Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “A Fresh Encounter”
Our Bible verse for today: “As a deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God?” Psalm 42:1-2 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “How do you feel about God?”
Yesterday our Bible verse for the day was Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not know.” That verse expresses one of the greatest truths in Scripture – God wants to be heard and understood by His people.
And so, God invites you to call out to Him, to come to Him, and He in turn will speak with you. So the question then is not “How much does God desire your presence but how much do you desire His?” It’s not the condition of God’s heart that’s in question here, it’s yours. How much do you want God?
Psalm 42:1-2 has always been special to me. I love the picture it paints of a thirsty heart longing after God like a thirsty deer longs after a cool stream of water. Virtually every time I see a deer I think of this passage, and that then causes me to consider my relationship with God. I want this verse to describe how I feel about God.
I’ve sometimes heard it said that your relationship with God is the most important thing about you, and I believe that is true. Your relationship with God will determine how you think, speak, and act. The depth and quality of your relationship with God will determine how diligently you seek Him, how much time you spend with Him, and how much He impacts your life. Your relationship with God will determine everything else about you.
But the quality of your relationship with God is going to be determined to a very large degree by how you feel about God. If God seems to be a distant deity with whom you have little personal contact then your relationship with Him won’t have much impact on you. But if He is so real, and His presence is so enjoyable, that you find yourself longing to put the rest of life on hold so you can just savor being with Him, then those feelings will drive you to seek Him often and to truly enjoy being with Him.
If Psalm 42:1-2 does not describe how you feel about God then I encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to make it so. Read this passage; think about it; meditate on it; invite the Holy Spirit to create this kind of longing in your heart. How you feel about God will determine what your relationship with Him is like, and your relationship with Him will determine everything else about you.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 