IT’S TIME TO PANT
It’s all too easy to become lax in our desire to know and love God. I’m not sure if this is just the blight of the middle-aged who have families to tend, bills to pay, careers to manage, health to maintain, and relationships to repair. I think this laxity also beguiles the young who have friends to please, crowds to hang with, exams to pass, relationships to form, social-media posts to update, pimples to hide, and clothes to buy. How then does the deepest drive in the human soul – the drive to be with, know, and love God – find its fulfilment? This is how.
After the Reformation began in the sixteenth century, the English Protestant Reformers were faced with the challenge of transmitting the truth of the Bible to a generation of ordinary people who were mostly illiterate. They formulated their own ‘Catechism’ (a series of questions and answers to be memorised). The result was The Westminster Shorter Catechism. The first question reads-
Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
Fulfilling our deepest desire – a desire greater than that of wanting human companionship – begins by learning to pant. King David had been going through a tumultuous time in his life when he realised that his circumstances had distracted him from pursuing God. I think life can do this for the believer today. We get busy. We get distracted. We get lax. We must remind ourselves that our chief purpose in life is not to find a job, get married, buy a house, start a family – but to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever! Panting for God as a parched deer pants for water begins in our heart where we still our souls and prayerfully ask God to come closer into His presence.
Being still and doing nothing are two very different things.(Mr Han to Xiao Dre, in Karate Kid 2010)
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
Psalm 46:10
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
Psalm 46:10
Our enemy wants us to be distracted and distant. God wants us to be still and close. In Psalm 42 King David tells us about his difficulties. He describes his despondency (“my tears have been my food day and night” Psalm 42:3) and the ridicule he endured (‘they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”’ Psalm 42:3). And he then reveals to us the master strategy for fighting our way out of such mental and emotional oppression which often sugar-coats its distractions with happiness.
¶ Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation
Psalm 42:5
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation
Psalm 42:5
As David fought through the multitude of distractions in his life which kept him from seeking God first, he tells us that was him choosing to seek God like a thirsty deer sought for water. It involved praying, reminding himself of God’s faithfulness from His Word, singing in worship to God (Psalm 42:8) and praising God with thanksgiving (Psalm 42:11).
I have found myself being distracted. Pain in my deteriorating body, pressure of responsibilities, and the things common to us all, and I have reminded myself that my greatest desire and need is to know God, love God and enjoy Him forever. My panting prayer has been to ask God to speak to me and to grant me the ears to hear Him. It has included a cry to know Him more intimately and to make Him known more clearly. It has asked Him to soften my heart and to help me to feel the pain of others and to truly see and hear them. It has encompassed a prayer that He might still my soul so that I can draw closer to Him through His Word.
In a world where the enemy has found a powerful ally in world’s distractions, it’s time for God’s people to pant.
Happy new year.
Ps. Andrew
The problem I have with discussing eating to be nourished is that it is such a foreign concept to most of us. Most of the time my eating is for pleasure rather than nourishment. While I've fasted a day here and there recently and experienced mild tummy grumbling, the notion of what two-thirds of the world calls "hunger" is largely an alien concept. But if I can be allowed the forgiveness to discuss the need for 'nourishment' I should like to draw from what our bodies may experience to what our soul's need.
Our souls need nourishment even more than our bodies do. A malnourished body can be dramatically revitalised by nourishment as Jonathan's was when he ate the honey that his father had banned his starving troops from eating while in long pursuit. Then Jonathan said, "My father has troubled the land. See how my eyes have become bright because I tasted a little of this honey (1Sam. 14:29). Jonathan's weary body was nourished and restored from eating wild honey. A nourished soul is a restored soul. In Psalm 23, David describes God as restoring souls ("He restores my soul...") and concludes with a picture of God's restoration of a soul as a banquet table set to to nourish ("You prepare a table before me...my cup overflows..."). Souls need nourishing.
Jesus knew how to nourish His soul. The way He did it was almost counter-intuitive. Do you know how to nourish your soul?
God is the only true Source of our soul's nourishment. Our spiritual fellowship with Him is the only sustainable means of finding nourishment. And there is much that connects our soul with Him - such as wonder at His creation, admiration of what He has inspired. I know of a man who would go to an art gallery each week and sit for an hour or so in front of a painting which the artist had done to the glory of God. This man found his soul nourished as a result.