Wearied for What...or Whom?

What excites you? For what are you willing to exhaust yourself? Sports? Entertainment? Shopping? Work? Vacation? Family? Friends?

Lately I've been reading the book of Isaiah. Every time I read chapter 43, I'm struck by verses 20 through 25.

In this passage, God points out that the wild animals praise Him because He provides for them. He contrasts this with His people, who He also provides for their daily needs, yet they ignore Him.

I have not burdened you with grain offerings

nor wearied you with demands for incense. (v. 23b)

But you have burdened Me with your sins
and wearied Me with your offenses.(v. 24b)

This passage is one of many in the Old Testament in which Yahweh "wears His heart on His sleeve." Can't you see it?

It's like a wife's question of "how do I look?" when she really means, "do you still find me attractive?" or, more to the point, "do you still love me best?"

Yahweh's heart has never been in laws or demanding obedience. He longs for us to obey out of love (which is true love).

One of the scariest things about Christianity is that it isn't based on a list of dos and don'ts (as we have previously looked at), but it is built on Christ.

If His Spirit lives inside of you, you will want to spend time with Him. As you spend time with Him, you will love Him with a greater fervor. As your love increases, you will do and delight in doing what you know brings a smile to His face. And, as you obey, your character looks increasingly like its Creator.

Spiritual life, like all other aspects of life and leadership, requires a rigorous commitment to learning and growing. When we stop growing, our momentum quickly fades, and we start the process of atrophy. . . . Soaking up sustenance never stops, and even in times of drought, we find sources of strength if we've gone deep enough. ~Zig Ziglar (The One Year Daily Insights with Zig Ziglar and Dr. Ike Reighard)

When I read of the lives of personal heroes such as Oswald Chambers, read how his life burnt out like a firecracker, whose glow is seen long after it is dead, I look in shame at my own lack of passionate pursuit of God.

I'm not there. Are you?

I wrote this poem 30 August 2002. Sadly, it is still applicable.

Father,

I know what it’s like

   to thirst for a voice,

   to hunger for a face,

   to ache for a touch.

I want to feel it for You.

I thirst for the desire,

   hunger for the passion,

   ache for the knowledge

   of You for whom I so often

      am not stirred.

Far from desiring to leave you with a despairing note, I want to leave you with a praise for God's grace and a renewed goal of seeking Him passionately.

One thing I've learned in my relationship with God is how good it feels to confess my lack of passion. When I tell God of my deficiency of feeling, yet my longing to love Him as I should, I am set free from guilt and filled with love for my Father, who is so gracious with His foolish child.

Let's begin again today, this moment, to not only pursue Him passionately, but to egg one another on towards the same goal.