Longing After Him

"As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

"My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?"

Psalm 42:1-2 KJV

I am reminded of those lyrics inspired by this Psalm.

As the deer panteth for the water

so my soul longeth after Thee

You alone are my heart's desire

and I long to worship Thee

You alone are my strength my shield

To You alone may my spirit yield

You alone are my heart's desire

and I long to worship Thee

This is how we ought to strive for God everyday, every waking moment of our lives, just as He strives for us. We are the center of His attention from the beginning of creation. He gave everything so that we might be able to be with Him for eternity in paradise. Despite our downfalls He loves us without regard, unconditionally. If the Maker of the universe will go to such lengths to be with us, shouldn't we reciprocate? Shouldn't we strive to follow Him, to dwell in His midst, and be near Him?

When you have a crush it seems they consume your thoughts. They keep you up at night, and they occupy your dreams. When they are absent, the room feels empty and amiss. You become anxious like their is something you're missing out on somewhere else. Yet as soon as they walk in that all changes. Suddenly, you can't imagine yourself anywhere else. Just being there near them makes you happy. Their presence almost gives you a sort of high. You look for any excuse to be around them, and get to know them. You want to, no, you have to know everything about them.

This is how we should think about Christ. He is our first love, and the more we seek Him the more we want to be near Him. He should dwell in our conscious day and night, and through everything we do. He IS the fire that lights up the room, and without Him every room becomes dark. In His midst you find peace and unfathomable love. You find that you have to know everything about Him, and you relish every word recorded in His Bible. The moment you start seeking Him will be the moment you find you need Him in your life. All you have to do is open your heart and let Him in, every new morning.

Let us seek Him as He sought us...

Forever and Always

"For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's"

Romans 14:8 KJV

Our relationship with the Lord is eternal. It is not a fling that we pursue for a season, only to discard and pick back up again when it is convenient. He is always with us, in our hearts and in our midst. Through thick or thin, better or worse, sickness or health, death will NOT part. He is the groom and we the church the bride, for eternity. Though all will fade away, the glory of the Lord will be steadfast. By His side we will stay forever.

A Glass Pane

What is true joy? Some days one strives for it to no end. No one can deny the ill depression that sweeps our Nation. We long for happiness. Isn't that the goal of all individuals? The pursuit of happiness? To many that is a fountain of wealth, a fairytale romance, whole health, or success. The definition of fulfillment and contentment lies in what we can reap from this world.

As a Christian one finds joy in Christ, and in salvation. We find joy in the midst of a raging storm (that is not to say we don't have our ups and downs, for we too struggle to find hope in the fierce trials). But even the greatest joy in this world, cannot compare to that which we will discover when we come into the presence of our Lord in Heaven.

It is like looking through the pane of a bakery: unable to touch, to taste, to fully experience the goodness of those sweets.

  

"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

I Corinthians 13:12 (KJV)

When this world fades away, when our mortal lives come to an end, when we stand before our Savior, He will look into our eyes and He will smile. We will feel His love like we have never felt before. We will be overwhelmed in a joy so great it surpasses understanding. Peace will rule so powerfully in our hearts it will shake the foundation of our souls. And suddenly... suddenly we will realize we were looking through a glass pane this whole time.

We are disconnected to a degree here on this earth, encompassed entirely by a world unworthy of God's glory. For He is a perfect God, and we live in an imperfect world. We are saved by grace, but we live in a world where Satan is the prince. We see God's glory as it were through a glass, separated. 

Yet take heart, there comes a day when the Lord will shatter that glass with an iron fist and His glory will resound like a thousand trumpets. We will be drawn to our knees everyone, and with our tongues confess that He is Lord. One day this world will fade and when it does, the Heaven's will roll back and we will behold His glory. The glory of the Father. And we will be encompassed, bathed, and baptized in His love, peace and joy.

Knowing you...

Isn't it odd how someone can know you for years and yet never know you? Or how you can think you know yourself only to wake up one day realizing you have no idea who you are? As soon as you think you have a grasp of who you are and who you want to be, or as soon as you think you know someone else, everything changes and you find yourself at a loss. It doesn't matter how hard we try, we will never get people to know us entirely. We will never entirely know ourselves. But God does.

He knows us better than we know ourselves. He sees the deepest corners of our heart. He sees what we struggle so hard to hide. He sees those things which we deny. He looks directly into our soul. Nothing can hide from His sight. Yet the most amazing thing about God is that He loves us anyways.

When He looks into our heart He sees a person He intentionally created. He sees a human being whom He fashioned with purpose, and of His own breath breathed into life. And He smiles. And He loves us.

We are not perfect - we do error and make mistakes - yet there is nothing He cannot fix. There is no brokenness He cannot put back together. The greatest of all sins is believing our brokenness is beyond repair.  It is believing God is not big enough to mend us and make us whole.

So the next time you look into the mirror, remember that the God of the universe has a plan. He saw the need for another life to be birthed, another story to be wrote, and so with great purpose He fashioned you. You may not know yourself... the world may not know you... but God does.