And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.
Many of us need God to fix our problems and get something out of Him. We pour out our worries, hurts, and frustrations onto Him. We expect Him to listen. There’s nothing wrong with these, God loves it, He understands.
But do you want to go further?
To want God is a voluntary choice. He loved you first, you encountered Him, and you want more. There is a perpetual sense of fascination and curiosity in you to know Him.
You want to understand God and know His ways. You have a conviction that there is more to God than you could ever comprehend. You’re in the pursuit of discovering more. You can’t stop. You can’t shake off the hunger.
You have fallen in love with Him. You daydream about Him. Laying on your bed you think of Him in the nights, contemplating about life and the mysteries. You feel an ache to meet Him and ask questions.
To you, God is the greatest celebrity ever, and you’re His craziest fan. You’re blown away by His perfection, purity, creativity, and goodness. You adore God and everything that He is, the way He is, and the way He thinks.
When you experience something good, pure, and beautiful such as babies, nature, music, food, beauty, creativity; things that make your heart glad – in other words when God’s imagination is on display in front of you – you can’t help but admire His workmanship.
If He asks not to do anything for Him for the rest of your life, you will still enjoy Him. You won’t get bored of Him. You want to do life with Him and not a lot of things in life matter if He’s not a part of it. You’re not pursuing Him for gifts, recognition or power.
You have an absolute conviction that His counsel and judgments are perfect. You want to see everything from His perspective. You want to imitate Him, not because you have to but you want to.
You want to meet Him and look into His eyes. You want to say, “Lord, how are you?”. You want to have a conversation. You want to walk with Him on the seashore and hear Him talk about life.
You enjoy Netflix, traveling, family, friends, and food. You thank Him for things that you get to enjoy. But this world and what it offers isn’t enough for you. You’re not content. You know it’s broken. You miss Him.
You see dimly in the mirror, but you dream and imagine the day you will meet Him face to face. You feel the ache of the present limitations. You want to finish your race and go home.
You want Him.
Hunger is the currency of heaven
If we long for God like that, we’re far more likely to experience a deeper measure of closeness and friendship with God. He will be more real to us. We will be more conscious of Him.
Moses wanted to see the Glory of God. David desired one thing. John loved leaning on Jesus’ bosom. Peter wanted to walk on water. Mary wanted to pour out the costly perfume on Jesus’ feet.
They didn’t have to, they wanted to.
In a dream, I heard a preacher make this statement, “Hunger is the currency of heaven.”
How would you feel when one day you meet Jesus on the other side and He lovingly puts His arms around you and says, “You could have experienced so much more but instead, you just settled for less.”
God wants us to enjoy Him. He loves it when we pursue Him. We have been commanded to enjoy God. Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”
The confidence to pursue Him
The confidence to pursue Him in our immaturity or when we stumble, comes from knowing His perfect love for us. The focus is not on our efforts because sooner or later, the accusations of the devil will come saying that we’re unworthy to want Him.
We have been the gift of righteousness, as if we never sinned. Jesus earned it for us. God remembers our sins no more. When we stumble, we must confess and ask Jesus to cleanse us.
God is not a respecter of persons, but He does respect faith. False humility and self-pity do not please Him. He loves zeal, tenacity, and hunger. He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Do not settle for less on this side of eternity because of your lack of desire or unbelief.
Seek God with childlike faith and wonder. Pursue Him like a crazy fan, as a passionate lover, and like a curious explorer.
