Daily Devotional

I’m sure all of us could acknowledge there are wonderful benefits of growing up in a 1st world country in a 70 year window of relative peace from war. Everything from ice cream cones to insurance, helps keep us feeling generally insulated and taken care of. Yet in the midst of such rare historic blessing, I notice in myself the desperation for God can easily wane while living in a “land of milk and honey.” Soon a passage like this is harder to resonate with outside of a cute visualizing a little word picture of a deer sipping water. But here the psalmist is not simply
creating a peaceful scenery, he is speaking about his desperation to see, know and be close to God.

I see a danger in how the natural blessings we’ve inherited, after striving to found a nation on God nearly 250 years ago, also has an underbelly when we get ”all our hearts ever thought they wanted.” Jesus warned about this in Parable of the Sower: “but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.” (Mark 4:19 )

I wonder today if you’re honest, do you also feel the same tension as I do: grateful for our “norm” of blessing we’ve been given, and yet needing to stay dependent and desperate for God. Are we living like the pursuit of happiness is possible without God, and would we actually want these things without Him? Or do we realize that it’s impossible to find true fulfillment with joy and shalom (peace/wholeness), apart from knowing and needing Him like water?

He clearly knows how to shake our world to get our attention and He’s done it to me many times and in the present. So I invite you to join me in this prayer today: “Father, you have my attention! I choose to pant after you like water, because You’re our only hope for true life! And as we seek You, may rivers of living water pour in and through our souls, just like you promised!”

New International Version (NIV)
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