Growing in Intimacy with God: Psalm 63 and Philippians 3
Many Christians have a desire for what they call deeper relationship with God, intimacy with God, heartfelt worship, or loving and being loved by God. I do as well, but often it seems difficult to get there. But recently I’ve found tremendous help in Psalm 63 and Philippians 3. David wrote about seeking God while being pursued by Saul, and Paul wrote about delighting in God while imprisoned for the gospel. Both of them share powerful truths that have helped me connect more deeply with God.
1. God is gain and the rest is garbage
Ps 63:1c—…as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Ps 63:3a—Because your steadfast love is better than life…
Phil 3:7-8a—But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
David writes about his longing for God and compares it to being “in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” In the experience of wandering in the desert, David found a metaphor for the barrenness of life apart from God. No wonder he could say a few verses later that God’s “steadfast love is better than life”—the kind of life that’s found apart from God isn’t satisfying in the least. Paul made it even more explicit: now that he had come to see Christ, he looked at the religious pursuits he had formerly seen as gain and now “counted [them] as loss for the sake of Christ.” Going further, he then says that he “counts everything as loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my lord.” He doesn’t just say that knowing Christ is the most important thing, and other pursuits are less important: he says that Christ is gain, and everything else is loss.
When we are indifferent to God and more excited about getting a promotion, having fun, or dating and marrying the right person, these verses say we are trading the riches of Christ for garbage. If we want to overcome this backwards thinking, the first thing we need to do is recognize the reality of the worth of God and other things. We can’t change our heart, but we can choose to believe the truth and renew our minds to it.
What do you treat as though it’s gain compared to Christ? Will you choose to believe what God says about it, that it’s a loss instead?
2. Our souls are made to thirst for God
Ps 63:1b—my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you,
Phil 3:10-11 NIV—I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
What happens when you choose to believe that God is gain and everything else is loss? You start to feel a longing for him. David starts out his psalm describing this desire, saying “my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you.” That doesn’t sound like someone who feels duty-bound to obey God; David wants God and he can hardly stand any impediments to that relationship. Paul says that he chooses to suffer tremendous things in order to gain Christ. His driving desire is “I want to know Christ.”
When we understand that an intimate relationship with God is gain and everything else is loss, then our hearts begin to desire God instead of other things. Who desires garbage? So if we feel longings for the things of this world but we feel cold toward God, it may be that we don’t really see God as desirable. It can help to recognize what it is we do feel desire for: sex, drugs, power, marriage, success, friendships. Whether these things are good or bad, to desire them more than God is wrong, and we should confess the sin of our heart’s desires. God will use this confession to start changing our hearts.
What are you thirsting for? Will you choose to believe that what your soul really desires is God?
3. We must choose to lose all things to gain Christ
Phil 3:8b—For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish
Paul has written that God is gain and everything else is loss, and therefore that he desires Christ. What he does next follows naturally from those truths: he chooses to lose all things. I say “he chooses” because Paul writes “for his sake I have suffered the loss of all things.” It isn’t a meaningless suffering that he endures; there is an intentionality in it. Paul values all things as a loss, and so he chooses to actually lose them.
Primarily, this means choosing to lose all things from a heart perspective: deciding that you won’t cling to them, but that you’ll open your hands to God. Some things, like extravagant luxuries or unhealthy relationships, God may call you to give up entirely. Other things, God may only ask you to hold them more openly, such as being willing to give more of your income, or to watch less TV so you can spend more time relating to God. Still other things, such as your commitment to your spouse, God will call you to maintain— but no longer with an attitude of protectively trying to get satisfaction for yourself, but rather open to whatever God will call you to.
What are you unwilling to surrender to God? Believe that it really is loss, let yourself desire Christ, and take a step of faith to surrender it to God, choosing to lose it from a heart perspective.
4. We must actively seek Christ
Ps 63:1a—O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
Ps 63:8—My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
Phil 3:12-14—Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
When someone starts desiring Christ as their treasure and gives up everything for his sake, what do they do next? David writes that he “earnestly” seeks God: he does it with great effort, not halfheartedly. He also writes “my soul clings to you.” When God reveals something of himself to David, he treats it as treasure to be eagerly held onto. When he doesn’t feel like he’s experiencing closeness to God, he hangs on to his memories with faith, believing that God is still God and things will get better. Paul writes that he has not yet fully obtained the kind of intimacy with God that he desires, so he “presses on,” while “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.” There is no room for passivity: the people who will experience God are those who exert extraordinary effort to seek him.
Those who desire worldly things spend countless hours working at the office, putting their heart on the line on dates, trying to understand the stock market, or honing a skill. God is most glorified when those who long for him seek him with as much or more effort than that. The reason that effort is required is not because God doesn’t want to be found; as Paul says, Christ has already made believers his own. We have the promise that God will reveal himself to us when we seek him, but he’s chosen to reveal himself through the means of us seeking.
What are you pursuing more than Christ? Will you choose to instead pursue God in whatever way works best for you—Bible study, prayer, books, worship music, nature, discussion? Believe that God will reveal himself as you seek him.
5. We will be filled with joy as we see more of Christ
Ps 63:4-7—So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
when I remember you upon my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
David looks forward to the end goal of his seeking, and lets it propel him onwards. The goal isn’t prestige, ministry, obedience, or even Christlikeness (although some of these will happen along the way). The goal in his mind is that he will be satisfied in God, as satisfied as he is after the richest, most delicious meal. He will praise God with joyful lips, not rote repetition. He will sing for joy, not out of tradition. The satisfaction that comes from God will be deep and lasting, sustaining him through the worst suffering of sickness or persecution or bereavement.
This is the satisfaction that God promises to those who seek him. It’s found in seeing the truth of who God is and what he has done for us. But it doesn’t always come automatically when we think about God. What is it in your life that causes you to rejoice the most? Is that thing really as good as it gets? What should you feel when you read that God designed and created everything you have ever seen, the greatest to the smallest? That God hates evil and will not let the smallest wrong go unpunished? That, when you were guilty and at odds with God, Christ gave up his life to bring you back from the dead and cleanse you? That you have been given all the riches of the Son of God? That the Holy Spirit surrounds you every moment, empowering and guiding you? Is indifference a sufficient response to all these riches? Shouldn’t your heart instead burst with joy? Then pray for that joy. Confess your hardness of heart. Ask God to give you the joy you should feel for these things, to bring out the new heart he gave you when he brought you to life. Reflect on the truths that should move you, and carry them with you until they do move you.
What are you rejoicing in? Choose to rejoice in what you already know about God, and believe that he will give you ever-increasing heartfelt joy in him, in this life and throughout eternity.
Growing in truth
These truths are powerful, and the fact that they’re found in both Old and New Testaments confirms that they’re foundational for the life of a follower of God. Spend some time studying and meditating on Psalm 63 and Philippians 3:7-14. A deeper understanding of these truths will come from seeing them in their original context.
I’ve found that these truths are things I’ll forget if I don’t regularly re-orient my mind to them. To help me not to forget them, I’ve begun praying through them weekly, one truth per day. On Monday, I remind myself that “God is gain and the rest is garbage.” I look over the verses in Psalm 63 and Philippians 3 that pertain to this. I’ve also written down other related verses I’ve found throughout the Bible, and I look over them as well. Then I ask myself the question from above—what do I treat as gain compared to Christ? On Tuesday, I do the same for the second truth, “Our souls are made to thirst for God.”
Going over these truths and examining my heart repeatedly is helping me gradually to grow in deeper love for God. This only takes a few minutes, so I’m freed up to study other things as well. But I’m always kept grounded in the truths of seeking and enjoying God. If that’s your desire, I encourage you to soak in these truths as well.
God loves me, but does He like me? Jonathan Edwards and Freedom of the Will