following Jesus. By losing your life to follow him, you will gain it. By dying to yourself and following Jesus, you keep your soul. Your soul is now defended by God. And on judgement day, when we stand before God, Jesus will be our defender. He will be our advocate. Though we have done nothing to deserve spending eternity with God, our souls will be with him forever because we have clung to Jesus. Have you made that decision to cling to him? Because if you haven’t, I want to encourage you to pray for desire, pray for delight, pray for Jesus to be your defender. How is your soul?

One last story of a soul that found its delight in God. Horatio Spafford lived in the 1800s, and he invested most of what he had in real estate. He lived in Chicago and lost everything in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. This fire took basically everything from him. It burned his house, which didn’t have insurance. It burned down all his real estate, and therefore, basically all of his money. In 1873 he put his wife and their four daughters on a ship heading to England as he stayed behind to try and restimulate his business. A few days after the ship departed, he received a telegram from his wife: “Saved alone. What shall I do?” There had been a shipwreck. All four of their daughters perished. Horatio quickly boarded another ship to England, and as it passed over the very same place in the ocean where his daughters had drowned, he wrote these words to a song: “When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.”—Our souls are designed to delight in God… Let me ask you… how’s your soul? Let’s pray.