Your Soul Craves God

Intro

Ever held your breath until you were so desperate for air that your toes twitched; your cheeks became balloons and your eyes bugged out? Overpowered by deprivation, did you sip air in all proper like, or did you swig down big gulps like a scorched vagabond at a thirst-quenching oasis?

Try it now. Close your eyes. Imagine yourself in the middle of a swimming pool. Now take a deep breathe… hold it… and submerge yourself under the water. Hold that breathe for as long as you can. Do you feel the sense of urgency as your body screams out to you that it needs air and it needs it now? Now, out of breath, you rush to the surface, break the water, and what do you do? Do you take little breaths of air or do you gulp it down and breathe in as much as possible?

Our lungs crave air. Our soul craves God—Fresh, life-giving. . . God. We ache for an encounter with Him. Do you know what it feels like to yearn for, to long for, to covet God?

The Word:

"This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life." [Ezekiel 37:5 (NIV)]

“O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1 (NLT)

“At night, my soul longs for you. Indeed, my spirit, the soul within me, seeks You.” Isaiah 26:9

Part I:

It’s hard to define the things inside my heart. Have you ever wondered if you’re the only one who feels what you feel and wants what you want. Am I the same as others in this mass of humanity, or am I alone in my experiences?

In a culture of entertainment, loudness, busyness and constant triggers that steal our attention, I fear that the typical person is becoming more and more distant from God. The irony is that we have more books than ever in history, more Bibles available to us in every style and translation you could ever wish for, more conferences, more seminars, more churches and more technology that one would assume it would make it easier to grow closer to Jesus.

But in the midst of this age is a drought of passion and desperation for God. Even Christ Followers are living disconnected from God aimlessly wondering around in no-man’s land and trying to figure out why the life that Jesus promised seems so distant.

King David echoes the heart of those that crave for more of God when he said in Psalm 63:1:

“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.”

Comparing his dry, arid and parched surroundings, David used that image to describe how he longs for God just as the dry and thirsty ground longs for water. Just a moment ago, we saw how our bodies crave air to merely just survive. Last week we saw how God craves us. Could our souls crave Him just as He craves us?

Part II:

We were created for God and we cannot live without Him. If your soul is disconnected from its source, it will die.

Our soul longs to be connected, to find a place to belong, to find love, to find God.

We strive to find love but it is maddening when we are running from God and yet searching for love. For God is love.

I want to finish this with a look at Jesus in one of His most intimate moments and we’ll also connect this with what we’re looking at next week. Read Luke 22:39-48.

At this moment in His life, Jesus craved for time with the Father.