With all Earnest...

Create in Me a Clean Heart - Week 26
~ This weekly devotional can be found on Facebook. ~

"Here is what you must do - and don't put it off any longer: Get down on your knees before God Almighty .. and if you are pure and live with integrity, he will surely rise up and restore your happy home."

Job 8:5 (Message), 8:6 (NLT)

Scripture has much to say about seeking the Lord. But life has become so busy lately that I have let my "seeking" slip to a lower priority. And, sadly, it is not long before I start to lose the desire to seek. It is a vicious, downward cycle.

I am reminded of the Psalms and David's incredible thirst for God ... "Earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water." (Ps 63:1 - my emphasis)

Am I not also thirsty? I have to stop and realize ... I am parched; I am dry; I am desperate. My heart cries out (as David's did) "Seek his face!" Your face, Lord, I will seek. I must seek. (Ps 27:8)

Once again, I hear his voice calling me back - back to his presence, back to the waters, back to the only source of life. This week I have begun meditating on the Psalms again. Reading David's hunger and thirst - pondering his worship and praise - begins to stir my heart to a place of thirst and of worship.

Dear Lord,
I cry to you again, in my unfaithfulness, trusting in your mercy, falling on your faithfulness, knowing you are not far from me. Stir my heart again, to hunger and thirst for you. Fill me anew with a reciprocal love for you. Teach me afresh that only you bring life, healing and rest. Let my desire to know you motivate my every action, thought and word. Help me to seek you first, and trust that you will guide me in all the other things in life.
In Jesus' Name,
AMEN