“My soul longs, yea even faints for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”
Have you ever thought about the deepest longing of your soul and what your “heart and flesh” really cry out for? That’s a question that we all need to ask ourselves. Let’s take a few minutes and think about what are the real longings of our souls, and the deepest need of our “heart and flesh.” In Luke 15:11-32, Jesus shared a parable about a young man who thought that the deepest longing of his life was to leave home and live like he wanted to live. His father made this possible because he gave him his inheritance. He went off into what Jesus called “the far country” and began to fulfill his selfish longings. When a famine came, he ran out of money and consequently, he lost his new “friends.” He became destitute, and was about to starve to death when he came to his senses and decided to return to the father’s house. He had gotten what he longed for, and discovered that what he longed for was not as satisfying as he thought it would be. In his moment of deepest need the young man thought of his father and longed to return to him. Fortunately, he was welcomed home and even given a party to celebrate his return. This made we wonder that if our deepest longings were fulfilled, would they really satisfy us? If our deepest longings are for more “stuff” would we find that this “stuff” would give us real satisfaction? Have you ever received anything that gave you soul satisfaction and fulfilled the desires of your “heart and flesh”? It might have given you a momentary thrill, but eventually the thrill wore off and you were soon needing something else. The point that I want to make in this article is that our deepest needs are eternal. The prodigal son in Luke 15 made this discovery. Psalm 84:2 gives us true direction as to what the longings of our hearts and souls should be. He longed for the “courts of the Lord.” This was not a desire for more church. The “courts of the Lord” was where God came to dwell among his people in the “Holy of Holies” in the temple. He wanted to be close to where he knew that God would be present. He longed for “the living God.” I know that the Lord is with me, but there are times when I literally cry out “Oh, Jesus come to me.” It’s not that I think He has left me, but it is that I want, and need, more of Him, more of His love, more of His word, more of His power, frankly, more of His attitude. These are times when I have wandered from closeness to Him and just long for that closeness. I find that, like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, He is waiting for me and comes to me with all of His love, more of His word, more of His power, and more of His attitude. This will be true of you too. Just ask Him. He is waiting!!!! Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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September 2021
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