Psalm 42:2
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
This verse reminded me of my kids when I tell them we're going to do something. For instance, this week we're going to be seeing an advanced screening of Secretariat, courtesy of the folks at Disney. As soon as it gets out that we have some fun plans they start in: "But when are we going to go mom?"
It got me thinking, how often do I ask the question "When can I go and meet with God?"
Am I like an anxious child, longing for that promised time? Or am I grudging and resistant, saying to myself, "Well I guess I better get my time with God in?"
The truth is, the longer I have spent having a consistent time with God, the more my question has become, "When can I go and meet with God?" Why? Because I know that when I get with God, my heart is comforted, my problems become less, my direction becomes clearer, and my soul becomes settled. I long to spend time with Him. The best is when I can spend long amounts of time with my Bible, my journal, and a big mug of tea just soaking and sitting, praying and listening. That's not every day, mind you. But I love it when I can. That's what retreats are good for. Long, uninterrupted time with God.
The other day I saw a mom at Panera alone. She'd ordered her soup and bread and sat down with just that and her Bible and journal. She'd created her own mini retreat. I looked across the room at her and sighed a little. I was there writing and the question from today crossed my mind: When can I go and meet with God? I wanted to carve out a good stretch of time just to hear from Him. My soul was thirsty.
I used to resist having a daily time with God. It felt like one more "have to" and I had enough of those, thank you very much. Now I understand what I was missing. I get why the Psalmist wanted to know when he could go and meet with God. The more you do, the more you want to. The more your soul whispers: when?
3 comments:
So true...when we remember all He has done for us our soul cries out for what we can do for Him...all He desires from us is a relationship with Him! We have all kinds of earthly relationships--shouldn't the one with our heavenly Father be the most important?
Thanks for you reminder today!
I admit that I don't spend enough time with God, and it's something I really need to work on. I try to have some quiet time each night when I can just think and pray, but it doesn't always happen. I can't wait to get to the point where I am asking when as well.
I love this, Marybeth. Thank you. My heart is saying, "when?" Feeling the need for a mini-retreat!
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