A Thirst for God
The following quote is from the book, The Practice of Godliness, Chapter 2, Knowing the Heart of God by Jerry Bridges.
True godliness engages our affections and awakens within us a desire to enjoy God’s presence and fellowship. It produces a longing for God Himself. The writer of Psalm 42 vividly expressed this longing when he exclaimed, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” What could be more intense than a hunted deer’s thirst for water? The psalmist does not hesitate to use this picture to illustrate the intensity of his own desire for God’s presence and fellowship.
David also expresses this intense desire for God: “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple” (Psalm 27:4). David yearned intensely for God Himself that he might enjoy His presence and His beauty. Since God is a spirit, His beauty obviously refers not to a physical appearance but to His attributes. David enjoyed dwelling upon the majesty and greatness, the holiness and goodness, of God. But David did more than contemplate the beauty of God’s attributes. He sought God Himself, for elsewhere he says, “Earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you” (Psalm 63:1).
The apostle Paul also experienced this longing for God: “I want to know Christ” (Philippians 3:10). The Amplified Bible forcefully catches the intensity of Paul’s desire in this passage: “[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him—that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding [the wonders of His person] more strongly and more clearly.” This is the heartbeat of the godly person. As he contemplates God in the awesomeness of His infinite majesty, power, and holiness, and then as he dwells upon the upon the riches of His mercy and grace poured out at Calvary, his heart is captivated by this One who could love him so. He is satisfied with God alone, but he is never satisfied with his present experience of God. He always yearns for more…
The Bible indicates that this is God’s plan for us, from its earliest pages right through to the end. In the third chapter of Genesis, God walks in the garden, calling out for Adam that He might have fellowship with him. In Revelation 21, when John sees the vision of the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven, he hears the voice of God say, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them” (verse 3). For all of eternity God plans to have fellowship with His people.
And during our present day, Jesus still says to us as He did to the church at Laodicea, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). In the culture of John’s day, to share a meal meant to have fellowship, so Jesus is inviting us to open our hearts to Him that we may fellowship with Him. He desires that we come to know Him better; therefore, the desire and yearning for God is something He plants within our hearts. ♦