Finding Our Soul’s Satisfaction in God
As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
Psalm 42:1 – 2
My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
Isaiah 26:9
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Psalm 63:1
The above verses speak of our desire and need for God. We find this same desire spoken of by Augustine.
“Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in Thee.”
Augustine, (354-430 A.D.), Confessions
A.W. Tozer (1897-1963) wrote of a place in the soul reserved for God. “We were created for a purpose, and until that purpose is fulfilled,we are in a restless state. Nothing outside of us can bring the rest and peace we were created to yearn for. The pleasures of the world fall far short of this. Not all the exterior aspects of the world can penetrate that sacred barrier of the soul reserved only for God.”
We desire God, and God has provided a way for us to have this need satisfied.
Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4
Our desire is for God. God is the desire of our hearts. When we delight in Him, He grants us the desire of our hearts. He grants us Himself.
I also think of Ezekiel 36:25 – 28 which says, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”
God has been changing my heart of stone and making it a heart of flesh. As He transforms me more and more into the likeness of His Son’s, my heart becomes more like the heart of Jesus. So when I delight in God, He grants me the desires of my heart, a heart that He has transformed to be more and more like His heart. My desire is to spend more time with God, to delight in Him, to know Him more, love Him more, serve Him more. I want my life to bring God glory.
I agree with the words of John Piper, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”
There is a “delightful” cycle, or perhaps a spiral. I desire God, I delight in God, God grants me the desires of my heart, I find my satisfaction in God, and that leads me back to desiring and delighting in God.
God has been so very good to me. I find my joy and my delight in Him. He is my heart’s desire. He is glorified in my life as I find my satisfaction in Him.
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4