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Our Yearning for the Living God

September 14, 2013

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.” (Psalm 42:1)

It was a blessing to have my dad share last Sunday, after the message, a powerful testimony. Once while deer hunting, my dad chose to stand next to a tree by a lake of water. In the coolness of the morning, the air was crisp and dry. After a few hours of standing there, he heard something coming. “It must be a deer,” he thought. The noise became louder and he realized that from the sound of the noise, whatever was coming was running right towards him. Out of nowhere a doe (female deer) ran right past my dad–and she was panting heavily. So heavily that my dad could hear the deep breathes of the deer very clearly. This deer was not concerned at all about my dad being there. Oh, she knew he was there…but her attention was on one thing, and one thing alone: the WATER. This deer was extremely thirsty. As my dad stood there in amazement and watched, the doe dove into the water and began lapping it up with her tongue. She was so extremely thirsty. After she had enough, she looked back at my dad and quickly walked away. At that moment, the Lord spoke to my dad, “Danny, I want you to desire and want Me as much as that deer panted for that water. If My people would only long for me as much as that deer longed for the water!” My dad stood there and wept at the sight he just witnessed and the message he just heard the Lord speak to him.

What if we as Christians thirsted for God as much as a thirsty deer pants for streams of water? What would God then do though our lives? What would we see? What would we experience? God is dead earnest about this–that we be ones who are dead earnest for Him. Oh, that we would yearn for the Living God! We are so distracted, so busy, so consumed by the things of this world. How often do we sit still and know that God is God? How much do we yearn for Him–to know Him in intimacy?

The soul of the Psalmist in Psalm 42 panted for God as a deer panted for streams of water. He wanted to go deeper. And I guarantee…God’s great blessing was upon this man. Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6). Yes, I guarantee the Psalmist understood what it was to be filled with the blessings of the Living God…because his thirst was great. How great is your thirst, your yearning for the Living God?

- Adam Meisberger

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Our Expectations of God

September 1, 2013

In A.W. Tozer’s book God Tells the Man Who Cares, Tozer writes the following powerful and convicting words:

“Every great movement of God in history, every unusual advance in the church, every revival, has been preceded by a sense of keen anticipation. Expectation accompanied the operations of the Spirit always. His bestowals hardly surprised His people because they were gazing expectantly toward the risen Lord and looking confidently for His Word to be fulfilled. His blessings accorded with their expectations.
One characteristic that marks the average church today is lack of anticipation. Christians when they meet do not expect anything unusual to happen; consequently only the usual happens, and that usual is as predictable as the setting of the sun. A psychology of non-expectation pervades the assembly, a mood of quiet (boredom) that the minister by various means tries to dispel, the means depending upon the cultural level of the congregation and particularly of the minister.”

It is important to meditate upon the modern day believer’s expectation of seeing God act and move. Tozer’s words are so moving and convicting to me because of how true they are. The sad reality is that many of us are content and fine with how everything is going in our lives and in our churches. Sure, we know that some things may need to change here and there…but the constant flow of our everyday lives reveals that we are comfortable with where we are at. What we are currently experiencing in our lives feels safe because it is what we have always known. It is familiar. And often, something that is unfamiliar—frightens us. And honestly…many of us don’t really expect anything different in our lives or in our churches. Our lives are planned. We get up in the morning, we know what we are going to do and where we are going to go. We know who we are going to meet that day. We know the daily chores and activities we need to accomplish. And our eyes are often fixed upon those things…just focused on getting those things done…and anything that sidetracks us from what we expect to get done is a distraction, an interference, a disruption to the flow of our lives. Also, among the majority of churches across this nation, our church services are planned. We start at a certain time, we meet knowing when we are going to sing, we know the order of our services to a ‘T’ and anything that disrupts this expectation of the “usual experience of things” is an interference and interruption. Why do we not expect God to change things up in our lives and in our churches…to act…to do something that totally throws off our usual experience of things? And if God did do this…would we even recognize this as God? But honestly, do we really even want God to act in an extreme way in our lives and in our churches…or would it shake things up too much for our liking?

-Pastor Adam Meisberger