My soul thirsts for God, for the living God!

(Charles Simeon)  LISTEN to Audio!  Download Audio

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, O God!
 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God!
 When can I go and meet with God?" Psalm 42:1-2

True Christians are never satisfied in a mere routine of religious forms, however multiplied they may be. It is God Himself whom we seek, even the living God!

It is no easy matter to come into God's presence, and to behold the light of His countenance lifted up upon us. To address Him in a form of words--is a service which all may render without any difficulty. But to draw near to the very throne of God and to have our hearts enlarged in prayer, to plead with God, to wrestle with Him, and to maintain sweet fellowship with Him from day to day--this, I say, is a very difficult attainment!

To commune with God indeed is our duty, and to enjoy it is our privilege. But there are few who can reach these heights, or, having reached them, prolong the heavenly frame to any great extent. Hence we all have occasion to lament seasons of comparative spiritual darkness and dryness; and to pant with insatiable eagerness after the renewed enjoyment of our loving God.

David, when driven from his house and family, did not pant after his lost possessions, his ruined honors, or his deserted relatives. It was God alone whose presence he so ardently desired!

O that every desire of our souls may thus be swallowed up in God, whose loveliness and loving-kindness exceed all the powers of language to describe, or of any imagination to conceive!

"Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need!" Hebrews 4:16

I often say my prayers;
But do I ever pray?
And do the wishes of my heart,
Go with the words I say?

I might as well kneel down,
And worship gods of stone,
As offer to the living God,
A prayer of words alone!
  (John Burton)