The Word Made Flesh

The Word Made Flesh

What is the most stupendous event of all human history? There are those who in answer would speak of the miracle of modern medicine which culminated in heart transplants. Others would speak in terms of man landing upon the moon. These are feats and facts that stagger the human imagination. But these are not the most outstanding events in the long history of the human race. In the age that is becoming accustomed to the miracle of the heart transplant and the awe inspiring, fantastic landing of man on the moon, there is a miracle that towers above all of these as the Matterhorn towers above the villages nestled at its base.

The most stupendous event of all time occurred amongst a people held in the rigors of slavery and in an obscure village of Judea. It was an event long heralded by prophets and longed for by many. It was an event so fraught with significance that is was announced by a choir of angels. The greatest miracle, the most stupendous event of all time was when God became man, when God wrapped Himself in the garments of our humanity and became bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. Open heart surgery is of little consequence in relation to that mighty act wherein God laid bear His heart of love, light and life before men. The landing of man upon the moon fades into the background beside that time when God landed on planet earth. “In Jesus Christ who was born in a stable, lived the plain, tough life of His day, died on a Roman cross and was seen alive again by His disciples – God has come personally into our human life.

Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing,

O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.

We stand before cross-crowned Calvary with dear dimmed eyes; we linger in the garden before the empty tomb of Joseph of Arimathea in questioning silence; but before the manger of Bethlehem we stand in reverent awe. Here the mystery of Divine grace staggers most the mind of man.

I often see the sticker attached to the bumper of a car: “Love American or leave it.” We find it hard to believe that anyone in their right mind would think for a moment of leaving the United States, giving up their citizenship and become partakers in a lesser way and standard of living. Yet is this not analogous to what the Son of God did when He left His Father’s home in glory and took up residence amongst men?

Dorothy Sayers in “The Greatest Drama Ever Staged” stares in bewilderment at people who assure her that Christianity leaves them cold, as being a dull affair that bores them. How can this most exciting, tremendous and amazing event of God becoming man “leave one cold?” how can such a demonstration of love Divine, all loves excelling be called a “dull and boring affair?”

The kingdom of man is between the Kingdom of God above us and the kingdom of animals beneath us. The quality if life in the Kingdom of Heaven is superior to that in the kingdom of men as the quality of life in the kingdom of men is superior to that in the kingdom of animals. Suppose that one should descend from the kingdom of men and become one with, of and for the kingdom of animals. Is this not similar to what God did when “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” This is the staggering and stupendous, the mysterious and miraculous fact of Christmas.

It is said that “familiarity breads indifference.” As once again we approach the manger to worship “Christ the new born King,” let us lay aside the garments of familiarity; shed the robe of indifference to the end that we may be gripped anew by the fact of Christmas: God has come to dwell amongst us.

It is this Christian fact that gave birth to the Christian faith. “The fact of the incarnation means that once for all God has cast his lot with humanity. Christianity invites men to believe that at a point in time when the condition of the world was desperate, when sin was steadily claiming the race for its own, when philosophy and religion had lost their savor – God in the person of His Son plunged into the thick of the battle.”

In Charles Dickens story of the French Revolution, the Tale of Two Cities the carts are moving towards the Guillotine carrying their loads of human flesh. In one cart is Sidney Carton a dissipated English layer who had wanted great gifts and quenched high possibilities in riotous living. He was taking the place of Charles Darnay not for any love of Darnay but for the sake of his wife and child. Riding in the cart with him is a French seamstress. She is shaking, shivering, trembling in fear. Carton reached out and clasped her hand in his and said: “Keep your eyes upon me, dear child, and mind no other object.” She replied, “I mind nothing while I hold your hand.” As they come to their end of their sad journey she looked into his face and thanked him saying: “But for you dear stranger, I would not be so composed, for I am naturally a poor little thing, faint of heart … I think you were sent to me by Heaven.” Here is the faith of Christmas: “Behold a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel,” which being interpreted means: God with us

The Christmas faith speaks to us not only of the eternal presence of God with us but also of God’s activity on our behalf. “God has a Son enlisted too.” This enlistment on behalf of you and me is a total involvement. The enlistment which commenced in the manger was climaxed on the cross. “Unto you is born this day a Savior … God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.” He died that we might be forgiven. The Christmas faith that commenced at the manger, was climaxed at the cross is culminated at the empty tomb. Death could not hold its praise – He arose, with a mighty triumph over His foes. He broke the power of cancelled sin, He sets the prisoner free – free to walk in newness of life, free to become the man God intended him to be when he was first created in the image of God.

The faith of Christmas will be consummated in the new heavens and the new earth. This is the Christmas Hope: “The kingdom of this world shall become the Kingdom of our Lord and His Christ, men will beat their swords into plow shares and spears into pruning hooks and shall learn war no more.” “Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall perform this.” “Jesus shall reign.”

The Fact and the Faith of the first Christmas was filled with frustration, “There was no room for them in the inn. He was in the world, the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not.” Two thousand years have come and gone and still this frustration persists. The Fact of Christmas is generally accepted. Few doubt the birth of Jesus of Nazareth – the externals of Christmas, -- the carols, the decorations, the exchanging of cards and gifts – attest to the acceptance of the Fact. It is the Christmas faith, the Christ child Himself, who continues to be rejected, wars and rumors of wars, selfishness, bickering and all the other cancers of society bear testimony to this.

Let me ask you a pertinent, piercing, personal question: Have you any room for Jesus?

May the Fact and Faith of Christmas find Fulfillment as you humbly and sincerely pray:

O Holy child of Bethlehem, Descend to me, I pray;

Cast out my sin, and enter in, Be born in me today.

Dr. Robert W Kirkpatrick

Whitfield Estates Presbyterian Church, Sarasota, Florida December 21, 1969

A Personal God

A Personal God

O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night," Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You. For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You. O that You would slay the wicked, O God; Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. For they speak against You wickedly, And Your enemies take Your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with the utmost hatred; They have become my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.  (Psalms 139)

The God of David is an intensely personal God. David’s faith was not centered in an impersonal force. He believed in a God who was interested in David. He beheld the attributes of God in relation to him. David took the truths of God and made them his. David’s God was not only all knowing, He knew David; not only everywhere present, He was always present with David; but only the all powerful creator; He had made David.

In the one hundred thirty ninth psalms we find David feeling so close to God, so possessed by the thought of his personal relation to God the he spontaneously addresses God concerning His power, might and everywhere presents. Here is no theological dissertation concerning the attributes of God, but here is one’s testimony concerning God. He does not argue concerning God’s being all knowing, everywhere present and creator of man, he merely states these truths as incontrovertible facts, facts which come out of his experience with God.

The first overwhelming thought of God’s relation to the human soul is that He completely knows the whole man: “O Lord, thou has searched me and know me, thou knowest mine down sitting and mine uprising … thou art acquainted with all my ways for there is not a word in my tongue but lo, O Lord thou knowest it altogether … Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is high, I cannot attain to it.” Everything connected to his whole being and his whole life is an open book to his God.

We might well sing, “He knows me, He knows me, Oh! The wonder of such a thought that He knows me!” When this truth laid upon the psalmist, it floored him. He could hardly comprehend it, it was so wonderful. He was well aware of the many people who lived in the kingdom of Israel, yet in the midst of all those people he was not lost sight of. God not only knows the affairs of the nation, but he also knows the individuals who compose the nations. “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, I cannot attain to it.”

God knows our abilities. David appeared to be the least likely of the sons of Jesse to become King over Israel. (1 Samuel 16:11) But known unto God were all the ways of David. He knew him in repose, He knew him in activity, He knew his abilities and capabilities and He chose David to be King and history proves that God made a right choice. We can go gladly to the task assigned to us, knowing that because He knows us that He has not made a wrong choice and has not assigned us to the wrong task.

God knows our thoughts. On several occasions Jesus told those around Him what they were thinking. “But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?" Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, "Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?” (Mark 2:6-8) This is a comforting thought. He knows our thoughts and thus knows our motives.

God knows our actions. He knows when we get into trouble, when the path lies in the valley. Also, He knows when it lies on the mountain top. He knows when we disobey. This though should help us to correct our ways.

Is it not amazing to you that God knows us? This thought that God knows us blends in with the next thought concerning a personal God, namely, that God surrounds him and is with him. (Psalm 139:7-12)

            Adam because of his sin sought to hide from God. (verse 11)

            Jonah because of unwillingness to obey sought to escape from God (verse 9)

            Jacob because he did not truly know God was not aware of His presence (verse 7)

The psalmist affirms that which the whole of scripture teaches that God is ever with us.

This God who knows us and is with us is the former of our bodies. Man did not happen by chance. (verse 13-16)

            God made man. God wondrously made man. (Bishop Taylor Smith)

As he brings these thoughts concerning God to a conclusion the psalmist makes known that God has great thoughts (purposes) for man. Compare Psalm 8 and also Hebrews 2. We shall reign with Him.

The Psalmist recognizes that not all men have such high and holy thoughts concerning God. Such men are despised by the psalmist, they grieve Him.

The Psalmist closes with a plea for God to search him and to cast out any wickedness that may be found in him. The Psalm began with a statement that God does search and ends with a plea for such searching. Evil will be cast out only as we truly desire it.

Dr. Robert W Kirkpatrick

First Presbyterian Church Saint Albans, W Va. July 23, 1950

The Weary Traveler

The Weary Traveler

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, Nor the moon by night. The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever.   Psalms 121

The 121^st Psalm is the psalm of the traveler. The author of the psalm was one of a band of pilgrims journeying to Jerusalem, there to worship God in His Holy Temple.

The journey would be crowded with dangers but also crowded with delight. They would be exposed to robbers, their path barred by enemies. There were long arid stretches of country to cross and the pitiless glare of the sun to be endured. There were the sick who needed to be cared for and the aged to be supported. But the trials and testing’s, difficulties and dangers of the way would soon be forgotten when the towers of the city came into sight.

At night sentries were set on the top of a neighboring hill to guard the encampment against sudden attacks from marauding bands of robbers. In our psalm we have some of the reflections of one of the pilgrims who, before entering his tent for the night, looked toward the hill and saw beside the sentry another guardian, the Lord who neither slumbers not sleeps; and who, more than a human sentry, can guard His people from diseases, from the strokes of the sun and from the perils of the way. It is such a situation which has fashioned this hymn of quite trust and confidence in all the wise providence of a wise and personal and powerful God.

As the pilgrim began his journey he fastened his eye upon his goal: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills.” No doubt to which the hills he has referenced, are the hills upon which the city was built which rise to a height of 2400 feet above sea level. “As pilgrims travel through this barren land” let us ever look up, keeping our eyes fastened upon the goal.

The upward look is prerequisite to a noble and honorable life. It is only as we keep our eyes fastened upon the goal that we are inspired and encouraged to “keep on going on” even though the way is dull and drab, monotonous and seemingly meaningless. The medical student endures long hours in the classroom, at his desk, making hospital rounds and in the clinic because he beheld the ideal, the goal of becoming a doctor. A worthy goal produces personal resolution and persistent endurance.

One of the saddest conditions in all of human experience is to find oneself devoid of a worthy goal, a noble ambition, and an all consuming passion. What a pity to find oneself “drifting and dreaming along the stream of life.” This robs one of all sense of purpose and motivation. The goal of the Christian traveler whether he be young or old, poor or rich, a blue or white collared worker, in good or poor health is to “glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” We have only one life to live and all that ultimately counts is what we do in the service of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. As he “set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem,” the place of doing God’s will even though it meant personal suffering and self sacrifice, so must we. Paul said, “I will keep going on toward the mark of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ.” The psalmist said, “I will life up mine eyes unto the hills.” Let us reaffirm, “I will live up to the standard that God set when He called me in Christ.”

As the psalmist looked unto the hills which symbolize the noble task to be accomplished, the worthy ideals to be realized and the praiseworthy goal to be attained, he asked a question: “From whence cometh my help?” notice this is a question, he does not affirm that his help comes from the hills. The goals of life may inspire us, they may deliver us form dull monotony, but they cannot give inner resolution nor that outward supply which is so vital to the realization of one’s goal. The psalmist affirms that such help comes “from the Lord who made heaven and earth.”

            A mighty fortress is our God, A bulwark never failing;

            Did we in our strength confide, Our striving would be losing.

A man is not stronger than that in which he trust. Trust in yourself and you are doomed to failure. Trust in God and you will become “more than a conqueror.” The foolish man says, “I can do all things.” The wise man confesses, “I can do all things THROUGH Christ who strengthens me.”

Last Sunday we referred to a recent address of the President of the United Sates before representatives of the new media gathered in Kansas City. He warned that America is nearing the decadence “which eventually destroys civilization. Then he continued, “I am convinced, however, that we have the vitality, I believe we have the courage, I believe we have the strength out through this heartland and across this nation that will see to it that America not only is rich and strong, but that it is healthy in terms of moral strength. I am convinced it is there.”

I, too, am convinced that it is there. We need this vitality, courage, strength and moral health that is latent within us. But we need more. We need a renewed recognition of and a renewed commitment to the truth expressed in the motto of our coins, “In God we trust.” We need God on our side, but more than this we need to be on God’s side. We need Christ interceding on behalf of our nation, but more than this we must be intermediaries for Him.

In days like these when our eyes are fixed more often upon the machines that man has made, the Gross National Produce that man has produced and upon the atomic power that we have released, we need to be reminded to fix our eyes upon God who is the source of all power.

All too often our religion is man centered. It has marked our earnest efforts, our tremendous activity and our desire to conquer the forces of evil that would destroy. We need like the psalmist to be conscious of the problems that beset us; but also, like him, we need to be conscious of the power that is available to us. We need to lift our hands in prayer to grasp God, but more, we need to be aware of the strong arm of God stretched out to help us. Let us learn wherein lies the source of our strength, help and power. “It comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.” Let us rid ourselves of that subtle pride in man’s power to attain his worthy goals and noble ambitions.

Notice that God’s all powerful help is intensely personal. Many have said to me, “You pray for me. Your prayers carry more weight than mine.” The subtle implication in such a request is that God plays favorites. This is not so. We are all equal before God. His help is as readily available to one of His children as to another. “What He has done for others, He will do for you.”

It is a personal help which preserves us in “our going out and coming in.” He may not keep us in the way we want to be kept. He may not keep us from sorrow. He may not give us bodily deliverance. “What did God do for the martyr Stephen when he was being stoned to death?” asked an agnostic of Joseph Parker while he was still a youth. Parker replied, “He enabled Stephen to say, Lord lay not this sin to their charge.” God did not keep Stephen from stoning, but He kept him from the spirit of hate and a desire to retaliate. God keeps us and helps in that way which He, according to His divine wisdom, knows will minister to our greatest need.

It is a personal help which preserves the soul. Some have said t o me, “I would become a traveler in the way of Christ, if I believed I could hold out.” The plain fact is that none of us would come to the New Jerusalem, Zion the City of God in our own strength and ability. “The arm of flesh would fail us.” But, we have this confidant assurance, “He who has begun a good work in us will carry it on till it is finished in the Day of Christ Jesus.” We cannot “keep on going on.” “But God is able to keep us from falling.” It is the Savior who will keep us until the river of death rolls its waters at our feet and then he will bear us safely over.

This is the psalm of every believer. The world is not our home; we are on a pilgrimage to Heaven’s Promised Land. The journey may be long. The road may be filled with peril. But we are not alone. The Savior travels with us and He is able to make “all grace abound.” He will keep us until the river of death rolls its waters over our feet, then He will bear us safely over. “Comfort one another with these words.”

Dr. Robert W Kirkpatrick

First Presbyterian Church, Dade City, Florida  July 18, 1971

Permit the children to come to Me

Permit the children to come to Me

Mark 9:36-37

They came to Capernaum; and when He was in the house, He began to question them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest. Sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”Taking a child, He set him before them, and taking him in His arms, He said to them, “Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me.”

Jesus and the disciples had traveled to Capernaum and along the way the disciples had argued between each other who would be greatest in the Kingdom. They had now entered a home and Jesus asked them what they had been discussing. Jesus pointed out to the disciples that His followers were to be servants of the people and not lords over them. The Christian life is a life of service, service to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and a servant to our neighbors.  He who wants to be first must be last and in service to all. To drive His lesson home Jesus uses an object lesson to present His case. A child was in the home they were having this conversation in and Jesus used the child to make His point about God’s idea of greatness and significance.

Taking the child into His arms Jesus said, “Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me.” This child was probably Peter or Andrew’s which Jesus had singled out. Jesus wraps His arms around the child as says, "True greatness has a lot like to do with our relationship with a child." Jesus then goes on to teach three significant points regarding greatness and importance in God’s Kingdom.

The first thing Jesus explains is that we have to love people. Look again at verse 37. "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me."  In understanding this verse the key thing to notice is the phrase, “in my name.” We do not take a child into our arms because of his present ability to advance our welfare. We do not take a child into our arms to increase our stature in the community. We welcome a child into our arms solely out of love. God is love and receiving a child into our arms in the name of Jesus is accepting that child in the love of God.

William Barclay wrote this. "Now, a child has no influence at all. A child cannot advance a man's career, nor enhance a man's prestige. A child cannot give us things; it's the other way around. A child needs things. A child must have things done for him. And so Jesus is saying, 'If a man welcomes the poor, ordinary people, the people who have no influence, and no wealth, and no power, the people who need things done for them, then he's welcoming me. And more than that, he's welcoming God.'"

The first point of Jesus to His disciples is this, to achieve greatness and significance and greatness in the Kingdom of God we must welcome and love people. Love cannot be in consideration of what that person can do for us. The way of the world will tell us to use people for personal gain but God tells us to love people because they are His creation and He loves them.

This point triggers a question in the mind of the disciple John. "Teacher," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us." (Mark 9:38) John is wondering if they had done the right according to what Jesus had just said. Jesus replied, "Do not stop him, No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us." (Mark 9:39-40)

There is a strong in point in this application. Over time the Church has evolved into many denominations with different viewpoints of their belief. The question becomes here should we shun them or have nothing to do with believers of different denominations within the Church? Should we be separate from them? “No”. Jesus is saying here, "If they keep the main thing, the main thing-faith in Jesus alone for salvation, then we are on the same team." As members of the same team we should not bicker amongst ourselves, this attitude will destroy the whole of the team effort to fulfill the great commission.

The second point is to help the less mature to become more mature. We read this point in verses 41 and 42. "I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.”And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck." (Mark 9:41-42)

Simply put is that if you want to become a significant person in the Kingdom of God you will help one who is less spiritually mature to become more spiritually mature. Even a small ministry in the name of Jesus in helping a developing believer is a great value to God. Children’s Sunday school teachers, children’s Worship leaders, and nursery workers in the Church are of great value in God’s Kingdom. “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4) These workers in the Church are training up the minds of the children with the Word of God. One of the greatest things we can do for the future of the children is teach them the truth of God.

In verse 42 we read the warning that if we hinder the spiritual growth of a child or a new believer in Christ we are subject to the wrath of God. The nurturing of children and new believers is incredibly important to God.

To help those on their spiritual walk with Jesus is to live a life of great significance and have a lasting impact you will be involved in helping the less mature become more mature in their faith in God.

The final point of significance and greatness in the Kingdom of God is that we must be willing to judge our self. In verses 43 through 48 we read. “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where "'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.”  We must remember here that Jesus still has a child in his arms so we are not only talking about sin in these verses. The context is what you might be doing to harm the spiritual growth of the less spiritually mature believer or child.

Jesus us saying here that if we have sin in our life we must remove it. Sin in our life will discount our testimony and cause a stumbling block in the path of a less mature believer or child. As followers of Jesus, must confess and repent of our sin on a day by day base in order to protect our testimony.  Sin in our life not only affects the young believer but also affects the whole body of Christ.

But, if you are honest with yourself, and honestly examine your life. And if in doing that you discover even the hint of sin or inappropriate character, and seek to remove it, then you are a person who is destined for greatness in the Kingdom of God. You are a person of true significance.

Thomas N Kirkpatrick

Durant Bible College.

The Soul’s longing for God

The Soul’s longing for God

As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, While they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?" These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence. O my God, my soul is in despair within me; Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me. The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; And His song will be with me in the night, A prayer to the God of my life. I will say to God my rock, "Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?" As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me, While they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?" Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.   Psalms 42

Many, many years ago King David sat upon the lopes of Mount Hermon on the eastern side of the Jordan River, as he sat there a deer with open mouth and heaving flanks slowly passed by eagerly seeking in dry pools for a drop of water to cool her outstretched tongue. In this physical longing of the beast of the forest he beheld a picture of his spiritual longing; “As the heat panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee O God.”

David is far from home. He is separated by time and distance from his family and loved ones; from the King’s palace and from the tabernacle of the Lord his God. This separation is not of his choosing. David, the King of Israel is fleeing for his life. Do you recall that after David’s sin with Bathsheba against God, Nathan the prophet said, “Thus saith the Lord, Behold I will rise up evil against thee out of thine own house.” (2 Samuel 12:11) “Whatsoever, a man soweth that shall he also reap.” David had sown the seed of inequity and he is now reaping the consequences. Absalom has risen in revolt against his father and is attempting to wrest the kingdom out of the hands of David. There were more with Absalom than there were with David. David had a small band of loyal followers and they had to flee before Absalom and we read: “Then David arose and all the people that were with him, and they passed over Jordan; by the morning light there not lacked one of them that were not gone over Jordan.” (2 Samuel 17:22)

On the far side of the Jordan, looking across the waters toward the city of Jerusalem, he lamented: “My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?” This is the cry of a man who is “heartsick and homesick, longing for a deeper experience of God, yearning for friendship with Him, for companionship without which his life is empty, wretched and starved.”

In this first verse of the psalm, David has given expression not only of his own need but also to the hunger and thirst of all men. Man’s soul is athirst for God.

            “Far and wide though all unknowing, Pants for thee each human breast.

            Human tears for thee are flowing; Human hearts in thee would rest.”

Since the beginning of time men have searched for God. The millions of idols of wood and stone, of brass and of gold that man has erected by his own hands, is evidence of man’ thirst after the living God. From the earliest ages man began “to call upon the name of the Lord.” The ritual of prayer is the oldest religious rite. There has never been a tribe or people who did not pray. In all ages men motivated by the deep thirst of the human soul lifted their eyes heavenward and called upon the name of their god.

Oftentimes this need for God is not recognized. Often the souls of men are hungry and what they hunger after they do not know. The hunger and thirst in some is exceedingly intense and in others it is repressed. Whether it is expressed or whether it is repressed, it is still there. The plain truth about man is that God has made us, each one of us, in His own image. Sin marred that image but did not destroy it. Sin created a block in the line of man’s fellowship with God, but it did not destroy man’s kinship with God. In man who is created in the image of his creator there is a longing to know God. Augustine expressed in his confession when he prayed: “O God, thou hast made us for Thyself, and our souls are restless until we find our rest in Thee.”

Very often this longing becomes most intense in the hour of tribulation. Many a man who has lived his life as if there was no God in the heavens above has in the hour of tribulation prayed, “I need Thee, Oh I need Thee….stay Thou near by.” There have been those who have spent a life time destroying man’s faith in God, denying man’s need of God and have come to the hour of death crying aloud for God. Voltaire on his death bed said, “I am abandoned by God and man! I shall go to hell! O Christ! O Jesus Christ!” Tom Paine from his death bed said; “I would give worlds if I had not, if the Age of Reason had never been published. O Lord, help me! Christ help me! Stay with me! It is hell to be left alone!” “As the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.” This was the need of David. This is your need. This is the need of all men.

At this particular period in David’s life this need was particularly intense. It is intensified by his separation from the house of worship. “When shall I come and appear before God? When I remember these things I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.” David has been so accustomed to going to Church, he has been so helped by the services of worship and inspired by them that he feels lost without them. He cries, “When will I be able to go to Church again, to join with others in the service of worship?” the psalmist longs for his Church, and this desire increases his sense of loneliness for God

Sometime ago a man of national reputation suggested that there be declared a moratorium on preaching. Sometimes I have felt that might be a good idea and even go so far as close the Churches. Maybe if the privilege of corporate worship was denied to people, we would appreciate more fully the valuable part the Church and her services play in our individual and community life. Shut-ins have so often said to me, “Oh, if I could go just once more unto the house of God.”

The psalmist longing for God is accentuated by those things that people are saying about him and doing to him. “My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is my God? As with a sword in my bones my enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God” (verses 3,10) When David was fleeing from Absalom, Shimei, who was a relative of King Saul came out and threw stones at David and his followers and cursed at him saying: "Get out, get out, you man of bloodshed, and worthless fellow! "The LORD has returned upon you all the bloodshed of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned; and the LORD has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. And behold, you are taken in your own evil, for you are a man of bloodshed!" (2 Samuel 16:7-8) These taunts creates within David an intense longing for the living God. He longs to be drawn closer to God, the friend who is closer than a brother; the friend who understands him and all that is happening to him; this friend who continues to love him and has forgiven his sin, even he suffers the awful consequences of sin. When he forgets, when the world misunderstands, when the world casts its taunts at us then is when we need God.

The psalmist longing for God is intensified by his own personal troubles. “Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.” Sorrow and trouble have rolled over him like the waves of the ocean. In Hamlet the king described the troubles that threaten to engulf Ophelia in these words:

            “When sorrows come, they come not single spies but in battalions.”

This is what has happened to David and trouble is drawing him closer to God and intensifying his thirst for the living God. This is one of the blessings of personal difficulty. It makes us more aware of our need for God. In the broad light of the noon tide sun the small child runs ahead of his daddy and plays along the street almost forgetful of his daddy’s presence. But when the shadows of night fall and the darkness of night engulfs him, he draws close to his daddy’s side and places his little hand in the big protective, guiding hand of his father. For David and for us the tears of life are but links in a chain that bind us closer to the living God.

David’s longing for God is increased by fluctuating moods. Twice he cries: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance and my God.” John Calvin says that here in the forty-second psalm the writer “presents himself to us divided into two parts.” The struggle is between despondency and hope, dejection and faith, disquietude and poise.” We see here the picture of one who is in the dumps and who is struggling to rise to the heights of hope. “Who has not known the devilishness of moods in his own experience. The ‘ups and downs,’ these unstable and unreliable feelings and moods – what havoc they can work!” How they whet the longing of the devout man for his God!

When a man seeks God, he finds God. The Lord is nigh unto all those who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. As we draw nigh unto God, He draws nigh unto us. The soul of David was a thirst for the living God; not for god of wood or stone, brass or gold, not for a god who was the figment of someone’s imagination but for the living God. The living God, satisfied his trust. He said, “O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee.” In the hour of distress he drew nearer to God.

David had assurance that God had remembered him. Although his enemies had come upon him and his foes sought to destroy him, his God had not forsaken him. He testified: “The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.” (Verse 8) Here is one who “believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living;” who believed that God would never leave him nor forsake him; that God was not confined within the sacred precincts of the tabernacle but that God was ever with His own.

David believed that God’s purpose would be accomplished. He said, “I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance and my God.” He believed that God is greater then man; that God can cause even the wrath of men to praise Him, that God is greater than man’s sin and that God can over come the evil of men with good and bring His eternal purpose to pass, David believed that he would eventually see the eternal purpose of God accomplished and would sing his praises.

The psalmist began his song a thirst for God and he ends with his thirst satisfied. This is ever the experience of those who sincerely seek the Lord. It matters not the circumstances in which we find ourselves, the universal testimony is

            “Where’re they seek Thee, Thou art found.”

Dr. Robert W Kirkpatrick

First Presbyterian Church, Charleston W Va. August 16, 1961