There comes a time in life, in the middle of worry, anxiety, tension, and depression that we finally give in OR stand up and shout ENOUGH!  We don’t need another 5, 7, or 12 step plan or program.  We’re tired of platitudes and posters.  We’re tired of self-help books and googled articles that tell us what to do.  We’re just tired. 

We’re “hangry” and we’re starving.

We’re starving for the fullness of God’s glory to shine down on us.  We’re starving for a word from the One and Only who knows all, created all and is in all.  We’re hungry for God’s Presence in our lives.  Where did He go?  How did we miss Him?  In this state of limbo living, evil speaks all the louder to us because his intent is to starve and destroy our inner being while distracting our focus, turning our eyes from God to self.  We then become champions at self-loathing, self-pity, self-denial of the grace that is ours for the asking while starving for the food we need to be full once more.

David has stopped in his kingly responsibilities, his warring against nations out to get him, to simply and purely worship.  Is it any wonder that David is a “man after God’s heart”?  He cries out, “I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God…so, here I am to worship.”  What we learn from David this morning is how to feed our spiritual hunger.  We just cannot go too long without feasting on God’s Word, drinking in His glory, or coming to His Table of Grace.  Be still, let go and know God is God.  Then praise Him!

Don’t go hangry.  When we don’t eat physical food right away, according to our body clocks, we can become very “hangry”, a new invented word that describes how we feel perfectly.  That’s when the hunger of an empty stomach causes unrest until we feed it.  It is the SAME with our spiritual selves.  Anger, anxiety, tension, depression, blaming and gossiping cause a spiritual “hangry” that knows no peace without God’s Presence and intervention.

So, Here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that You’re my God

Worship and Wisdom, Psalms and Proverbs

A David Psalm, When He Was out in the Judean Wilderness

63 God—you’re my God!
    I can’t get enough of you!
I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God,
    traveling across dry and weary deserts.

^2-4 So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open,
    drinking in your strength and glory.
In your generous love I am really living at last!
    My lips brim praises like fountains.
I bless you every time I take a breath;
    My arms wave like banners of praise to you.

^5-8 I eat my fill of prime rib and gravy;
    I smack my lips. It’s time to shout praises!
If I’m sleepless at midnight,
    I spend the hours in grateful reflection.
Because you’ve always stood up for me,
    I’m free to run and play.
I hold on to you for dear life,
    and you hold me steady as a post.

^9-11 Those who are out to get me are marked for doom,
    marked for death, bound for hell.
They’ll die violent deaths;
    jackals will tear them limb from limb.
But the king is glad in God;
    his true friends spread the joy,
While small-minded gossips
    are gagged for good.

TRUTH:  Can’t sleep because your spiritually “hangry”.  Do what David teaches us.  “If I’m sleepless at midnight, I spend the hours in grateful reflection.”  Here I am to worship, O God!
 

Proverb 20:5 and 15, The Message

Knowing what is right is like deep water in the heart;
    a wise person draws from the well within.

Drinking from the beautiful chalice of knowledge
    is better than adorning oneself with gold and rare gems.

WISDOM:  Eat and drink from God’s table of knowledge, grace and salvation.  Eternal life is a result. 

Abba Father,

Here I am to praise You, O My God.  I will praise you every time a take a breath!  I will thank you for the ability to take a breath in the midst of this pandemic.  I will not turn from You, O God, but run to You to be filled completely with all of you in me.  I will not go hungry for you are my food for life eternal. 

In Jesus Name, Amen

So, here I am to worship you in song, O Lord…

Light of the world
You stepped down into darkness
Opened my eyes, let me see
Beauty that made this heart adore You
Hope of a life spent with You

Here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that You’re my God

You’re altogether lovely
Altogether worthy
Altogether wonderful to me

King of all days
Oh so highly exalted
Glorious in heaven above
Humbly You came to the earth You created
All for love’s sake became poor

Here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that You’re my God

You’re altogether lovely
Altogether worthy
Altogether wonderful to me

Well, I’ll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross…