ON THIRSTING AFTER GOD

           I have recently begun re-reading one of my favorite books, The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer. I had barely got through the Preface and had to begin reading it again. This time prayerfully; allowing God to speak to me and show me areas of my life where I had grown distant from Him, where I had allowed thistles to grow and prayerlessness to take over. It was speaking to me so loudly that it nearly drove me to tears - tears of sorrow and of hunger and thirst after God. It made me realize how at times I had allowed the busyness of my private life and of the ministry to drown the search for the true and everlasting God, the search for His daily and very palpable companionship, the search for His Presence.
          
           Let me share with you some of what Tozer has to say to us believers and to the Church: 


"Current evangelicalism laid the altar and divided the sacrifice into parts, but now seems satisfied to count the stones and rearrange the pieces with never a care that there is no sign of fire upon the top of lofty Carmel... There are those who, while they love the altar and delight in the sacrifice, are yet unable to reconcile themselves to the continued absence of fire... There is today no lack of Bible teachers to set forth correctly the principles of the doctrines of Christ, but too many of these seem satisfied to teach the fundamentals of the faith year after year, strangely unaware that there is in their ministry no manifest Presence, nor anything unusual in their personal lives." (Tozer A.W, The Pursuit of God)
          
          After quoting Milton:"The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed," Tozer concludes with these amazing and piercing words: 


“It is a solemn thing, and no small scandal in the Kingdom of God, to see God’s children starving while actually seated at the Father’s table.” (Tozer A.W, The Pursuit of God)


          Read this last portion carefully and prayerfully, imagine the scene in your hearts and minds. Is this speaking of you and to you also? Are you thirsty and hungry for the very Presence of God in your life even though you do pray, attend church and participate at the Lord’s Table? What is missing? Is this a case of externals satisfying us, while the interior life starves for communion with the Author of Life? Are you open to what God wants to do in your life? Are you seeking God in all of His glory, inviting Him into your private space and holding Him there as a mother holds her precious child? Perhaps this image should be reversed; we are the child needing to be held in the most precious arms of God’s love.


          Would you consider joining me in reading The Pursuit of God? Let me know.


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