Longing For God
(NRSV) Psalm 42:1 As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
Ps 27(NRSV) 7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud,
be gracious to me and answer me!
8 “Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!”
Your face, LORD, do I seek.
I am in a season of my life where my longing for God is almost overwhelming. I seek out men and women who preach repentance, reconciliation and God’s supernatural love. I listen to hymns that mirror the scriptures and even those praise and worships songs from the ‘70’s and ‘80’s that do the same. I spend more time not just reading the Word, but meditating upon the eternal truths found therein. I do all of this to draw nearer to God.
In my lifetime I have been in many Bible studies. I have taught Lenten studies and Advent studies. I have taught the parables and the beatitudes. I have taught about the Rapture of the church and the Second Coming when Jesus establishes His kingdom on this earth.
I have taught about forgiveness using David and Saul as an example. I have taught about the trust exhibited by Gideon, and the faithfulness shown by Hannah when she left her toddler son, Samuel, with the prophet Eli to fulfill her promise to God.
When I read God’s Word I begin by asking the Holy Spirit to allow me to understand the scripture in the same manner as those who wrote it. I pray that He keeps me from interjecting my prejudices and beliefs into the content so that the Word remains pure and untarnished by my human understanding.
And I revel in the Word being alive. I know this to be true because I never grow tired of the content. There is a familiarity in the stories, but at the same time there is a newness as God enlightens my understanding to new revelations that had previously been hidden.
So today as I read another passage it is with the expectation that I will continue to learn and be filled with the joy that comes from walking and talking with my Lord. And listening—always listening.
In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen
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Seeking Holiness 