As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. (Psalm 42:1-2)
If we were to boil the entirety of Scripture down to a single concept, in my view it would be this: God has always wanted a family to love and to be loved by them that He willingly did whatever was necessary to make that possible. Imagine the Creator of the Universe being desperate to have a relationship with us, His creation — it boggles the mind to consider it. Throughout the Scripture, His plea to us to return that love is repeated again and again, but sadly we see that it was often rebuffed by most, including some of those who claimed to love Him.
Thankfully, there has always been a remnant of people who desired to have fellowship with Him. In this psalm for instance, the sons of Korah expressed the heart’s cry of people who were desperate for a close relationship with the Creator. These are the people the Lord is looking for — people so determined to draw near unto Him that they will not allow anything or anyone to stop them from obtaining that goal. They, like the thirsty deer who longs for a refreshing drink of water, long to draw from the wells of salvation and find rest in the presence of the living God.
I am reminded of a story told to me by a friend that speaks to this issue. At great expense, he paved his rather long driveway. Once the asphalt had cooled, he decided to take a barefoot stroll on the drive without fear of stepping on uncomfortable stones and pebbles. As he looked in front of him, to his chagrin, he noticed something sticking up out of the newly poured and very expensive asphalt. Upon inspection, he found a single flower growing out of the pavement. Apparently the flower, at first buried by the asphalt, had broken through to the sunlight that it might live and not die.
In that moment, my friend understood so much of what God speaks to us in His Word. The delicate flower was so desperate to see the sun that it pushed its way through rock and gravel. Our Creator has revealed that He wants a relationship with us whereby we would be that desirous of Him. And so, how many of us truly are as desperate for Him as He is for us? May we all be as determined as that small flower to come into the Presence of our God.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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