Longing For God

As a deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, God.
-Psalm 42:1

Do you long for God?  I believe that a fundamental activity in the believer's life is longing for God.  And we only stop longing for God when we have drank from God.

If we have not drank from God and are not longing for a drink of God, then I believe something is wrong, because I believe longing for God is a fundamental activity in the believer's life.  Just as a deer can not survive without water, so we also can not live without God.

If you say you have God, I would say, show me your longing.  A fundamental activity in the believer's life is longing for God, seeking God, and being with, in, and all wrapped up in God.  If you are keenly in the place of strong longing for God, crying for God, with painful desire for God; and you wonder if something is wrong with you, the answer is no, you are not wrong, but right.

Longing for God is good and you may very well feel immense pain in your longing and even sadness and grief, as one distraught.  All around you, it seems that everyone is doing ok with their various lives, but you are in tremendous emotional pain and part of your picture is that you have an issue with God:  You have this overwhelming desire for God, and this is a massive blessing.

If you are one of the blessed ones, who has a broken heart for God; it really does not matter what else you have in your life, in all those dimensions that we measure life.  You just want God.  If that is you, then you are right on target, on point, on the best path.

You are a blessed one if you have a devastating immobilizing desire for God.  Life is in black and white, nothing looks good, nothing tastes good, because you are hungry for God.  Nothing sounds good, because you want to hear God's voice.  Nothing feels good, there are no creature comforts for you without God.

When will God come to me?  When will I find God?  When can I see God?  These are the thoughts you are preoccupied with.

When you don't have what you want, you are naturally sad.  It is the same with God.

I said that I believe longing for God is a fundamental of the life of the believer.  We need God, we need and desire to be with God, to be in God's presence.  That is fundamental and normal.

To be a believer and to not desire God or to be with God or in God's presence is antithetical to the Christian life.  To not have a longing for God is at odds with being a Christian.  Not desiring God's presence or not pursuing God is inconsistent and incompatible with Christ.

Yet, God loves his people who do not seek him.  Many believers do not realize that this place of intimacy with God, pursuing God, and the hunger that goes with that is their birthright.  The truth is that each of us are as close to God as we choose to be.

Longing for more of God or strongly desiring God is the warp and woof of being a Christian.  Not finding God does not mean you are a failure, but that you have an appetite for God.  Hunger and thirst, with the sadness that you do not have what you are looking for, is a blessed place to be in.

Your unfulfilled desires say something very good about you. To be hungry for God yet unfilled is better than to be filled with something else and not hungry for God.  It is actually tragic to be not be hungry for God, because you are filled up with something else or just don't have an appetite for God.

The presence of God is the fundamental principal on which the Christian life is based.  If you do not have or care to have the presence of God, then you do not have Christ.  Because the crux of being a Christian is being in Christ.

Being in Christ is not like an add-on, but a take-over; a complete renovation of a life.  Being a Christian is not like a club or a party, but a life: Christ's life in my life is a Christian life.  Christ takes me into God: into Father.

I now live through Christ and have his desires taking over my desires.  It has always been this way for believers.  Believers in God desire God.

Let's pray.