7/8/12

O God, Thou art my God;

I shall seek Thee earnestly;

My soul thirsts for Thee, my flesh yearns for Thee,

In a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Psalm 63:1

How would you describe intense desire for something or someone? Perhaps you would relate it to thirst or hunger. But simply saying, “I’m hungry or thirsty” is not the same as exclaiming “I’m starving” or “I’m dying of thirst”, even though we are no where near death. We just want everyone to get a better picture of the magnitude of our longing.

 In the same way, the Psalmist characterized his yearning for God by comparing it to intense thirst. It was his way of saying, “there is nothing I want or need any more right now than to ‘have’ God.”

 Have you ever felt that way about something or someone? Our first “true love” likely ignited a flame in our heart that seemed inextinguishable. We probably had a hard time thinking about anything else until our yearning was partially satisfied by marriage. I say partially because those who have been married for a long time know that true love is dynamic, it grows deeper as the years go by.

 Now let’s think about mankind’s yearning for God.  History bears testimony to the fact that people from a variety of time periods and cultures have had  a longing for deity. The apostle Paul’s experience in Athens illustrates this truth. He was struck by all of the idols he saw and spoke about them as evidence of the fact that the Greeks were also trying to find God. (Acts 17:23-28).

 But man’s yearning for God could never be satisfied by graven images. God “does not dwell in temples made with hands” (Acts 17:24). No matter how hard we try, our yearning for God will never be sated by any tangible object. The examples of man’s search for God through materialistic means are legion, but they all ended where they started, i.e. with an emptiness in the heart that is still yearning for Him.

 Finally, God gave man a clear picture of Himself; Jesus revealed God’s divine nature to the world (John 1:18). Therefore, the only way to truly know God is by ‘knowing’ His Son (John 14:6; 17:3). Thankfully, the realization of this relationship to God is not a matter of mere feelings or subjectivity. John pointed out we can know Him and know that we know Him when we obey Him (1 John 2:3). As we grow closer to Him, our joy will increase just like the Psalmist’s did (Psalm 63:2-8). Yet, there is still more for which to yearn. God’s children have the promise of an eternity in His presence. There is nothing that we can yearn for that even begins to compare with being with God in heaven forever. Is that what are you really longing for? If you have not thought about it lately, I urge you to take some time and think seriously about the object of your yearning.  KD