A Deep Desire Within

Do you long to know God? I long to know God, I long to get just a little closer to his heart each and every day. I need God’s love, grace, and forgiveness. I want to live my life with intentionality and I don’t want to waste the time I have been given. I want my relationship with God to be fresh, new, authentic, and real, every day, don’t you?      
 
Why are we internally driven to connect with our creator? Why are we driven to pursue God? We want to know the depths of who God is. Falling in love with God is very similar to falling in love with another person. We just want to be around Him, learn as much as we can about him, spend time just doing life with him. God wired us as spiritual beings, but not everyone finds the one true God. Some worship idols, millions of God’s, or create their own god out of something they make or their imagination. If you want to know the true God, you need to examine Him in the scriptures and admire His creation that is evident all around us every day.
 
We are also compelled to pursue God because we long to understand God’s ways. How do we get to know God's ways? The same way you get to know a person, you spend time with them. The more time you spend in God’s Word the better you will understand God’s ways.
 
David sought God to understand his ways and he sought him to understand His will. This is the third reason why we are compelled to pursue God, we long to know His will for our life. Deep down inside we want ask: Why am I here? What is the meaning of my life?
 
When it comes to following God’s will God rarely reveals every detail. He says trust me and then we take it step by step. God wants you and I to trust him too even when all the details have not been revealed yet. If you know God’s ways, it makes His will a lot easier to find. Ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom and trust God every day. He will lead you.
 
In addition, we pursue God because God pursues us. God pursues us tirelessly, personally, relentlessly, and gently. In 1 John 4:19 we are told that we love God because He loved us first. God doesn’t give up on us. God pursues us for the duration of our life.
No matter how many times I read the Psalms they never get old or stale because they are written from the heart. More than anything else, David longed for God. He wanted to stand before Him and worship. His Psalms give voice to the full range of human emotion. In Psalm 42, David vacillates between doubt and faith, despair and hope, pessimism and optimism, looking and his circumstances and looking to God for deliverance.
 
“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” Psalm 42:5
 
David knew hard answers are never easy to come by. David refused to settle for shallow answers in deep struggles. This is what it looks like to pursue God. We pursue God to know the depths of who God is, to understand His ways, His will, and because He is pursuing a love relationship with you that is personal.
 
So what are we supposed to do with this? Stop settling for empty rituals and shallow faith. Develop a holy dissatisfaction. Get to know him. Seek God. Love God with your whole heart, mind, and soul. God wants you to draw near and your heart longs to respond.       
 
Don’t let your past keep you from pursuing God in the present. Don’t keep looking back. Satan loves to point out our past to keep us from stepping into God’s preferred future. Rebuke the Devil and he will flee from you. Strive for what’s ahead. Press closer to Christ. If you long to know God more, start pursuing Him today. Read His word, get to know Him. Worship Him in song, cry out to Him in prayer. Admire his handiwork in creation. Bask in His grace. Open your heart to His love.