What do you long for? Is it financial success? Is it prestige and fame? Is it a spouse? Is it a close friend to lean on? Whatever it is you desire, it will consume your time and effort to achieve it. For it is the heart’s desire that drives us. It will drive us to commit ourselves to it.
There is a hymn written by Martin Nystrom named As the Deer. It contains beautiful lyrics. It restates the first two verses of Psalm 42 this way: As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you. We can envision this panting and seeking of water by the deer.
The second sentence of the hymn states: You alone are my heart’s desire, and I long to worship you. If we can say our heart’s desire is for God, we will pursue him. We will do whatever we can within our power to get to know him better. We will study his Word, ask him to reveal the meaning of it, and apply it to our lives.
There is a difference between wanting something and desiring something. I may want a candy bar, but I may not eat one because I know it is not healthy for me. However, if I allow my want to become a desire, I will that candy bar regardless of how good or bad it is for me. The desire supersedes every other thought.
The same is true for desiring to know God. If we truly desire to know him, that desire will supersede our wanting to do something else. It will drive us into action. Not only will we gain more knowledge of God but our worship of him will be deeper. For as we better know God, we better understand just how much we need him. When we realize just how lost we are without him, we praise him more and are more thankful. So, we should make God our desire.
I pray we all long to know God better. I pray we allow our desire to overtake us and drive us to action. I pray each one of long to worship God more deeply and make him the object of our desire. Seek to know God better. Act on your desire to know God. Worship God deeper.
Psalm 42:1-2
As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
Marty Pressey 