STEEMCHURCH: Longing for the presence of God

The Bible says: "... As the deer bellows for the currents of the waters, So my soul cries for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When will I come, and will I come before God? "(Psalm 42: 1-2).

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In the world, the success we have in accomplishing something is determined mostly by the passion we have when doing it. The passion you have determines to a great extent the success we achieve. People today are moved by different passions, the passion for any activity is what moves people, so we see inchas of different football teams that make long journeys in order to watch their team play, spend their money on this, in tickets to the stadium, in the shirt.

We see people following a musical artist, they belong to their group of fans, they are not ashamed to shout at their concerts, to follow them on social networks. But today I want to motivate you to be passionate about the Lord.

In the Psalm we read something was happening that I want us to see, according to some scholars the psalmist was banished far from Jerusalem and the temple. The psalmist is apparently banished and feels estranged from God. It is in a mountainous and dry place (to the east of the Jordan, the part to the north). And how do they assume this? From what he says in verse 6.

In that drought situation he could look at the desperate search made by deer or water deer and when he was banished and could not be in the temple worshiping and serving God he identified with these deer and that is why he writes, as well as these little ones Deer desperate for water so I despair to drink from your presence, I despair for not being able to be in front of you.

In that time it is not like now that we can look for God in every place, for them the temple was that place of encounter with the Lord.

The psalmist expresses his desire, his longing, his passion for God. So that we understand it better, so that we can get an idea of ​​how much his desire for God was, he places an illustration of a thirsty deer, he saw them from the place where he was, he saw them thirsty looking desperately for water, he saw how they fainted incessantly water with which to calm your physical thirst.

It says, just as a deer or an animal wants to drink water when it is thirsty, so I long for you. I'm thirsty for you, I need to drink from your presence.

A thirsty animal needs nothing more than water, do not try to offer something different because it will not receive it. At some point we have been thirsty, think for a moment in the moments that you have felt thirsty, where the only thing you want is to drink water, you do not want to eat your favorite dish, you do not want to have fun doing your favorite sport, you do not want to be close to the person you love, do not want something different at that time to drink water.

In the same way, our desire and passion for the Lord for God must be like that, that we need nothing else but him. Do not offer me anything else, do not try to supplant the thirst I have for God with something other than him. May your thirst and thirst for God be such that we do not long for anything other than his presence.

They can offer to go after other kinds of distractions, the world will try to satisfy our thirst for God in other things, but it is impossible, only being in their presence will find the water that calms this thirst.

Throughout time we have read about many men with an intense desire for God, men with an insatiable desire for his presence, they sought him in prayer, they intensely searched for him, they moaned in front of his presence, they loved the Lord, they strove to find him, It was not easy, the flesh never wanted to but they struggled with God in prayer.

In Luke 10: 38-42 we can get several lessons on how to do it but I want us to look at Maria, her attitude, as soon as Jesus got home, Maria forgot about anything else, forgot even about her sister, left her alone, she just wanted to be at the teacher's feet. Something interesting here is the fact that Jesus reproaches Martha's busy and eager attitude, and on the contrary praises Maria's attitude, tells her that she has chosen the best part and it will not be taken away from her.

One day will happen all that for which we have occupied and worked so hard, we will be removed, we will stop doing, whatever it may be, the passion we have for something will happen, for a sport, for work and to make riches, for some artist, all that will happen, someday it will end, but looking for God, being at his feet listening to him, praising him, we will do it for eternity and it will not be taken away from us.

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Exciting for the Lord, look for it in this time with passion, with dedication, with promptness, placing it in the first place, that we are not interested in something above GOD. Do not let anything stand between you and Him, do not leave it waiting, wait for us every day, wait for us to come to Him, to sit at His feet and want to be in front of His presence. Maria recognized the best place to be, it was the feet of Jesus.

Let's propose to love less all other things than we love the Lord. The passion for HIM is what will allow us to remain firm and constant, always growing in the Christian life.