Longing For God

“My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” —Psalm 42:2 NIV

Don’t stop longing for God.

Don’t give up on desiring his presence and his glory.

You may feel like you’re in a desert, unable to see the slightest sign of life on any horizon. Don’t stop praying to the God of your life that you long to be with him.

I’ve found that the way we experience longing changes based on our season. When we just leave the mountaintop, we often have an emotional eagerness to return to the place of glory. The spiritual highs in our lives are beautiful gifts to receive.

As we enter the valley, the longing may change from excitement to desperation. Perhaps fear trickles in, or worry that you may never be in the presence of God again. Long enough in the valley, and doubt proclaims its message that the mountaintop was in your imagination—that it didn’t really happen.

Yet somewhere along the journey, past the hype of the mountaintop, through the grief of the valley, we may find a resolve and confidence that rests on the power of the mountaintop but abides in the presence of the God of the valley. We stop looking over our shoulders to try and see the peaks of the past mountains, and we start treading forward with confidence and strength. Onward to our eternal home. Forward to the assignment ahead. Mountain or valley, he is with you.

It is not sinful to think back on the moments of glory. A happily married couple should pull out the wedding pictures and remember that special day. But that day was not the pinnacle of their journey together, just the exciting kickoff. You can only ride the wave of the honeymoon for so long before you realize that marriage is hard work. You discover that fulfillment comes not from the beauty and the glamor of a wedding party but from the faithful devotion of a friend and partner.

Imagine what would be lost in a marriage if the only high point was the wedding day. What would the point be of lifelong companionship if it was only downhill from day one? You can’t spend your whole marriage looking back to how it was, or you’ll build resentment and dissatisfaction for how it is. Still, a couple should desire one another even more as they grow together. There is more glory in the last tender moments of a couple who lived faithfully together than could ever be captured in an extravagant wedding ceremony. Faithfulness and maturity outweigh hype and glamor.

It is like this with God, if not more so.

Our relationship with God deepens and grows as we journey forward with faith. There will be high and low moments to come, just like there have been in the past. God loves to celebrate the excitement of the mountain, and he loves to give strength and comfort in the struggle of the valley. Yet through all this, he remains constantly devoted to transforming our hearts in love to be more like him and to experience more of his glory.

As we consider what it means to thirst for the living God, we remember that we are on a journey of growth. How we experience a desire for God changes. Perhaps you’ve been looking for an emotional longing for God when he is calling you to a faithful hunger.

Are you in the desert, thirsty for the presence of God? Maybe all you have left is to pray this prayer and believe it in your heart. It is enough. God is with us in all seasons, and we are invited to long for more of him no matter where we are.

God, we long for you.