Chapter 9 THE BLESSEDNESS OF
LONGING At first thought a condition of longing would seem to be undesirable
and far from blessedness. Longing suggests unhappiness,
discontent, the absence of that peace which seems to represent
the loftiest state of blessedness and the highest ideal of the
life of faith. To have all our longings satisfied,
we are apt to regard as the most desirable human condition. Yet
when we think more deeply of it, we know that there is a blessedness
in longing. We remember that one of our Lord's
Beatitudes was for those who long. Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Longing
is, then, a healthful state, one that has an upward look,
and has the promise of spiritual enriching. Satisfaction with
one's attainments or achievements in any line, but especially in
spiritual life and in personal holiness, is an unhealthy condition,
and may be a mark of incipient spiritual decay. In all of life
this law applies. In the physical realm, hunger
is a mark of health, and the lack of appetite proclaims disease. So the mind grows through longing. The doors of knowledge are opened
to the student's eye, giving a glimpse of the boundless fields
that stretch in all directions, and producing a craving, a hunger
to know, which leads him to seek with eagerness for the rich treasures
of wisdom. So long as this mind-hunger continues,
the quest for knowledge will continue, and ever new stores
will be discovered. But whenever the hunger ceases,
mental growth is at an end, and the mind has gained and passed
its best achievements. In spiritual life the same is
true. There is no mood so hopeful as
longing. The highest state is one of hunger
and thirst, intense desire for more life, more holiness, more
power, closer communion with God, more of the divine likeness
in the soul. The gospel promises rest to those
who come to Christ. Peace was one of the benedictions
the Savior left for his people. Contentment is one of the graces
and duties enjoined upon the Christian. But spiritual hunger
is not incompatible with either peace or contentment. It is not
unrest. It is not anxiety or worry. It
is not murmuring discontent. It is deep longing for more and
ever more of all blessings, calmer rest, sweeter peace, more perfect
contentment with richer heartfulness of Christ, and more and more
of all the graces of the Spirit. This longing is depicted in the
Psalms as an intense thirst for God. Not the bitter cry of an
unforgiven soul for mercy, but the deep, passionate yearning
of a loving spirit for closer, fuller, richer, more satisfying
communion with God Himself. We find it in the life of the
greatest of the apostles, who, wherever we see him on whatever
radiant height, is still pressing on with unsatisfied longing and
quenchless ardor toward loftier summits and more radiant peaks,
crying ever for more intimate knowledge of Christ and more
and more of the fullness of God. The ideal Christian life is one
of insatiable thirst, never pausing in any arbor of spiritual contentment,
but ever wooed on by visions of new joys and attainments. The absence of this longing manifests
the cessation of spiritual growth. Longing is the very soul of all
true prayer. If we seek nothing more, we will
ask nothing more. Longing is the empty hand reached
out to receive new gifts from heaven. It is the heart's cry
which God hears with acceptance and answers with more and more. It is the ascending angel that
climbs the starry ladder to return on the same radiant stairway
with blessings from God's very throne. Longing is the key that
unlocks new storehouses of divine goodness and enrichment. It is
the bold navigator that ventures out on unknown seas and discovers
new continents. Longing is indeed nothing less
than the very life of God in the human soul, struggling to
grow up in us into the fullness of the stature of Christ. Longing
is the transfiguring spirit that purifies these dull earthly lives
of ours and changes them little by little into the divine image. Continued longing after God's
blessings lifts us up into the blessings. The heavenly ideal
ever kept before the mind and longed after with intensity of
desire, carves itself in the soul. If longing is God's angel
to lead us heavenward, we must follow where the angel leads.
Yet mere longing opens no gates, takes us to no heights, finds
no rich treasures, discovers no new worlds. Longing without
action is a most unhealthy state. It is but a poor sentimental
daydreaming which leaves the soul more empty than ever when
the dreams have vanished. Longing to be blessed must become
an inspiration. When Raphael was asked how he
painted such wonderful pictures, he said, I dream dreams and see
visions, and then I paint my dreams and my visions. With marvellous
skill, his hand wrought into forms of radiant beauty the lovely
creations of his mind. Otherwise, they would never have
brightened the world with their wondrous splendors. Longing not
only sees the heavenly visions, but is obedient to them and strives
to realize them. It struggles up toward the excellence
that shines before it. It seeks to attain the fine qualities
which it admires. It is not satisfied with good
resolves, but sets forward to make them come true. So when
we send out the white banners of pure and noble longings, we
must be sure to follow them ourselves if we would win the blessings
which our hearts crave. Every longing toward God should
at once become an active impulse in the soul. The hand should
instantly be reached out to paint or carve the beauty of which
the heart dreams and for which it longs. Our longings should
lead us into all paths of Christly service and all heroic duty. Mere gazing heavenward after
the ascended Christ and waiting and watching for His return is
not the way to realize the blessed glory. There is work to do to
prepare for His coming. and he will come soonest and
with greatest joy to those who do most to advance his kingdom.