CRAVING THE PRESENCE OF GOD

Psalm 42:1-2

CRAVING - a powerful desire for something.

It is a Longing, yearning, hungering, thirsting.

When we talk about craving, we think always is FOOD.

1. Do you ever crave certain foods?

What causes us to crave certain foods? There are three basic “Causes for the
Cravings:”

 Deficiency: Sometimes our bodies crave things that have nutrients that our bodies
need and that we are deficient in. You may crave bananas because your body is
deficient in potassium.
 Disease: Another reason we sometimes crave food is because of disease. Have
you ever suffered with a severe cold or the flu and all you wanted was a soothing
bowl of hot chicken noodle soup?
 Depression: There is another cause for the craving. I call it depression or
discouragement. Sometimes when I am down in the dumps I just want to eat some
comfort food. As you have guessed by now, my comfort food is ice cream or
doughnuts.

Did you know that it was a sense of depression and discouragement that caused a
craving in the author of Psalm 42?

He expressed his craving in verses 1 and 2. 1 As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So pants my soul for You, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When
shall I come and appear before God? Psalms 42:1-2 (NKJV)

The author of this psalm was discouraged. His depression led him to crave, to long for,
and to cry out for a closer relationship with God. He compared himself to a tired, hunted,
exhausted, and dehydrated deer that is panting for a drink of cool refreshing water from
a mountain brook. What a descriptive word he used: pant. Can you picture a deer
panting with its tongue out, desperate for a drink of water? We do not know the exact
circumstances in the writer’s life that were troubling him, but this we do know; he
wanted and needed to be closer to God and he would not rest until he had it.

Friend, I do not know the circumstances of your life. I do not know all the things you
have to deal with each day. But this I know, you need God. You need God in the bad
times of life and you need God in the good times of life. We should not be satisfied until
we too, long for God with this same intensity.

That is why God may allow deficiency, disease, or depression to come into our lives; to
drive us to crave a closer relationship to Him.

The problem with cravings is we often crave the wrong things. We give in to junk food.
We have to learn to stay away from junk food.

2. Stay away from the Junk Food.

Junk food is food which has little to no lasting nutritional value. Junk food makes you
feel good for a short while, but it does not last.

It may give you a sugar rush, but soon you will crash and feel worse than you did
before.

There is physical junk food, and there is spiritual junk food.

Instead of craving God, we often give in to spiritual junk food that has no lasting value
and that actually hurts us in the long run.

1 John 2:15-17: 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world--the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world.
17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God
abides forever.

There are three types of junk food that have no lasting value and that are bad for
you in the long run. The first type is called the:
 Lust of the flesh: Fleshly appetites.

The flesh is related to what you can see, smell, touch, taste, and hear.

Our flesh craves things that should never be more important that God and His will for
our lives.

For example, GAL. 5: 19-21

Lust of the eyes: Greedy ambitions.

The lust of the eyes have to do with our greedy ambitions. Some people think that
money and possessions are more important that God. They would never admit that, but
just watch how they live. They have little time for God and His church. They seldom give
of their financial resources to God’s House. They believe that happiness comes with
having stuff. They see nice things and want it and will spend more energy on getting
things rather than on getting closer to God.

 Pride of life: Haughty arrogance.

The pride of life relates to a haughty arrogance that is self-centered, that looks down on
other people, and that is prideful before God. These people seldom see their need for
God. They are not humble. They believe they are self-sufficient and do not need God.
They never pray, read the Bible, or go to church, etc.

We must choose to stay away from junk food like this if we are going to crave and
hunger a closer relationship with God. But it is not enough to simply stay away from the
junk food. There is something else you must do.

3. Crave Things That Are Good For You.

Some of you this morning need to develop a craving for God.

Let me show you three qualities of God that you must crave if you are going to be a fully
devoted follower of Christ. Write this down. First…

A. I must crave God’s Precepts.

You cannot be a fully devoted follower of Christ without spending TIME with God
through His Word.

1 Peter 2:2, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow
up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

Listen to Psalm 119:97-103. 97 Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the
day. 98 You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; For
they are ever with me. 99 I have more understanding than all my teachers, For Your
testimonies are my meditation. 100 I understand more than the ancients, because I
keep Your precepts. 101 I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep
Your word. 102 I have not departed from Your judgments, For You Yourself have taught
me. 103 How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my
mouth! (NKJV)

You need to spend regular time doing five things. Spend time…

Ø Reading the Word of God.

You can never have a Christian mind without reading the Scriptures regularly because
you cannot be profoundly influenced by that which you do not know.

 If you are filled with God's Word, your life can then be informed and directed by
God — your domestic relationships, your child-rearing, your career, your ethical
decisions, your interior moral life.

The second thing you must do is spend time…

Ø Hearing the Word of God.

You can read the Bible and listen to sermons, but you must have an eagerness to truly
hear what God is saying to you.
James 1:19 (NKJV) Are you swift to hear? Are you eager to learn from God? Are you
serious about getting to know God through His Word? You should come to church
saying, "God, I cannot wait to get to church so I can hear from you. I know you are
going to speak to me through the songs we sing, through the Scriptures we read, and
through the sermon from our pastor. God, I want to hear! Speak to my heart."

Some people are not serious about God’s will for their lives. Jesus preached and
embodied the Word of God and yet many people rejected what He had to say. That is
why He would often say, “He who has an ear, let him hear…” (Revelation
2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6). He meant that you have to be open to learning God’s Word.

There is a third thing you must do to crave God’s precepts. You must spend time…

Ø Meditating on the Word of God.

They say you become what you think about.

If we want to become like Christ we will meditate on God’s Word.

97 Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. 99 I have more
understanding than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation. Psalms
119:97, 99 (NKJV)

Meditation as the Bible calls for is not some New Age practice of sitting on a carpet
lotus style chanting or humming. It is not trying to empty your mind of everything.
Biblical meditation is literally muttering the Word of God. That is the Hebrew word used
here. We are to mutter the Word of God by taking a passage and repeating it with our
mouth or in our mind.

Friend, if you will learn to meditate on the Word of God like that, it will change your life.
It will change how you think and live.

Spend time reading, hearing, and meditating on the Word. Fourthly, spend time…

Ø Memorizing the Word of God.

People often tell me they cannot memorize Scripture. I disagree.

We can memorize what we focus on. We memorize phone numbers, e-mail addresses,
website addresses, names, sports statistics, poems, movie dialogue, song lyrics, and all
sorts of other things.

None of those things can draw you closer to God. But memorizing God’s Word will keep
you close and clean!

The Bible says in Psalm 119:11, 11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might
not sin against You!

Friend, one of the most profitable things you can do for yourself is to hide God’s Word in
your heart. The Holy Spirit will bring it you your remembrance when you are tempted or
confused. You will have the direction you need to live a holy and pure life. Be warned,
sin will keep you from the Bible, but the Bible will keep you from sin! It’s your choice!

There is a fifth thing you must do to crave God’s precepts. Spend time…

Ø Obeying the Word of God.

You cannot fake God out. He knows the difference between a person who wants head
knowledge to look religious versus those who truly want to know His Word so they can
obey Him.

God is under no obligation to reveal His truth to you if you are not willing to obey it.

The apostle James put it this way. 22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do
what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word
and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk
away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that
sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will
bless you for doing it. James 1:22-25 (NLT)

Look into the mirror of God’s Word and it will show you where you need to grow and
improve. Then you are under divine obligation to do something about what you have
learned! It is not the parts of the Bible that I don't understand that bother me, but the
parts I DO understand! I am obligated to obey! Trust and obey for there is no other way
to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey!

How is God’s Word Good For Me? The Bible…

 Revives my soul: 7 The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the
soul. Psalms 19:7a (NLT)
 Gives me wisdom: The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the
simple. Psalms 19:7b (NLT)
 Increases my faith: 98 You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my
enemies; For they are ever with me. 99 I have more understanding than all my
teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation. 100 I understand more than the
ancients, Because I keep Your precepts. Psalms 119:98-100 (NKJV)

So, there are three things I must crave if I am going to be a fully devoted follower of
Christ. First, I must crave God’s Precepts. Second…

B. I must crave God’s Purity.

We must each confess that we are not always fully devoted to God. We often are more
devoted to ourselves than we are to God. We often sin and fall short of God’s standard
for our lives.

 if we are to crave a closer relationship with God we must crave His purity above
our sin and impurity.
 We should pray, 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know
my anxieties; 24 And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the
way everlasting. Psalms 139:23-24 (NKJV)

The author of this psalm craved God’s purity. He wanted to be fully devoted to God and
he knew sin would prevent that.

WARNING: Don’t pray this prayer to our all-powerful, all-knowing God if you are not
serious. God WILL answer this prayer! He will show you sin in your life. And when He
does you need to know that He is not seeking to condemn you, but to help you. He is
confronting you with your sin to give you two opportunities. The first is the opportunity
for the…

Ø Confession of sin.

When the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin it is so we can confess our sin. God gives us
the opportunity to come clean.

Sin in our lives does not break our relationship with God, but it does hinder our
fellowship with God.

Psalm 66 puts it this way. 18 If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would
not have listened. 19 But God did listen! He paid attention to my prayer. 20 Praise God,
who did not ignore my prayer or withdraw his unfailing love from me. Psalms 66:18-20
(NLT)

When the Holy Spirit convicts you of your sin it is to give you the opportunity for
confession of your sin. But it is also to give you the opportunity to experience…

Ø Cleansing from sin.

you can be forgiven and cleansed from all unrighteousness when you confess your sin.

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we
confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. 1 John 1:8-9 (NKJV)
The word translated “confess” in the original Greek is, “homologeo.” It means, “to say
the same thing.”

When you stop making excuses for your sin and just call it what it is---call it what God
calls it---sin, you can be forgiven and cleansed!

We have seen that to crave a closer relationship with God I must crave God’s Precepts,
and God’s Purity. But there is one more quality of God that I must crave. Third…

C. I must crave God’s Presence.

Do you remember what the psalmist wrote in Psalm 42? He craved God presence. He
declared, 1 As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. 2 I thirst for
God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him? Psalms 42:1-2 (NLT)

He desperately wanted to be with God in the Temple. He wanted to be in God’s

presence in worship.

Ø I must hunger for God in my personal worship life.

Worship is not just a service like this. True worship is in spirit and in truth. It is an inside
job where you love, praise, and adore God in your personal worship life. If you do not
worship God personally, then you will not worship God when you come here with
believers.

Ø I must also hunger for God in my congregational worship life.

People have many excuses for why they don't attend church to worship with other
believers.

Stop making excuses and make a commitment to be present with God's people at
church this Sunday!

The Bible says, 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and
good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but
encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing
near. Hebrews 10:24-25 (NLT)

When we gather for worship we are to think of ways we can motivate one another to
acts of love and good works. We are to inspire each other to be more devoted to Christ!
We need to encourage one another.

Conclusion: Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for
they will be filled.” Matthew 5:6

As your pastor I ask you to do three things. Crave the Precepts of God, Crave the Purity
of God, and Crave the Presence of God.

Prayer/Invitation