We live in a day marked by pressure in almost every arena of our lives. There are family pressures, world problems, economic problems, personal problems, and the problems of friends and loved ones. In the midst of such pressures, there’s one thing that should determine the course of your life: Your priorities.
Our priorities determine our future because they speak to how you spend your time, with whom you spend your time, and how you make decisions. Your priorities keep you from being battered around by the waves of pressure and help you to steer a clear course toward the proper destination.
I have heard it said, “If you want a deeper relationship with Jesus, feast on Him until you lose your appetite for anything else this world offers.” Priorities — godly priorities — are so vital and a genuine thirst for the Lord should be your chief aim, your greatest priority in every season of your life.
Psalm 63 reveals the priority of a man of God under pressure and it shows us David’s priority was to seek the Lord. Seeking after God should be our most important priority. No matter what pressures come into your life, you’re able to handle them properly if you maintain this one priority above all else. God must saturate every area of your life. He must be at the center of every decision you make.
He must be the Lord of every relationship you have. You manage your money by considering what his word says about it. There’s no area of your life, be it your business, your family, your education, or whatever, where God is not an integral part. There’s no division between sacred and secular; all of life is related to God.
And so here is David in Psalm 63, his kingdom is in a huge mess, he’s on the run while seeking to protect his people. It would be understandable if God were temporarily squeezed out of the picture. But David is “following hard after God,” as the King James Version puts verse 8 of Psalm 63. God was at the center of David’s present and his future. No area was off limits to God and there should be none in our lives as well if we truly will thirst for the Lord in all our ways.
So how is it with you and God? Take some time to review this past week or even this past month and ask yourself, “Did my schedule reflect that seeking God was my number one priority?” You say: “Well, that’s my priority, but I’ve been under a lot of pressure!” Pressure is what reveals your true priorities. When the pressure is on, everything but the essential gets set aside. The Holy Spirit is telling us through Psalm 63 “A thirst for God is essential!” If it’s not essential for you, then you’ve got to join David, the man after God’s heart, in making it so and you can do this by turning to the Lord, soaking up his truth from the word of God, and by surrendering yourself fully to the lordship of Jesus Christ.
Nick Emery is the senior pastor at Good Shepherd Wesleyan Church. He can be reached at pastornick@gswc.org.