Pastor's Ponderings, October 23, 2017

Desperate For God

An article in the Huffington post, October 22, 2017, by Dominique Mosbergen, was entitled, “74-Year-Old Man Walks The Streets With A Desperate Plea: ‘Need Kidney 4 Wife’. This loving husband was walking miles in a last ditch attempt to save his wife.  He displayed complete humility and seemed willing to do almost anything to save her. Are you that desperate for any of your relationships? If there is any relationship that we should display this level of dedication towards is our relationship with God.  Is He your last hope or are you considering other possible options? Are you willing to put aside your comfort, your playthings, or your entertainment in a do-or-die attempt to seek the face of God and His will for your life?  You have tried the rest; perhaps now you should try the best.

In the Bible, David understood this plea when he was in the desert (Psalm 63:1). You can see the longing and need that David felt when he wrote that he would be satisfied just to be a doorkeeper in God’s house so that he could be in the presence of the Lord (Psalm 84:10).  David did not stop there. His whole being, spirit, soul, and body yearned to be with God (Psalm 84:2). 

God is not looking for casual relationships with us. In another passage of scripture, Jesus says that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all of your heart soul and mind and to love your neighbors as yourself (Mark 12:30-31).  This is so appropriate since He loves us so much that He gave His Son to die for our sins (John 3:16).

Let us remember that whatever we need, we can get from God.  He is our source.  God wants us to seek Him with our whole heart and not be distracted by other false sources that will promise us the world, but deliver lies and disappointments.  He wants us to strive toward Him and to press toward the mark of the high calling in Christ (Philippians 3:14).  Let us strive desperately toward a close relationship with Him because He desires that relationship with us.

Psalm 63:1
New International Version (NIV)

1 You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

Psalm 84:10
New International Version (NIV)

10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere;

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

Psalm 84:2
New International Version (NIV)

2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Mark 12:30-31
New International Version (NIV)

30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

John 3:16
New International Version (NIV)

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life

Philippians 3:14
New International Version (NIV)

14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.