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. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips. Ps. 63:1-5
Dear Jesus, we come before you today craving more craving, hungry for hunger, thirsty for a thirst you alone can slake. Make us wholly and holy uncomfortable—so faint, that unless you hydrate our hearts with the gospel, we will surely perish. Even if we we’re swimming in an ocean, sitting under a waterfall or standing in front of an open fire hydrant, life is dry and weary without you.
For it’s a dangerous thing to no longer desire deep fellowship with you, Jesus. It’s a deceptive thing to enjoy you, but no longer actually need you. It’s a deceitful thing to be satisfied with correct theology about you, without experiencing vital communion with you. It’s a demonic thing to find our ultimate satisfaction in anyone or anything else but you. Stir us up, Jesus. Stir us up.
Jesus, only your steadfast love is better than life—only your contra-conditional, irrepressible, unwavering affection for us is enough. Nothing else will do. You have created a gospel-shaped vacuum in our hearts—a screaming empty place that fits only you.
Forgive us when we try to cram human love, creature comforts, or anything else into that Jesus-shaped place. Don’t let us be so easily satisfied. Give us redemptive discontent until our hearts rest again in you.
Jesus, we’re not making this request just for ourselves, as individuals, but for our churches as well. Forgive us when we get so organized, creative, and “right” that we no longer miss your presence. Is it really you we’re following, or are we just following new spiritual trends? Is it really you we’re serving, or are we just serving ourselves as religious consumers? Is it really you we’re worshiping, or are we just worshiping worship?
If you actually “left the house,” how long would it take before we knew the difference? In all honesty, Jesus, how much of what we do in our churches doesn’t require the Holy Spirit at all? Show us, convict us, forgive us, and change us.
Lord Jesus, as we get closer to Holy Week, let us see and experience your power and glory, in fresh ways and obvious. You are the God of the living, not the dead—the God of resurrection and life. We want to lift our hearts, voices, hands, and whole lives to you as a sacrifice of praise. May the truth and grace of the gospel satisfy us as the fattest and richest of foods. So very Amen we pray, with longing and expectant hearts.