Welcome
Call to worship: Luke 10:38-42 (p. ________)
Silence

 A Hunger for God
 Psalm 84

Last Sunday night Jim Cox led our Sunday evening worship time and he asked an excellent question. He asked us simply, "Why are you here tonight? Why did you come?" A good question, but an uncomfortable one -- at least for me. After all, being at church is part of my job. If I am honest, I have to answer, "Well, I came because I sort of have to come. It's part of my job to come to meetings. I'm not sure I really have much choice."

Quite often -- thank God not always -- I do come to worship, or to prayer meetings, or to HBF -- or even to private worship simply out of duty or habit. After all, I've been coming to church meetings as long as I can remember. It's hard to imagine doing anything else. I certainly don't mind coming, and I usually enjoy myself, often more than I expect -- but I don't usually think much about WHY I've come. It is frequently duty and habit that drive me here. Am I the only one? I don't think so.

I don't want to downplay the importance of duty. There are all sorts of things that I do in life not because I feel particularly excited about them, but because they are important, or they are right, or they are my responsibility. Sometimes duty is all that I have to get me up in the morning, and it is far better to get up out of duty, than to stay in bed until I FEEL like getting up.

Duty has its place. But duty is NOT what I find when I read the Psalms:
This is hardly a dutiful attitude toward worship. The Psalmists pant for God, thirst for God, long to gaze upon his beauty, cry out to meet with him, yearn for his presence. It's a physical yearning. This is not the dutiful nephew planning a visit to his great aunt matilda because it is a good thing to do (which is how I often come to church). No, this is love poetry. The Psalm writer sounds like a love sick lover who is just about to die of longing to be with the one he loves.

Now when I read these words, my immediate reaction is to say, "this guy must have really had an overwhelming experience of God." But here's the remarkable thing: When the Psalm writer cries out to be in God's presence, he's not talking about a feeling or an emotional experience -- that's our way of thinking, not theirs. It's not some special mystical encounter -- getting high on God -- that he is longing for. If you look at the places where the Psalmists express longing for God, they are all talking about the simple physical experience of visiting the temple in Jerusalem. For the Psalmists to be near God meant simply being IN the temple -- because thats where God was. It didn't matter whether you felt like he was there or not. Feelings had not much to do with it. God simply WAS there and you knew it. It was a tangible, physical experience. If you were at the temple you were near God because that was where God was worshipped.

Problem: Since 70 AD when the Romans tore it down we have not had a temple in Jerusalem. BUT we do have an equivalent. In the Old Testament the Temple was the place where God made his presence known. But with the New Testament the people of God become the temple. (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; Eph. 2:21) When we gather with God's people, we come into God's presence -- it is no longer a place where God dwells, it is the people in whom he dwells. And when we gather, God is here with us. Really here. Objectively here. And his presence does not depend on my feelings. My emotions don't control whether God is here or not. God IS present in reality whether you or I feel like it or not.

So the equivalent for us of the Psalmists longing to be at the temple should be a simple longing to be with God's people. The sort of longing where we count the days until we can worship together again.
Stephen just celebrated his 8th birthday. And just about every day since the end of July he has asked me what the date was so that he could calculate how many days were left until his birthday. That's the kind of anticipation and longing we see in the Psalms.

Imagine waking up every Monday morning with this terrible heartache because Sunday is over and you have to wait another whole week to gather with God's people. Imagine having that kind of longing to be with God's people. Imagine counting the days until you could be together with God's people again. Can you imagine saying, "I would work as a janitor at church rather than take a fantastic job that would separate me from God's people."

Maybe some of you feel that way. If so, you can encourage the rest of us. I count the days till Christmas. I count the days until vacations. But I don't often count the days until worship. When I read a Psalm like Psalm 84 or Psalm 27 or Psalm 42, I feel like there is a huge gulf between the state of my heart, and the heart of the Psalm writers. I am over here, my heart cold as an icecube; the Psalmists are way over there, on fire, dancing, longing, crying out, hungry for God's presence.

How do I get from here to there? I want to -- but how? How can I develop that kind of deep hunger for God?

We all face a parallel situation each day. Each day most of us eat 3 meals. And fairly frequently, we eat simply out of habit -- maybe even out of duty. Often we are not really hungry. It's noon time so we eat. It's 10 a.m. Sunday morning so we go to church. ho hum.

But there are other times when eating is something more -- when we have a real appetite, and a meal becomes real pleasure -- something we anticipate and revel in. What makes the difference between really enjoying a meal and just eating it? It's no great mystery. If I want to come to a meal with an appetite, or if I want my kids to come to a meal with an appetite, I just follow a few simple rules.

1. Come hungry.

If you want to enjoy supper, don't ruin your appetite on oreos and potatoe chips.

In Psalm 84, the writer begins his song of worship with a recognition, an acknowledgment of his soul's hunger: "My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God." He knows he's hungry . He knows what he's hungry for. And he knows there is only one thing that will satisfy that hunger.

We need that kind of clarity. We need to know that we are hungry, and what we are hungry for: There's a hunger in all of our hearts that can only be filled by worship of God and fellowship with his people. And we feel the hunger pangs often enough -- feelings like loneliness, emptiness, restlessness, the feeling that we're missing something, that life is not satisfying or complete -- these are the signs of a hunger for God.

The problem is that many of us get mixed up about what we are really hungry for. I'm feeling restless, so I go buy something. I'm feeling lonely so I eat a dozen donuts. And it makes some sense to eat the donuts: I'm feeling empty. Gorging on donuts DOES make me full. Those who have struggled with loneliness know what I'm talking about. Eating can really make you feel better -- for a little while. It covers up the heart hunger -- but it doesn't satisfy it.

The reason many of us come to worship without much appetite for God is simply because we're already filled with all the wrong things. The hunger is there, but we've tried to fill it up with food or drink or entertainment or work or sex or studies. Good things, but not when we get so much of them that they mask our hunger for God. Sometimes the problem is just that we're too BUSY to even notice the hunger. We had a Birthday party for Stephen yesterday and for one of his friends it was his third birthday party of the day and it was clearly wearing on him. And what about his poor parents who spent their day as taxi drivers -- not to mention the frenetic search for the right presents. Our lives are so filled with activity that when we finally do get some time for worship it is about the only down time we've had all week and our greatest felt need is not to worship but to take a nap. If only the chairs were more comfortable.

How do we get out of this cycle? Well when the people of Israel had been lured away from worship by prosperity, or by false Gods -- when they desired to turn back to God, the did something simple, but dramatic: they declared a fast. It was a sign that they were serious about turning back to God. I would challenge everyone here to do the same: Choose a Saturday -- or any other day that will work -- and declare a fast on activities. Don't leave the house -- devote yourself to prayer and Bible reading and to caring for the basic needs of your family. No big projects. No outings. No TV. No novels. No telephone calls. Make it a retreat day. You may find it very difficulty. You may feel restless, bored, empty -- that's the point. Those are reminders to you that your heart is hungry for something more substantial than activities.

I also challenge you to choose a day to fast in a more traditional way: declare a fast on food. Come to your private worship time feeling physical hunger as a reminder of your hunger for God.

First means of developing an appetite for God: Come hungry. Here's another.

2. Exercise. Everyone knows that you'll be more hungry if you exercise.

In Psalm 84, the Psalmist does not remain pining away, hungry for God, but resigned to never being satisfied. In the second part of his song, the focus changes from wistful longing to determined action. The song writer has been daydreaming about the temple, envying those who are there all the time, even the birds. Now he determines to do something about it. Verse 5: "Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have SET THEIR HEARTS on pilgrimage. As they pass through the valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs." (The vally of Baca refers simply to dry, barren stretches on the journey to Jerusalam.) True seekers after God don't just pine away in longing, they determine to face any difficulty in order to come closer to their object of worship. For the writer of this Psalm this meant a difficult and dangerous physical journey through some very barren lands.

What does it mean for us? Basically it means a determination to do the things that will bring us closer to God whether we enjoy them or not. It means disciplining ourselves in prayer and Bible Study even when prayer is hard and the Bible seems like a desert. It means doing hard things like fasting. No one ever won a marathon just by daydreaming about the finish line. That's why we call prayer and Bible reading and fasting DISCIPLINES of the Christian life. They are like the daily exercise routine of an athlete. Daily exercises are not very exciting, and they may not be a source of much joy at the time, but they are a pre-requisite for the joys that will come.

Spiritual exercises are a pre-requisite for real joy in God. You cannot have really joyful worship without them. The outcome of spiritual discipline is spelled out in verse 7: They go from strength to strength. Having set their hearts on pilgrimage, and passed through the dry valleys, the pilgrims grow stronger. Their love and faith increase -- their hunger for God increases

To increase appetite: 1. Come hungry; 2. exercise.

3. Expect that it will be good.

Here's some dining advice for Stony Brook: If you ever get an invitation for a fish barbeque at the Lawrences, do not even think twice about accepting. Cancel all your other engagements if necessary. You won't find better fish anywhere. And If Janet Hartley ever invites you for Indian food -- or for anything else, for that matter -- take my advice and jump at the opportunity. Another dining opportunity you should not pass up: Liz Kealy's place. She is a good cook. I have eaten at her house a few times and I have never been disappointed. There are many others, of course. I won't embarrass you all.

But the point is that when I go to one of these homes for a meal, I know its going to be good. I am filled with expectation and anticipation. And there is nothing like expectation to enlarge the appetite.

If you are coming to worship -- private, or Sunday morning -- without much of a hunger for God, chances are you have pretty low expectations. You don't expect much of God, so you don't anticipate coming into his presence. Perhaps you feel its something he makes you do, rather than something you really want to do. Like getting a dinner invitation and feeling obligated to come, even though you don't expect to enjoy the meal much.

The Psalmist's hunger for God is rooted in anticipation and expectation. He is anxious to get to the temple, because being at the temple is just about the best thing imaginable. Look at the last part of the Psalm, beginning with verse 10, and listen to the superlatives:

Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. For the Lord God is a sun and a shield; The Lord bestows favor and honor;
 No Good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
Notice what the focus of anticipation is: It is the good he expects to receive from God; Not the experience of great worship music, or inspiring preaching. He has high expectations because he believes that God does not withhold ANYTHING good from those who seek him.

The Psalm writer is probably thinking of food and wine and rain and good crops. But when he says "NO Good thing does he withhold" he is also talking prophetically. The Psalmists only had the promise -- we have the proof that God really will not withhold anything good. When Jesus came, God was giving us what was most precious in the universe. The best thing he had he did not withhold from us, but gave it freely.

He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all -- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

We have far greater reason to come to worship with expectation than the Psalmists: We have seen the proof that God in reality DID not withhold from us the best thing he had.

Come Hungry
Exercise
Expect good things from God


Conclusions/ Application:

I've already given you one idea for application: Declare a fast. Cultivate a hunger for God by staying off other things that mask it.

But I'd like to give you another challenge in the area of expectation: Before you come to worship next week -- doesn't matter if it is here or somewhere else -- read the end of this Psalm again, as a prayer. And then ask God to give you something good from that worship time: an encouragement, a restored spirit, a renewed trust in him, comfort. Whatever you most need, ask for it beforehand. And come with the expectation that God will meet your need -- come looking for his answer -- because God will not withhold anything good from his children.