longing, friday

Friday, September 26

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)

Scripture Reading for the Day: Deuteronomy 33:12

Reading for Reflection:

 

     Moses is at the end of his life and mission.  He has finished his race and has passed the baton of leadership on to Joshua.  Now all that’s left for him to do is utter his final words.  Can you imagine the care and the prayer, the thought and the intention he put into the process of choosing the words he (and more appropriately God) wanted ringing in the ears of the nation of Israel at this key moment in their life and history.  You can almost see the smile on his face as he thinks of each tribe individually.  As he considers the state of their hearts and his hopes and dreams for each of them.  And after all the thinking and the considering and the hoping and the dreaming and the praying, he gathers the entire nation together in order to give each of them a blessing.  And what a blessing it is!  It is exactly what they are most deeply longing for in their hearts and souls. 

     In fact, as he blesses each tribe, it’s hard not to get the image of him simply trying to plant something beautiful within their hearts and souls.  Something that will bring life and bear fruit for years and years to come.  Something that will help them be exactly what both Isaiah and Jeremiah imagined—a well-watered garden.  And maybe that’s all a blessing is anyway, the planting of something beautiful in a heart or soul.   And maybe that’s exactly what a blessing was intended to do in the first place, to create life and bear fruit.  So he plants the words of blessing in the soil of their souls, and prays that it will begin to take root.  And, to the tribe of Benjamin, what rich and beautiful words they are: “Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.”  And the garden of God’s delight becomes, a little at a time, more and more beautiful.

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

                                

Closing Prayer:

For Thy perfect wisdom and perfect goodness;

For the love wherewith Thou lovest mankind;

For the love wherewith Thou lovest me;

For the great and mysterious opportunity of my life;

For the indwelling of Thy Spirit in my heart;

I praise and worship Thee, O Lord.

(A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie)