The Longing In Me: A Study On The Life Of DavidSample

Longing for God Alone

We are born with an innate longing to connect to something or someone who understands us completely. In the deep, quiet stillness of our heart, we long for God and God alone. And if we’re really honest, we know that nothing else will do. It is a common thread running through all our lives—the longing and the ache for more of God.

As God’s loved children, we need to be shaken to our core until we begin to grasp the price that’s been paid for our redemption. When we are pulled to our knees by the greatness of what Christ did on the cross, we can deny ourselves, find our satisfaction in God alone, and lift up the needs of others. Perhaps then this world will see what God’s love looks like by the way we treat each other. Our story of healing is one of the greatest gifts we can give to another person.

During his lifetime, David watched his kingdom rise to the heights promised to Abraham. He defeated vast armies and watched God interfere with the plans of those who attempted to take him out. David then allowed his longings to lead him into the kind of sin that caused death and devastation to others. Yet Paul said, “God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do’” (Acts 13:22 NIV).

As we turn through the pages of David’s life, we see sin, but we also see humility, worship, trust, hope, repentance, strength, and love. Yet perhaps the greatest gift of David’s life to us is his absolute trust in the goodness and mercy of God, no matter what raged around him. David’s story reminds us that it’s not how we start life that matters but how we finish it.

This raises the question of how we live through tough times. How do we bring glory to God in a difficult place? How do we look to him alone as our source of strength? The answer is we worship. Even when there’s no light on the path, or dawn on the horizon, we worship God because he is worth our devotion.

We worship God—and long for him alone. When nothing else makes sense, we thank God for who he is and how he loves us. We cry out to the heavens and declare that the Lord watches over us. He is our shield! He is our defender! He is the one who holds our head up high when we want to bury it in a pillow. No matter how things appear, and no matter what we feel, God is in control.

Every longing that we try to satisfy apart from God will always fall short. Just as God in Christ pursued us through the mud, mire, beatings, and bloody path up to a cross, he now calls us to pursue him. Not only that, but he promises that if we seek him, we will find him.

Respond

In what ways do you long to be loved by God? Transformed by God? To reach for more of God? When do you tend to be most aware of your longing for intimacy and connection with him?

How have you tried to find, know, and love God? How does knowing that God takes the initiative by loving you first challenge you? How does it encourage you?

In this season of your life, how do you sense God may be inviting you to worship? How is he inviting you to shift your focus from longing for His power to longing for him alone?