longing, day 3

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:
O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more.  I am painfully conscious of my need for further grace.  I am ashamed of my lack of desire.  O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee;  I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. (The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 63

Scripture for the Day: Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

Reading for Reflection:

Over the margins of life comes a whisper, a faint call, a premonition of richer living which we know we are passing by.  Strained by the very mad pace of our daily outer burdens, we are further strained by an inward uneasiness, because we have hints that there is a way of life vastly richer and deeper than all this hurried existence, a life of unhurried serenity and peace and power. (A Testament of Devotion by Thomas Kelly)

 

 

If I find in myself desires which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.  If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud.  Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.   (Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Satisfied

All my life long I had panted
For a drink from some cool spring
That I hoped would quench the burning
Of the thirst I felt within.

Hallelujah!  He has found me
The One my soul so long has craved! 
Jesus satisfies all my longings
Through his blood I now am saved.
 
Feeding on the filth around me
‘Till my strength was almost gone. 
Longed my soul for something better
Only still to hunger on.
 
Poor I was and sought for riches
Something that would satisfy. 
But the dust I gathered ‘round me
Only mocked my soul’s sad cry.
 
Well of water ever springing
Bread of life so rich and free. 
Untold wealth that never faileth
My Redeemer is to me.
 

 

Closing Prayer:

Teach me to seek you, for I cannot seek you unless you teach me, or find you unless you show yourself to me.  Let me seek you in my desire, and desire you in my seeking.  Let me find you by loving you, let me love you when I find you.
                                                                         ~St. Anselm