Longing

On February 10, 2021   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 30: 18

Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; how blessed are all those who long for Him.

We have talked about seeking the Lord. I actually began the seeking series by saying that this is the message the Lord has given us for 2021, that we might seek Him in new ways or just seek Him anew. It isn’t only the message for 2021, it is an everyday message. Isaiah, speaking for God, goes a step further today. He encourages us to “long” for God. What would that be like?

I guess a reasonable analogy might be that of young lovers. Do you remember how it was when you first met your love? You wanted to be together every minute and when you were not together, it pained you. You call them several times a day when you’re apart. You just can’t get enough of each other. You want to talk about everything under the sun and everything they say is fascinating. How wonderful to be in love.

Imagine longing for our Father like that. Can you imagine it? Blessed is the person who longs for the Lord. God longs to be gracious to and show you His great compassion. His grace and compassion are things we do long for, don’t we? All we want and need, the acceptance, love, compassion, grace, mercy, and forgiveness is there, in His embrace. As you continue to seek more of Him, talk with Him about this verse. Ask Him to increase your longing if you want. The more you want, the more you find. And the more you find, the more you long for. Seek more, have more – of Yahweh.

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Longing, Yearning and Seeking

On March 21, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 63: 1

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

Here are the words of someone who loves God, I mean who really, really loves God. Who do you think wrote these words? If you said, “David” you are right. One of the things I love about David is his passion for the Lord. He inspires me but also shames me a little. Another thing I appreciate about him is his willingness to express his love and devotion to the Father. I also am impressed with his ability to express these ardent emotions.

For those of us living in the western world, the expression of emotions is almost a lost art. We have learned to spurn emotions themselves, how much more the expression of them? God, though, is emotional. He is love which is more than an emotion but certainly involves the emotions. He also hates. Did you know that? Run a search on that and you will see. He and David had a love relationship with each other and neither was afraid to admit or express it. David was so demonstrative of his love for God that he made his wife mad. Maybe she was a bit jealous.

I admit that David embarrasses me a little with his confessions of love. Here is today’s verse as it appears in the Amplified version, “O God, You are my God; with deepest longing I will seek You; My soul [my life, my very self] thirsts for You, my flesh longs and sighs for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water.” His longing for God is palpable. You can feel the deep yearning in his soul for the touch of God, for God’s presence. I find David’s desperate need for communion challenging but God says of David that he, “is a man after my own heart” (Acts 13: 22). David longed for the Father, trusted Him and sought to follow His ways. Some people talk about David’s sins but until God recognizes me as one after His heart then I will refrain from judging David. In fact, I look forward to meeting him and telling him how much his songs inspired me. Oh that I might be like David and yearn for the Father will all my being as he did; with a desire so strong for fellowship with the Father that he ached in his emotions and even in his body.

We are blessed that David shared his emotions and his relationship with God with us. We, like peeping Tom’s, get to peer inside and gain a new perspective on the depth of relationship we can enjoy with the Father even while we are here in the earth. “Bless the Lord oh my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name” (Psalm 103: 1) and teach me to seek Him as fervently as did David.

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