| Good Morning Everyone, Our theme for this month: “There is power in hope: Our Bible verse for today: “As the 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 (CSB) Our thought for today: “God always has more for you” Throughout the Bible, but especially in the Psalms, there’s an intentional tension created between longing for God and finding fulfillment in Him. Psalm 42:1-2 (above) is an excellent example of longing for God, as is Psalm 63:1: “God, You are my God; I eagerly seek You; my body faints for You in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water.” Many such passages portray the true seeker as one who longs, thirsts, and yearns for a deeper and more meaningful encounter with God. King David was described as “a man after God’s own heart.” And then passages like Psalm 16:11 speak of actually finding and experiencing that fullness and joy: “You reveal the path of life to me; in Your presence is abundant joy; in Your right hand are eternal pleasures.” So on the one hand, the Bible clues us into the truth that there is something more, something better than the experience of God that we’ve had so far – and it is attainable. But even then, once we have experienced it, we will find ourselves yearning for still more. One of the best explanations I’ve ever come across for this experience of yearning for more of God, attaining it, but then yearning for even more, comes from author Jim Peterson in his book “Lifestyle Discipleship”: “One of the greatest gifts God has given us is the infinite opportunity for spiritual growth. But however much we have matured, there is always more beyond. It is in this that we find the adventure of living. There will always be new, unexplored dimensions of His person beckoning to us. The possibilities go off the chart.” This is the Christian life as it was meant to be – a rich and deeply rewarding experience of God, followed immediately by a longing for even more. We aren’t meant to fully attain it, not yet. That will come in eternity. For now, our hope is for an ever-fuller experience of God. Our pursuit of that hope is rewarded with a deeper experience of Him; but then there is always the promise of more to come, and that promise beckons to us to continue thirsting, seeking, pursuing. The person whose heart is after God is confident that God always has something more for us. God Bless, Pastor Jim |
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