Psalm 42.1-2, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God”. Where can I go to meet God? Read Psalm 73.25, “Whom I have in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee”. He is our All in all. He is the vine; we are the branches.

Who can say they really desire God? We can probably remember what it was like when we were not yet saved. We certainly did not desire God then. But now, by God’s grace at work in us, we have come to desire God so much that what we read in the Bible always affects us. Our worship is always alive. Now we do desire God. But I would like us to think about Christ’s desire for God. I imagine that, as a child, He must have been a very thoughtful little boy. His worldly parents must have trained Him up in the Word of God, and have taken Him with them to synagogue regularly to worship with God’s people. All of this must have impressed Him a lot. And if you don’t mind me speculating a little further, I imagine that what He learned of the things of God so well from His earthly parents which is so very much the right thing to have happened-that as He was growing up He would often reflect on these things and reason as to how they applied to all of life. Now don’t scoff or laugh at this. As God, Christ has always known everything. But as a human being, He needed to learn! Jesus was once a child like you and me. So I wonder what kind of a child He was. Your children can receive Christ much more than you think they can. And they can love Christ, and honor and worship Christ, much more than you think they can, too. In His early life, from childhood, then, Jesus was always growing and increasing in wisdom, as well as in stature, and in favor with God and with men. He grew, spiritually, the way we do: by receiving and responding to God’s Word.

When I first became a Christian (that is, when I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior), I noticed that all my new Christian friends were carrying and reading the Bible a lot. They carried the Bible to Church with them and followed along with the preacher as he preached from the pages of Scripture. I thought, “That’s interesting.” Why? They thirsted for God. As I said before, when I was a lad, I went to church, but the Bible didn’t really affect us. But seeing this example, made me become interested in the Bible. And as I started to study it for myself, I became intrigued by the Bible, and wanted to know more all the time. I wanted to read FAST to know the whole thing at once. But I also wanted to devote and spend time on the very sentences of the Bible, which seem to contain so many wonders you have to read slowly. And as I read and thought on and studied and received the Word of God, I entered into a state of intoxication! I was intoxicated by God! God, who is the Creator, hidden from me and eternal, came to be the Triune God to me and was in my life! Life began to be like a continual surprise. Every moment became a unique moment. Life seemed to be so much more important, exciting, and not-to-be-missed! God our Creator is so full of glory and majesty. I began to thirst to know Him. My Creator, My judge, My Savior!

I learned more and more about His plan of salvation. How God the Father planned to send His only-begotten Son to suffer and die for us sinners. What wisdom! What love! What self-sacrifice, that Jesus Christ should humble Himself to live a perfect life as a true human being in this sinful world and then die for me! And rise again with power to defeat all His enemies and our enemies. To save us and rule over us and keep us safe forever! I began to see that the universe is not merely some cold, empty, meaningless stretch of space. I began to see that God was always at work in nature. That all objects in the universe were His handiwork and all the laws of nature were in force by His decree, that is how physics should work. I saw beauty and power in nature in a new way: Nature was a showcase of His power and glory and love. All this I learned from the Bible. And as I did, I felt that it wasn’t just David’s, but my soul, too, that thirsted after God, to know Him and understand Him and to understand the purpose of all of the universe He made and every part of it by knowing Him. I received assurance, comfort and rest, too. Now we are a weak people. Weak in body and weak in mind; lacking courage and strength; Feeling weary and overwhelmed. But I found out what a friend I have in Jesus, the Son of God Who died and rose again for me. And how He sent His Spirit into my heart to cleanse me and abide with me all the time and to assure me that my God and Creator forgives me for the sake of Christ and accepts me. I learned about commitment, too. Perhaps we could say that commitment is another word for faith. Or it is an aspect of faith. Christ was committed to do the will of His Father, wasn’t He? I come to do thy will, O God. When I came to Christ for salvation, confessing my lack of commitment, confessing my lawbreaking life, He graciously forgave me, saved me, and put faith and commitment in me. My friends and family members saw a change in my character – and it was not my doing! It was Christ my Savior at work in me to change me from a sinner into a committed follower of Christ, not my own work!

But, you know that when Christ saves us, it is a work begun, and very much on-going through the rest of our lives. He tests us and He strengthens us along the way. His Spirit works in us little by little, it seems, and teaches us lesson after lesson in holiness and obedience. Our consciences must be re-trained. The Holy Spirit of God is our re-educational instructor. And the path of this life of repentance and re-education is often a bump one. Remember the nation Israel in the wilderness? Those had to learn to obey through 40 years of testing in the wilderness. God fed them with daily bread and food and water. He led them as they journeyed; He warmed them in the cold nights. He protected them from the burning of the sun and from the attacks of the enemy. Thank God, He deals as truly and as really with us as He ever did with Israel of old. Seeing how He is dealing with me-how He is gradually working His will and His way in my life and my morals–it make me want to live a long life, so I can know more and more of His grace in me while I live in the world as it is now, but I feel that one lifetime is not enough for the Holy Spirit to work the grace of God through me thoroughly. So that I can be a person who will glorify Him in this crooked and ungodly world, and so there will be more time for me to share this with others! Beloved, we hope for the Holy Spirit to turn us from the distractions of the world and to fill us with His life and to inspire our prayers and meditations, not only while we’re in Sunday service, but all through the week. Pray to the Holy Spirit for His help. I’ve often, often, often prayed Holy Spirit, help me, and I can assure you from my experience and from God’s word, that He’ll always answer your prayer for help. The Bible teaches me to consider that, by my faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit has joined me to Christ forever. And when I am in the garden with Christ, He gives me the sense that I am in union with Him. Because I’m one with Christ, I’m like Him, co-owner of everything. I’m interested in the world because it belongs to Him and therefore to me. I desire Him and so I’m interested in whatever He’s interested in. Knowing that I’m one with Christ assures me of acceptance with God the Father. And I like the sound of that. Because of His mercy and grace, I’m forgiven.

We might wonder whether solitude and aloneness with God make us useless to men? And that is a false characterization of people who pursue holiness, is it not? That they are so heavenly-minded that they are no earthly good? Will solitude and aloneness with God make us useless to men? NEVER! Remember what happened at the Mount of Transfiguration? The disciples saw the vision but then descended to serve. Our making time for Sunday worship, and for private, secret devotional time and prayer and meditation time with Christ will fill us with insight and zeal so that we will go to work! “Then the people who do know their God will do great exploits in His Name.”

Meditation on God and His Word, on Christ and His salvation, on the Holy Spirit and His sweet work in us doesn’t mean you have to become a recluse, and go live in a cave. No! God will help you to find sufficient solitude and quiet for meditation right in your home, on a bench in one of the public parks; even on a local bus or train.

What a difference family Bible Time will make in your lives! What moral power and courage to live life you will have when you make it your business in life to walk with God, to thirst to know Him! What resolve will be in you never to allow another’s frown to affect you in the least, when you have a strengthened realization that you live in the Presence of God all the time. Some people think that godly Christians are those who walk about with a shining halo glowing around their heads and have on a certain prune-faced expression all the time. Nonsense! Christianity is all about knowing Christ and being rightly related to God through Christ so that we can be rightly related to everything and everyone else, too! And to the Christian, there is no difference between the secular and the sacred. To the Christian, all things are sacred, all ground is holy ground and every bush is a burning bush. And thirsting after God your Creator and Redeemer is what is needed for you to fulfill your purpose in life.