A Thirst for God

"As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God" (Psalm 42:1)

In this hour of all-but-universal darkness one cheering gleam appears: within the fold of conservative Christianity there are to be found increasing numbers of persons whose religious lives are marked by a growing hunger after God Himself. They are eager for spiritual realities and will not be put off with words, nor will they be content with correct "interpretations" of truth. They are athirst for God, and they will not be satisfied till they have drunk deep at the Fountain of Living Water.

This is the only real harbinger of revival which I have been able to detect anywhere on the religious horizon. It may be the cloud the size of a man's hand for which a few saints here and there have been looking. It can result in a resurrection of life for many souls and a recapture of that radiant wonder which should accompany faith in Christ, that wonder which has all but fled the Church of God in our day.

O Lord, I pray that a thirst for You may build and grow, may prove unquenchable and may indeed result in a recapturing of "that radiant wonder," both in my own faith and in that of the Church. Amen

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Show Me Thy Glory

"Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight" (Exodus 33:13)

Come new to the holy men and women of the past and you will soon feel the heat of their desire after God. They mourned for Him, they prayed and wrestled and sought for Him day and night, in season and out, and when they had found Him the finding was all the sweeter for the long seeking. Moses used the fact that he knew God as an argument for knowing Him better. Now, therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight,  (Exodus 33:13); and from there he rose to make the daring request, "I beseech thee, shew me thy glory" (33:18). God was frankly pleased by this display of ardor, and the next day called Moses into the mount, and there in solemn procession made all His glory pass before him.

David's life was a torrent of spiritual desire, and his psalms ring with the cry of the seeker and the glad shout of the finder. Paul confesses the mainspring of his life to be his burning desire after Christ. "That I may know Him" (Philippians 3:10), was the goal of his heart, and to this he sacrificed everything.

Lord, make Your glory known to me and let me learn from Moses, David, Paul and others that deep longing that results in intimate knowledge of You. Amen

~A. W. Tozer~