Greetings Redeemer family,

St. Augustine’s classic work Confessions begins with this prayer:

Great art Thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is Thy power, and of Thy wisdom there is no end. And man, being a part of Thy creation, desires to praise Thee, man, who bears about with him his mortality, the witness of his sin, even the witness that Thou “resistest the proud,” — yet man, this part of Thy creation, desires to praise Thee. Thou movest us to delight in praising Thee; for Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.

These words from Augustine closely echo the sentiment of David in our call to worship for this Sunday from Psalm 63.

1 O God, you are my God,

       earnestly I seek you;

       my soul thirsts for you,

       my body longs for you,

       in a dry and weary land

       where there is no water.

 2 I have seen you in the sanctuary

       and beheld your power and your glory.

 3 Because your love is better than life,

       my lips will glorify you.

 4 I will praise you as long as I live,

       and in your name I will lift up my hands.

 5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;

       with singing lips my mouth will praise you.  

This week we return to our study through the book of John, picking up with the story of Christ and the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4.  What begins with a simple request for a drink turns into an amazing exploration of our hearts’ true longings.   Behind their conversation is the constant question that follows each of us every day: where do you go to find life?  Following the line of thought from Augustine above, where do you go with the restlessness in your soul?

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never ceasing,

Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet,

Sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,

Mount of Thy redeeming love.

O to grace how great a debtor

Daily I’m constrained to be!

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,

Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love;

Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,

Seal it for Thy courts above.

It is amazing to confess that our hearts are still prone to wander.  Even after we have tasted of the life Christ offers and the goodness of our God, we still turn to other false promises of security and happiness.  Jeremiah 2:12-13 paints this in vivid language: “Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the LORD. “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” The wonder of the Gospel is that in our lost estate of driven disappointment in our broken cisterns, Christ finds us and gives us again the one thing that can truly satisfy our souls: Himself.

All my life long I had panted

For a drink from some cool spring

That I hoped would quench the burning

Of the thirst I felt within

Hallelujah He has found me

The one my soul so long has craved

Jesus satisfies all my longings

Through His blood I now am saved

Feeding on the filth around me

Till my strength was almost gone

Longed my soul for something better

Only still to hunger on

Poor I was and sought for riches

Something that would satisfy

But the dust I gathered ’round me

Only mocked my soul’s sad cry

Well of water ever springing

Bread of life so rich and free

Untold wealth that never faileth

My Redeemer is to me

As you prepare for worship this Sunday, take some time to consider those places you go for life.  What do you do with that restlessness that Augustine spoke of?  What do you need to cope with the hard parts of life?  So often, we miss the greatness of what is offered to us in the Gospel simply because we do not see our gaping need.  We use temporary tranquilizers of the world – be it food, success, TV, shopping, sex, laziness – all in an attempt to numb the pain on our schedule.  And too often our way of controlling these attachments and addictions is to shift from indulgence to discipline, which is just another way of trying to impose control on our world. Still the only thing that can truly satisfy is God’s goodness, which comes in His perfect time.

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee;

Let the water and the blood,

From Thy wounded side which flowed,

Be of sin the double cure;

Save from wrath and make me pure.

Not the labor of my hands

Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;

Could my zeal no respite know,

Could my tears forever flow,

All for sin could not atone;

Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to the cross I cling;

Naked, come to Thee for dress;

Helpless look to Thee for grace;

Foul, I to the fountain fly;

Wash me, Savior, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,

When mine eyes shall close in death,

When I soar to worlds unknown,

See Thee on Thy judgment throne,

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee.

With you, I pray for the grace to wait on His goodness to meet our every need,

Tim Sharpe

Worship Director