Psalm 42:1-2 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
Do we long for intimate fellowship with God, like this? Does our soul thirst to be in the presence of the Lord every day? Unlike the psalmist, who could not go to the Temple to worship the Lord, and found himself desperately desiring to be in His presence once again, we have the privilege today of being able to worship God wherever we are, and whenever we want to, in Christ Jesus. In some places around the world it is a crime to gather and worship the Lord. Many are martyred for their faith. In other places there are no Bibles available, or places of worship established. Yet, they have a great thirst and hunger for God and the things of God. They will travel for miles, just to gather with other believers and worship together. Here, in our country, where we have enjoyed the freedom to gather and worship, for so long, we are lukewarm, at best, in regards to our relationship with God. We have Bibles gathering dust, and often more than one. We have the ability to download Bibles onto the devices we have chained ourselves to, but choose instead to spend most of our time scrolling through social media apps. When at one time we faithfully gathered on Sundays and Wednesdays (or other times of the week), today many have substituted our time of worship with our time on the lake, fishing, or at little league games. We have decided that Sunday school is too boring, time consuming, and no longer relevant because, "Who wants to waste a whole morning in church? Besides that, only a few people show up anyway." We start looking at our watches if the preacher preaches past a certain time, because we made plans for our Sunday afternoon, and now he's cutting into our "game time". We have lost the desire for God and have decided that God should be more considerate of our time and work around our scheduled events. We complain about the direction society is taking and we say that we pray for change, but we fail to realize that the change needs to begin with us. We need to get back to having a thirst and hunger for God. We need to have a desire and thirst for His Word, and actually make time for intimate fellowship and prayer with Him. How can we expect change, when today the church looks more and more like the world, and less like a church that has been holy set apart for the service and purposes of God Almighty?
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
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