OMG!

OMG

READ: Psalm 63

MEMORY VERSE: Psalm 63:1 ESV

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Want to know one of my greatest pet peeves? Foodies. Or those who get completely engrossed in food. Do you ever notice how much time people spend describing delectable food they had somewhere? Or have you been eating with someone and noticed people take a bite of some type of decadent meal or dessert and proclaim its greatness. Their eyes roll back in their head, noises of chewing mix with heavy nasal breathing and humming sounds come rolling out, “Hmm Hmmm Hmm.” They nod their heads to a question that no one asked as if there is an imaginary chef always following them around asking, “Was that to your liking, madam?” “OH yea, so good!” they respond to absolutely no one. Sometimes in this moment you will hear people exclaim, “Oh my God!”

Like nails on a chalkboard, so is the chewing of foodies to me. What is it that bothers me so much about it? Personally… who knows. However, for the sake of the example I would have you think about this: we exclaim the greatness of passing things like food and rarely do we gush over the only thing that matters… God! How much time do we spend describing food? How much time do we spend thinking about where we want to eat, what we want to eat and telling others about it so they can have it. I imagine almost everyone at some point has been with someone or have themselves exclaimed, “This food is better than _____” (fill in some hyperbolic exclamation). Or more so, “Oh my God, so good!”

We use God’s name and engross ourselves so much in thinking about and talking about and exclaiming the goodness of something that will literally be excrement in the next few hours.

Yet, how often do we have this sense of emptiness in our faith? I cannot tell you how often I have said, “I am just not feeling close to God”. Or how often people tell me, “I am feeling empty (unsatisfied) in my faith.” The question must be asked, how often are we planning out our time with Him, delighting in the decadence of his grace, and filling our minds & bodies with Him?

David was said to be entering into a time, actually or metaphorically, where he was in a desert. Listen to how he describes his relationship to God. “My soul thirsts for you… as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.” “I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods”. God can be your dessert in the desert.

God’s name is on his lips, “Oh my God!” He proclaims his satisfaction, he declares God’s goodness is better than life, and he expresses His longing to find Him, enjoy Him and share about Him with others.

Why is it that you and I can so easily “OMG” food and become full but with God we feel empty?

Why is it we rarely want to proclaim His name, and we find it uncomfortable to sing His praises to others? Well… compare it to food. We don’t seek him out as we do the feeling of foodie satisfaction. We don’t plan our nights to be with him as we do for outings to restaurants. We don’t commune with him in prayer, pairing the bread and the wine, the way we pair the cheesecake with the port. We don’t delight in His intricacies, goodness and love.

This weekend at church we talked about prayer. It is the means in which we draw closer to a relationship with God. David opens this psalm with “Oh My God! I earnestly seek you.” To earnestly seek means to strongly desire something, with a focus on relationship. Food can be enjoyable but God is what satisfies. It is pleasant to share in good delicacies with friends but it is transformative to share a faith with our friends who enjoy God with us.

“OMG!” Most Christians consider this to be ‘using the Lord’s name in vain’. Yet, the issue isn’t simply that you say the word “God”. The point is that you are treating God as something profane; like food that will become excrement. I would challenge you to consider this: treating the Lord’s name in vain isn’t about the words themselves, it is about treating God like he is a flippant, unimportant thing and treating other things like they are more fulfilling than God.

We sing the praises of food, but rarely seek to sing the praises of God in prayer. We spend time satisfying our palate, but when it comes to God… “I feel empty!” Well (to put it eloquently)… Duh!

You and I never come to the fountain in prayer and drink of him. We rarely come to seek Him in prayer to fulfill us as in the richest of foods. We don’t savor our time with him. We don’t praise His goodness to others. We are empty because we don’t eat. Let us begin to delight in the decadence of God’s grace. Start tonight by drinking in the Word of God and savoring His presence in prayer.

Challenge:

• Read Psalm 63 again tonight, pair some dessert and wine or juice and enjoy it. Then pray with God as you do.

• Thank Him, for He creates things for your enjoyment.

• Ask Him for help, “Lord, how can I come to delight in you more? What would you have me do to sing your praises more?”

• Lastly, sing His praises for the ways he can satisfy you more than physical things. List the ways He has been good to you and proclaim to Him, “O my God, so good!”