Monday, January 09, 2006

A Passion for His Name

A Passion for His Name
"O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water." Psalm 63:1

I remember as a kid, I was at the playground with my sisters and brother and we had nothing to drink. I distinctly remember swinging back and forth wondering how thirsty a person had to get before dying of thirst. I was only about 6 or 7 at the time and I thought I might be getting close to that death threshold. All I could think of was what that first drop of water was going to feel like on my parched throat. No matter what we did, it was shrouded with my thoughts of getting a drink.
One of the definitions of "passion" in the Merriam-Webster On-line dictionary is: "intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction" and another, "a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept." I think the former describes what I was feeling that day as I was intensely aware of my thirst to the point that I remember it some 40 years later. I can still picture the swing set in my minds-eye. My desire for water is probably better described by the second definition. As I imagined getting that first drink, I could almost taste that cool water on my tongue.
Now this may seem a silly illustration but it came back to my memory as I was reading Isaiah 26: 8-9, "Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you." I had to ask myself the question, "Is God's name and His renown the desire of my heart the way that water was so many years ago?" Do I have a passion for His name and His renown? Does my soul yearn for Him? Does my spirit long for Him? Does my flesh long for Him in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water? (Ps 63:1).
Do you have a passion for His Name and renown? Do you long for Him more than you long for any other thing in life? Are your thoughts of Christ woven throughout everything you do?

My challenge for you is to pursue a passion of Him as a "dying" thirsty 6 year-old would seek a cup of cool water.

Diane

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