Breath Prayer and Words for Today: “Deepen my longing for you, O God”
Rev. Diana Holbert taught me how to deepen my longing for God. She had us read and pray Psalm 42 each day before and during a retreat she led for my Covenant Sunday School Class at FirstChurch.
As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and behold the face of God?
The person who wrote this is no optimistic believer in the prosperity gospel, or six other impossible things before breakfast. They write because they are in trouble, and their enemies mock them. At that retreat I could really identify with that. I was in a job working for someone who continually berated me and criticized the people who worked for me. I used to joke that he had given me the job I always wanted and then made me hate it. The person writing the psalm goes on to remember that it wasn’t always this way. They remember being in the house of God with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving.
They remember that “the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me.”This gives them hope and the courage to believe that “I shall again praise him, my help and my God.” At that time it was just what I needed – to remember the times life had been good and God had been a palpable presence. It helped me survive a really rough time.
But I’m not thirsty right now! Today, all is right with my world, and so I have a hard time staying thirsty for God’s presence. There are so many other thirsts in my life, for praise, success, a little romance now and then, maybe a new computer or flat screen TV, or a phone that really gets 4G. And yet when I get all wrapped up in these other thirsts, my life seems hollow. And even when these thirsts are slaked, that is only temporary. Then I am reminded that what I really want is a life which is meaningful in terms that are not transient but eternal. That’s when I am drawn back to the life Jesus lived which was about more than just his wants and needs, a life of generosity and justice and gentleness, a life pointing to the God who is love – Jesus’ kind of love – which is all about compassion and nurture and empowerment. That’s when I look around and am confronted by all the voices of greed and corruption and violence and realize I am called by Jesus to hunger and thirst for justice, and to be a doer of the word, not just a hearer only. That’s when I am reminded what is really important in life, what makes life eternal. That’s when I really need to pray, “Deepen my longing for you, O God.”
But, wait! Living that Jesus’ kind of life sounds awfully hard! Didn’t that push for justice in the midst of corruption and that proclamation of love in the midst of hate get Jesus killed? How are we supposed to do that?
That’s where the presence of God’s spirit is most vital – that’s where the love, the patience, the persistence and the courage to transform the world come from. Paul said it best, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” That was Jesus secret, the Holy Spirit, the power of God. Visualize God’s spirit settling upon you like a dove. Hear God’s voice saying, “You are my beloved, in whom I am well pleased.” Feel the spirit bearing witness with your spirit that you are a child of God.
God does answer prayer.
Feel God’s presence grow as you pray with me, “Deepen my longing for you, O God.”
Feel God’s presence grow as you pray with me, “Deepen my longing for you, O God.”
Words for Today from The Uncluttered Heart by Beth A. Richardson, the FirstChurch Advent Study Book
