My soul thirsts for God, for
the living God. By Charles Simeon. 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 chapter 42, verses 1 to
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. Oh, that every desire of our
souls may thus be swallowed up in God, whose loveliness and
lovingkindness 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 chapter
4 verse 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.