Matthew 5:6
Hunger and
thirst for righteousness
You are what you eat! So this beatitude is a test of our spiritual walk.
What is your spiritual "diet'?
Jesus has set the table and given us the "appetite stimulant" in the form
of His indwelling Holy Spirit. The main course is Christ's
righteousness lived out in everyday life. The requirement is a continual
poverty of spirit, a sense of our own inability to live this supernatural
life (cf Mt 5:3) and a "desperate passion" like a deer thirsting for the
water brooks (Ps 42:1-2, cf Isa 55:1-2).
How is your
spiritual appetite? Appetite is defined as any of the instinctive desires
necessary to keep up organic life. It is an inherent craving, passion,
hunger, desire, yearning. The soul has an appetite (cf Ps 42:1-2, 107:9).
The counterfeit method of "satisfying" our soul hunger and thirst is to do
it the world's way, like the bumper sticker that reads "He who dies
with the most toys wins!" Wrong! As Augustine said (paraphrased) our
souls were made for God and nothing but God filling them will bring
earthly and eternal satisfaction.
The one who gets a
taste of God's righteousness, paradoxically will continue to hunger and
thirst for that righteousness. We read a parallel thought in this secular
quote "The appetite grows by eating" (François Rabelais Gargantua) That's
the counterfeit but the authentic is Jesus' beatitude in Mt 5:6, which
presents the same spiritual dynamic - he who "tastes" will desire more!
The origin of "appetite"
is interesting - it is from the Latin from appetere which means to
strive after, to desire ardently. What are you striving for? What is it
that you ardently, even urgently desire? Is it self righteousness like the
Pharisees? Is it the transient, temporally satisfying, treasures of this
world? (cf 1Jo 2:17, Hebrews 11:24-25)? Is it the spiritual water (John
4:10,13-14) and bread (John 6:26-27, 32-33, 35-40) that alone quenches and
at the same time creates a hunger and thirst for more?
Appetite describes
one’s desire or longing for something so that it stays on the mind, and
consumes the thoughts until satisfied. We can have healthy appetites that
enhance our lives. Or we can have destructive appetites that drive us away
from God's righteousness, and can destroy every relationship. As Pastor
Phil Newton states...
"You can be sure of this: those who
hunger and thirst for righteousness are Christians; and those who don’t,
are not Christians. Your appetite reveals your heart."
The beatitude in Mt
5:6 rules out half hearted religion because hungering and thirsting is the
only description Jesus gives of those who are truly citizens of His
Kingdom. Do you remember what it was like when you first believed in
Jesus? How was your appetite for Him? You could not get enough could you?
He was your every thought, your every desire. But perhaps as time passed,
sins crept in and lessened your longing for His presence. Has this
happened in your life beloved citizen of the Kingdom? (cf Rev 2:4-5) Then
go to the living waters of His Word and beg Him to create in your heart an
earnest desire to seek Him, a soul that is desperately thirsting and
yearning for Him as if you are in a dry and weary land where there is no
water. (Read and pray Psalm 63:1, cf Ps 139:23-24, 51:10) Remember though,
if you possess absolutely no desire to hunger and thirst for Christ and
His righteous Life being lived out practically in and through you, then
please consider performing an honest check up of the state of your soul.
This is not a judgmental but a merciful, kind appeal. And frankly,
ultimately, only you really know whether you possess this inner longing
for righteous living.
There are few things
more important then our spiritual appetite - you are what you eat beloved
(cf Job 23:12, Deut 8:3)
James 1:21 helps us understand how we can cultivate our spiritual
appetites for righteousness (and for holy things) - putting aside all
wickedness and all that remains of filthiness and in humility (meekness)
receiving the Word implanted which is able to save our souls.
Robert Murray M’Cheyne (The
impact of Robert Murray McCheyne) knew this desperate hungering
for righteousness, crying out
“Oh God, make me as holy as a pardoned
sinner can be!”
There is nothing
that will more affect your total worldview and behavior than an unflagging
passion and desire to be holy like Jesus Christ. Do you desire to be like
Christ? Does this burn in your heart? Does it affect the day to day
decisions you make, the relationships you enter, the way you use your
resources, the way you use your time, the things you do for recreation,
the way you approach your education and vocation? This passion works
itself out in right (righteous) living, the only life that will give
genuine satisfaction, but paradoxically the very life that will leave you
panting and thirsting for more of Jesus, in Whom all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge are found (Col 2:3), in Whom is your very life (Col
3:4), in whom you find everything necessary for life and godliness.
(2Peter 1:3-4) (Play the midi
All in All, pray the lyrics
from the depths of your soul. Or play one of my favorite choruses
Do You Not Know?/All in All)
John Stott
speaks of the necessity for believers to continually hunger and
continually thirst, writing that...
"Even the promise of Jesus that whoever
drinks of the waters He gives 'will never thirst' is fulfilled only if we
keep drinking. Beware of those who claim to have attained, and who look to
past experiences rather than to future development! Like all the qualities
included in the beatitudes, hunger and thirst are perpetual
characteristics of the disciples of Jesus, as perpetual as poverty of
spirit, meekness and mourning. Not till we reach heaven will we 'hunger no
more, neither thirst any more,' for only then will Christ our Shepherd
lead us 'to springs of living water'" (Stott, J:
The Message of the Sermon on the Mount)
Pastor Ray Pritchard gives a superb analysis
of what Jesus means by righteousness by examining the Jesus
other uses of the same word in this sermon...
In Matthew 5:10 Jesus said, “Blessed
are those who are persecuted because of righteousness.” That’s the eighth
and final beatitude. When you take the fourth and eighth beatitudes
together, you get something like this: We are to hunger and thirst after a
kind of life that will cause some people to persecute us for our faith. So
righteousness is a lifestyle that distinguishes us as true Christians and
invites opposition from the world.
The second use comes from Matthew 5:20, “For I tell you that unless your
righteousness surpass that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law,
you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” The Pharisees had
concocted a religious system built around attendance at the temple. It
involved intricate rules and regulations and meant following precepts and
traditions. It was very professional and very routine. It was like wearing
cheap perfume that you splash on to make yourself smell good. It’s not
really a part of you and it can’t cover the odor underneath. True
righteousness starts in the heart and changes a person from the inside
out.
Matthew 6:1 gives us the third use of this word: “Be careful not to do
your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do,
you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” The Pharisees loved
to pray in public--loudly! They loved to dress up in their religious garb
and throw their offering in the metal container so people could hear the
coins rattle. They would sacrifice anything to win the praise of others.
Their religion was built around the praise of men. And they still thought
God would reward them. But it was cotton-candy religion. It looked good
but there wasn’t any substance there. Like Old Mother Hubbard’s cupboard,
there was nothing there. By contrast, true disciples seek a righteousness
that doesn’t need to be seen by others, but only by God.
Most of us already know the last verse by heart: “But seek first his
kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you
as well” (Matthew 6:33). This touches the priorities of life. What is it
that you are seeking in life? Fame? Fortune? Career advancement? A good
salary? A secure future? A happy retirement? A marriage partner? The
fulfillment of your dreams? As good as those things may be, they aren’t
the most important things in life. Put God’s kingdom and God’s
righteousness first. When you do, everything else you need will be given
to you. Seeking “his righteousness” means letting his Word set the
standard for your life. It means seeking to do that which is pleasing to
him.
Put these four passages together and what do you have?
We are to hunger and thirst after . . .
A. A truly Christian lifestyle
(Mt 5:10)
B. That changes us from the inside out (Mt 5:20)
C. So that we no longer seek the praise of men (Mt 6:1)
B. But causes us to seek God’s approval above everything else. (Mt
6:33)
If You Want It, You Can Have It
If you want righteousness, you can have it. Let me go out on a limb and
make a bold statement. Whatever you want in the spiritual realm, you can
have if you want it badly enough. I don’t think we appreciate the
importance of that truth. Most of us are about as close to God to now as
we want to be. We have about as much joy as we want, about as much peace
as we want. For the most part, you are where you are right now because
that’s where you want to be. If you were hungry for something better from
God, you could have it.
If you want it, you can have a close
walk with God.
If you want it, you can have a better marriage.
If you want to, you can do God’s will.
If you want to, you can grow spiritually.
If you want to, you can become a man of God or a woman of God.
If you want to, you can change deeply-ingrained habits.
If you want to, you can break destructive patterns of behavior....
When Jesus says, “You will be filled,”
he means “You will be filled with Jesus himself!”
If you are hungry, come and eat of the Bread of Life.
If you are thirsty, come and drink of the Water of Life.
If are weary heavy laden, come and find rest.
If you are guilty, come and be forgiven.
If you are far from God, come back home again.
The French philosopher Pascal said that there is a “God-shaped vacuum”
inside every human heart. Since nature abhors a vacuum, if we don’t fill
it with God, we will fill it with something else. So many of us have
filled our hearts with the junk food of the world. No wonder we are so
unhappy. So wonder we jump from one job to another and from relationship
to another....
Augustine explained both the problem
and the solution: “O God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts
are restless until they find rest in you.” You will never be happy until
you put God first in your life. And you can never do that until you
surrender your life to Jesus Christ once and for all.
Let me give you some good news. In the kingdom of God, everything begins
with a seeking heart! Salvation begins with a hungry heart. If you are
tired of the life you’ve been living, you can make a new start.
Whatever you want in the spiritual
realm, you can have if you want it badly enough. Jesus said, “Blessed are
those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
”Are you hungry? Are you thirsty?
If you are, you can be filled. This is the promise of God to hungry hearts
and thirsty souls. (Pritchard, R. Sermon on the Mount Mt 5:6)(Bolding
added)
Psalm 63:1
Seek (7836)
(shachar) to diligently seek; to search for, seek early or
earnestly, to strongly desire something, with a focus on a relationship
with that object. Figuratively it means to be up early at any task
with the implication of earnestness by extension. to search for with
painstaking. The idea can be to rise and seek diligently early in the
morning.
Warren Wiersbe writing on
Psalm 63:1 comments...
King David wrote this psalm when he was
in the wilderness of Judah. I never really appreciated what he wrote until
my wife and I visited the same spot. What a dry and barren place it is!
Look at what David wrote, "O God, You are my God; early will I seek You;
my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land
where there is no water" (Psalm 63:1). In other words, David says, "Here I
am in this dry, hot, dangerous wilderness, and I really would love to have
some water. However, what I really want is God."
When you find yourself in a dry
wilderness situation in life, what do you do? Follow the stages in David's
experience. First, he seeks God. He wanted to see God's power and glory as
he had seen it in the sanctuary. He wanted to see that wilderness turned
into a sanctuary. David had been in the tabernacle. He had seen the glory
of God, but he wasn't satisfied with that. We are satisfied to hear about
God and sing about Him in church. Then we come to the wilderness. We
should be like David and say, "I want to see God's glory through this
wilderness experience just as though I were worshiping God in the church
service."...
Wilderness experiences are good for
you, for they teach you an important truth: You draw satisfaction from
blessing on the inside, not from circumstances on the outside. When you
face a wilderness experience, follow David's response. God will meet your
needs.. (Warren Wiersbe.
Prayer, Praise & Promises
)
Spurgeon has the following
comments on Psalm 63:1
This is said to be “A Psalm of David,
when he was in the wilderness of Judah.” I suppose, therefore, that it
was composed when he fled from Jerusalem because of the cruel treachery of
his son Absalom. He must have been heart-broken, and stricken with the
greatest possible sorrow as he fled away with his faithful followers into
the wilderness of Judah. But even there he praised his God; and he did not
sing unto him with old and stale Psalms, but with a new song. How restful
and calm he must have been, in his great sorrow, to sit down even in the
wilderness of Judah, and make a new hymn of praise unto the Lord! How
gloriously he begins!
Exiled, ill at ease, hunted, exposed to
danger. Yet he could sing. And some of the sweetest Psalms came out of the
bitterest afflictions. God’s songsters are like nightingales that reserve
their sweetest music for the night. Whenever you and I come to be in the
wilderness may we refresh ourselves with such a Psalm as this.
O God, thou art my God. Or, “O
God, thou art my Mighty One.”
Two very solemn words ("O God"); never
use them, I pray you, as hasty, thoughtless expressions. God’s name must
never be taken in vain; I fear that there are some who do this, and are
not rebuked for it. When we say, “O God,” there ought to be something
solemn to follow. The second word “God” signifies “my strong One, my
mighty One, to Whom I can bring all my weakness and all my care; for Thou
art strong enough to take care of me even in the wilderness.”
Everything else has gone, but thou art
my God. There are gods of the heathen, but thou, the true and real
Jehovah, art my God. Oh, what a blessed thing it is to take a firm grip of
God after this fashion, “ O God, thou art my God.”
Read that sentence how you will, it is
unspeakably precious. If we say “O God, thou art my God,” it shows the
greatness of the possession which we thus have in having this God to be
our God for ever and ever. And if we say “O God, thou art my God, it
leads us to think of God and not of his gifts as our chief good.
The last psalm left the echo of power
ringing in the ear, and it is here remembered. The poet has no doubts
about his possession of his God; and why should other believers have any?
The straightforward, clear language of this opening sentence would be far
more becoming in Christians than the timorous and doubtful expressions so
usual.
The psalmist has no doubt about this
great fact, he does not hesitate or falter, but he makes the positive
assertion, “O God, thou art my El (see
Elohim: My Creator),
my mighty God, strong to deliver me.” In the sixty-second Psalm, he had
finished up with the power of God: “God hath spoken once; twice have I
heard this; that power belongeth unto God.” So he begins this new song
with the great name El, which expresses the might and power of God: “O
God, thou art my El, my mighty God;”
Early will I seek Thee.
Possession breeds desire. Full
assurance is no hindrance to diligence, but is the mainspring of it. He is
up at cockcrowing to meet his God. Communion with God is so sweet that the
chill of the morning is forgotten, and the luxury of the couch is
despised. The psalmist consecrates the morning to prayer and devout
fellowship. The best people have been early on their knees. The word
early has not only the sense of early in the morning, but that of
eagerness, immediateness...That is, “at once.” “I will not
delay, but immediately will I seek thee. I will not so much seek to get
out of the wilderness, or seek for comfort in the wilderness, as seek for
everything in thee.”...Anyone who truly longs for God longs for him now.
Holy desires are among the most powerful influences that stir our inner
nature; hence the next sentence (My soul thirsteth for Thee),
People in the wilderness have hard beds
to lie on, and they sleep all the fewer hours. David was up in the morning
early, and he began the day with prayer to God: “Early will I seek
thee.” “While the dew is on the grass, the dew of the Spirit shall be
upon my soul.” He means also, “I will seek thee at once, immediately,
now, without delay.” But how could he seek the God who was already his
God? “Thou art my God; early will I seek thee.” Brethren, nobody
ever seeks another man’s God. Till God is your God, you will not want to
seek him; and when you have him, you will seek him yet more and more.
(In another comment Spurgeon writes)
“Oh,” says one, “why did he seek God if God was his?” Would you have
him seek another man’s God, then? No; it is because he is ours that we
seek him and desire his company. If thou knowest God to be thy God thou
will not be satisfied unless thou art living near him. “ Early will I
seek thee.” I will not wait. I cannot wait. I cannot tarry. I must not
tarry. Early will I seek thee.
My soul thirsteth for Thee.
This is a blessed experience. It is a
sad thing to be without God in any degree, but it is a blessed thing when
we cannot rest without him.
Thirst is an insatiable longing after
that which is one of the most essential supports of life; there is no
overcoming it by stoical indifference. Thirst will be heard; the whole man
must yield to its power; so it is with that divine desire which the grace
of God creates in regenerate people; only God himself can satisfy the
craving of a soul really aroused by the Holy Spirit.
He had a strong passion for God. There
is, sometimes, an unbearable, insatiable pang of the body, which you
cannot forget; and David had an insatiable longing of soul, which nothing
could make him forget: “My soul thirsteth for thee.”
(In another writing Spurgeon says)
Thirst is one of the strongest longings of our nature. Hunger you can
appease for a while, but thirst is awful. There is no staying that. When
it is once upon a man he must have water or die. “ My soul thirsteth for
thee. My flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water
is.” No means of grace; nothing to help me; no believers round about me;
left alone thirsting for my God. And yet it is so precious a thing, so
sure a mark of grace to thirst for God anywhere that one may be thankful
even to be in a dry and thirsty land if one possesses a true thirst after
God.
My flesh longeth for Thee.
By the two words soul and
flesh he denotes the whole of his being. “The flesh,” in the New
Testament sense of it (see
flesh),
never longs after the Lord, but rather it lusts against the spirit (Gal
5:17); David only refers to that sympathy which is sometimes created in
our bodily frame by vehement emotions of the soul. Our corporeal nature
usually tugs in the other direction, but the spirit when ardent can compel
it to throw in what power it has upon the other side. When the wilderness
caused David weariness, discomfort, and thirst, his flesh cried out in
unison with the desire of his soul.
Long after the old times over again —
for those times of heaven upon earth — those special seasons when the Lord
made the veil between us and heaven to be very thin indeed, and allowed us
almost to see his face. “
In a dry and thirsty land, where no
water is. A weary place and a weary heart make the presence of God the
more desirable. How frequently have believers traversed in their
experience this dry and thirsty land where spiritual joys are things
forgotten! And how truly can they testify that the only true necessity of
that country is the near presence of their God! The absence of outward
comforts can be borne with serenity when we walk with God; and the most
lavish multiplication of them avails not when He withdraws.
And this world is just like that. To
most of Christians, the six days of the week take them through the
wilderness, and the Sabbath brings them to an oasis in the desert, an
Elim
(note),
a place where there are wells of living water. But oh! what longings they
have after God! What did David want when he was in the wilderness (see
Psalm 63:2)? (Treasury of David, supplemented with his comments in several
other writings)
Spurgeon also has
a sermon based on Psalm 63:1-2...
Chrysostom tells us that among the
primitive Christians it was decreed and ordained that no day should pass
without the public singing of this psalm; and certainly, if we do not
follow the ancient custom and actually sing the words every day, it is not
because they are unsuitable, or because their spirit has died out among
us.
This psalm may be said or sung all the
year round.
Have we joyous days? Let us sing of the
lovingkindness which is better than love.
Do the clouds return after the rain?
Let us sound forth his praise whose right hand upholdeth us.
Is it summer time with our souls? Then
may we express the full assurance of our faith by joyfully crying, “O
God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee.”
Have we fallen upon the drought of
autumn? Do the long hot days parch our spirits? Then may we chant the lay
of our longing heart, “My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for
thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is.”
s it winter with our spirit, and does
everything tend to chill us? nevertheless let us not be silenced or
rendered sluggish by the cold, but let us say, “I will bless thee while I
live, I will lift up my hands in thy name.”
Has the spring returned with all its
wealth of fresh flowers and opening sweets? Then shall our glad voices
sing aloud, “My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and
my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips.”
Is the day ended, and has the darkness
of night settled down upon our mind? Then in the language of the psalm we
will remember God upon our bed, and meditate upon him in the night
watches, and because he has been our help therefore in the shadow of his
wings we will rejoice. We may sing this psalm in the days of battle, when
those are round about us who seek our soul to destroy it, for “they shall
fall by the sword, they shall be a portion for foxes;” and we may chant
it with equal appropriateness in the time of victory, when we return from
the conflict with banners gleaming in the sunlight of triumph, for “the
king shall rejoice in God: every one that sweareth by him shall glory.”
I know of no time and no season in
which this psalm would sound unsuitably from a believing tongue.
Let us cultivate its earnestness; let
us endeavor to be baptized into its spirit, let us live while we live
after the fashion of holy men like David, the psalmist, whose assurance of
heart sorrow could not shake, whose fertility of mind the desert could not
wither, whose joy of spirit solitude could not destroy.
This psalm, however, especially belongs
to any who by their circumstances or by their state of heart feel
themselves to dwell in a desert land.
There is a stage of Christian
experience in which we are in Egypt, and we are brought up out of it with
a high hand and an outstretched arm. This symbolizes conviction,
regeneration, and conversion. Then we know the passover and the sprinkling
of the blood, the enemies drowned in the sea and the new song put into the
mouth. Happy are they who have come thus far on their life journey. Then
comes the stage of spiritual history which may be well described as
wilderness experience, wherein we have little rest, much temptation, and
consequent proving of heart and discovery of inward weakness. Many remain
in this condition far longer than there is any need: what might be soon
ended is drawn out into forty years by unbelief. Then comes that blessed
stage of experience in which faith begets peace and joy; then we have
crossed the Jordan and entered into rest in Christ Jesus, “in whom also
we have obtained an inheritance.” In the man who is our peace we obtain
an earnest of heaven and begin to divide the land of promise; “for he
hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly
places.” Each man claims his lot in covenant provisions, and sits under
his own vine and fig-tree, none making him afraid.
Yet even after we have been raised up
together with Jesus, and have obtained citizenship in Zion, we may find
ourselves in the wilderness. As David, though king in Israel, had to flee
across the Jordan to escape from Absalom, so may the most assured and the
most sanctified of God’s people be driven for awhile into the dry and
thirsty land, where no water is, and there hide himself from the offspring
of his own flesh. There are songs for the Lord’s banished ones to sing in
a strange land, psalms with which to arouse the silent land, sonnets
wherewith to charm the howling wilderness into a fruitful garden, and
hymns to make the desert rejoice and blossom as the rose.
I purpose to address myself this
morning to any of my brethren who feel themselves to be just now in a dry
and thirsty land where no water is. It may be the Lord will give them
deliverance by his word this morning; or if not delivered out of temporal
trouble, they shall at least be made glad by his Holy Spirit and be led to
magnify his name while yet in the land of drought.
Matthew Henry
has the following note on Psalm 63:1-2...
David, in these verses, stirs up
himself to take hold on God,
I. By a lively active faith: O
God! thou art my God. Note, In all our addresses to God we must eye him as
God, and our God, and this will be our comfort in a wilderness-state. We
must acknowledge that God is, that we speak to one that really exists and
is present with us, when we say, O God! which is a serious word; pity it
should ever be used as a by-word. And we must own his authority over us
and propriety in us, and our relation to him: "Thou art my God, mine by
creation and therefore my rightful owner and ruler, mine by covenant and
my own consent.’’ We must speak it with the greatest pleasure to
ourselves, and thankfulness to God, as those that are resolved to abide by
it: O God! thou art my God.
II. By pious and devout affections,
pursuant to the choice he had made of God and the covenant he had made
with him.
1. He resolves to seek God, and his
favour and grace: Thou art my God, and therefore I will seek thee; for
should not a people seek unto their God? Isa. 8:19. We must seek him; we
must covet his favour as our chief good and consult his glory as our
highest end; we must seek acquaintance with him by his word and seek mercy
from him by prayer. We must seek him,
(1.) Early, with the utmost
care, as those that are afraid of missing him; we must begin our days with
him, begin every day with him: Early will I seek thee.
(2.) Earnestly: "My soul
thirsteth for thee and my flesh longeth for thee (that is, my whole man is
affected with this pursuit) here in a dry and thirsty land.’’ Observe,
[1.] His complaint in the want of God’s
favourable presence. He was in a dry and thirsty land; so he reckoned it,
not so much because it was a wilderness as because it was at a distance
from the ark, from the word and sacraments. This world is a weary land (so
the word is); it is so to the worldly that have their portion in it—it
will yield them no true satisfaction; it is so to the godly that have
their passage through it—it is a valley of Baca; they can promise
themselves little from it.
[2.] His importunity for that presence
of God: My soul thirsteth, longeth, for thee. His want quickened his
desires, which were very intense; he thirsted as the hunted hart for the
water-brooks; he would take up with nothing short of it. His desires were
almost impatient; he longed, he languished, till he should be restored to
the liberty of God’s ordinances. Note, Gracious souls look down upon the
world with a holy disdain and look up to God with a holy desire.
2. He longs to enjoy God. What
is it that he does so passionately wish for? What is his petition and what
is his request? It is this (Ps 63:2), To see thy power and thy glory, so
as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. That is,
(1.) "To see it here in this wilderness
as I have seen it in the tabernacle, to see it in secret as I have seen it
in the solemn assembly.’’ Note, When we are deprived of the benefit of
public ordinances we should desire and endeavour to keep up the same
communion with God in our retirements that we have had in the great
congregation. A closet may be turned into a little sanctuary. Ezekiel had
the visions of the Almighty in Babylon, and John in the isle of Patmos.
When we are alone we may have the Father with us, and that is enough.
(2.) "To see it again in the sanctuary
as I have formerly seen it there.’’ He longs to be brought out of the
wilderness, not that he might see his friends again and be restored to the
pleasures and gaieties of the court, but that he might have access to the
sanctuary, not to see the priests there, and the ceremony of the worship,
but to see thy power and glory (that is, thy glorious power, or thy
powerful glory, which is put for all God’s attributes and perfections),
"that I may increase in my acquaintance with them and have the agreeable
impressions of them made upon my heart’’—so to behold the glory of the
Lord as to be changed into the same image, 2 Co. 3:18. "That I may see thy
power and glory,’’ he does not say, as I have seen them, but "as I have
seen thee.’’ We cannot see the essence of God, but we see him in seeing by
faith his attributes and perfections. These sights David here pleases
himself with the remembrance of. Those were precious minutes which he
spent in communion with God; he loved to think them over again; these he
lamented the loss of, and longed to be restored to. Note, That which has
been the delight and is the desire of gracious souls, in their attendance
on solemn ordinances, is to see God and his power and glory in them.
(Henry, M. Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible)
Exodus 33:7-18
An Episode from the Life of Moses which depicts one
who hungers and thirsts for righteousness...
See sermon by John
Piper entitled
I Will Be Gracious to Whom I Will Be Gracious
Dwight Pentecost
has these thoughts on this episode in Moses' life...
This principle (that Spiritual
growth, spiritual development, and spiritual health are inseparably united
to spiritual appetite) is illustrated in the testimony of several
spiritual giants, whose lives are recorded in the Word of God, who share
with us the secrets of their hearts. Turn first to the experience of
Moses. He had been called to Mt. Sinai, where God gave him the greatest
revelation of Himself that any man had received since Adam’s fall. God’s
holiness was revealed to Moses so that he might communicate it to the
children of Israel. Moses returned from that time on the mount where he
beheld the glory of God (cf Ex 24:15-18, 25:1-2, 26:1) , and in obedience
to the command of God he erected the tabernacle. When it was completed,
Moses went into the tabernacle and into the presence of God. There he
voiced a petition that reveals the deep longing of his heart. In Exodus
33:13, Moses prayed, “If I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy
way, that I may know thee.” Again (Ex 33:18), “I beseech thee, shew me thy
glory.”
All that God had revealed to Moses
of Himself, instead of satiating him, had created in Moses a deep hunger
to know more of the Person who had brought him to a relationship to
Himself. He did not voice a prayer of thanksgiving, “I praise thee and
thank thee for what thou hast revealed,” but his prayer expressed the
longing of his heart, “Shew me now thy way that I may know thee. … shew me
thy glory.”
In response to Moses’ request, God set
him in a cleft of the rock. Lest Moses should be consumed by the shining
of God’s glory, He interposed His hand between His glory and Moses (cf Ex
33:19-23) Under the protection of God’s hand, Moses’ longing was satisfied
as God revealed His glory to him. That revelation came in response to
the hunger, the longing of Moses’ heart to know more. “Shew me now thy
way, that I may know thee. … Shew me thy glory.” (Pentecost, J. D.
Design for living : Lessons in
holiness from the Sermon on the Mount. Moody Press, 1975)
(Bolding added)
