I've enjoyed the week off, but it went really slow. I'd just as soon go back to work, now. I've registered for unemployment, so I'm keeping a log of any contacts I make in my job search so I can prove I'm actually looking for work. As if I wouldn't be. I can request my first unemployment check next week.
O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Oh, yes. This is probably my favorite of all the Psalms. Every time I read it, I think of Rich Mullins.
David compares the thirst for God to the dry, dusty, desperate thirst one would experience in the desert. Having never been in a desert (White Sands, NM, is the closest I've been), I can't really identify. I have a friend or two who have been in the middle east, so they can. But I've been really, really thirsty before. So thirsty that my tongue felt like cotton in my mouth.
Have I ever thirsted for God like that? Yes, I have. It is interesting to me that Jesus said that whoever drank from his water would never thirst again. I've got to meditate on that some, because I constantly feel an insatiable thirst for God. Maybe that's a different kind of thirst than the thirst for salvation.
Anyway, David's entire being "is in touch and in love with God. Nothing that 'dry and weary land' can provide will satisfy the driving hunger and thirst of his soul."
(From A Musician Looks At the Psalms, by Don Wyrtzen)
Well...I was looking for a video on Youtube of Rich Mullins doing Step By Step. I didn't find one, but I did stumble across this. If you have 10 minutes to spare, please watch it. It's all talking, no singing. But it's a perfect example of why I loved Rich Mullins so much. My favorite part is when he said, "God spoke to Baalam through his ass, and has been speaking through asses ever since. So...if he should choose to speak through you, you need not think too highly of yourself."
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
Here, in 1 John, we find an indicator of whether or not God's Spirit is at work within us. "Do you love other believers? Do you enjoy gathering with them to worship God?"
"We should ask ourselves if our love for other believers is the kind described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Are we patient, kind, gracious, slow to anger, and ready to forgive? None of us can completely measure up to this standard, but do you want to? Do you grieve over your failures in these areas? If so, you love your brothers."
(From Holiness Day By Day, by Jerry Bridges)
As you know, if you have been reading this journal for any length of time, this reading fits right in with where God has been leading me for some weeks, now. We must love each other, because God loves us, and God loves the Church. The Church is our Family. And we must love our Family. This culminated about a week ago when God slammed me with the truth that we cannot be at peace with God and at war with other believers. This has led me to begin a process to reconcile some relationships.
I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that we love each other. I remember a Bible Study moment from a few weeks ago. We were studying Matthew, and the passage came up when Jesus told his disciples that we are to love each other as he loves us. The reason this is "new" is that, previously, we were to love our neighbors as ourselves. This applied to all people, everywhere. But, with the advent of this "new" command, we are to love our brothers and sisters with a much more intense love than we love the rest of humanity. Christ DIED for us! We don't need anyone to tell us that. But that is how we are supposed to love each other! With an intensity that is willing to sacrifice even life, itself! Do you love me that much? Do I love you that much? It's where we need to be. And it's a good indicator of the Spirit's work in our lives.
Father, you are my God. I will seek you daily. I do thirst for you, and my body does long for you, as though I were parched in a desert. But I also am filled with you and satisfied daily with you, when I do seek you. I thank you that you are easy to find, and that seeking you is not hard. It's only hard when I let the "stuff of earth" distract me from you.
Father, I ask you to give me more love for the Family. Keep hammering me with that truth. I want to be a beacon of love in the dark night of a world of hatred. Help me to love my neighbors as myself, but more importantly, help me to love my brothers and sisters in Christ as you love us. Nothing less will satisfy. I wait eagerly for the time on Sunday morning when I can meet with my Family to worship you! Let us rejoice in your grace and mercy.
I want to lift up a special prayer today for the graduates in our fellowship. I know that one graduated last Sunday, and three will graduate this week. I pray for their future. Make it bright and shiny, Lord. Give them wisdom, strength, and discipline to pursue the dreams that you have placed within their hearts. If they haven't discovered those dreams, yet, help them find them.
Grace and peace, friends.