Loading more...
Transformed Imaginations
Imagination (noun): The faculty of imagining, or of forming mental images or concepts of what is Read More
James C. Howell | Read Psalm 63:1-5
Got Jesus? is a question, almost a dare, I’ve seen posed by posters and sweatshirts. I want to respond by saying, “I hope he’s got me.” But a better answer might be, “Not yet.” Psalm 63 epitomizes what the spiritual life is all about. “I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you.” Prayer is about seeking, not possession; about being thirsty, not quenched. Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matt. 5:6). Not, “Blessed are those who are righteous.”
Our culture demands that we satisfy every desire. But God asks for unquenched desire. God has made us so that as we reach out for God and grasp some truth about God—as we have a question answered—we stumble upon new questions we didn’t have before. God is still just out of reach, but lures us more urgently forward. As we make progress toward knowing God, we become a bit holier, only to notice unholy debris in our souls we had not noticed before.
Recently, I visited a women’s Bible study that has been meeting weekly for fifteen years. When I asked how much they had grown over the years, they laughed: “We have more questions and are more confused than when we started.” This was their testimony to deep joy, not frustration or failure. Learning what we don’t know, a craving for union with God, and a yearning to be holier; these are the delights of prayer.
Lord, I get mixed up thinking of my cloudy vision of you and my ongoing yearning for more as problems. Teach me to delight in my quest for you, to find pleasure in having more questions, and to know it is a privilege to be thirsty for you. Amen.
In the midst of Lent, when many might be giving up a certain food that they love, we read about feasting. The focus is not on physical feasting, but on feasting as a metaphor for communing with God. Isaiah describes food and drink that one cannot buy with money, for it comes freely from the Lord. The psalmist describes the state of his soul as being hungry and thirsty. Only meditating on God’s faithfulness nourishes his soul at the deepest level. Physical food is momentary, but spiritual nourishment endures. In First Corinthians, Paul appeals to this imagery. Although the ancients experience this spiritual nourishment, some pursue physical pleasure and stray into idolatry and immorality. Partaking in this nourishment should cause us in turn to produce spiritual fruit, as Jesus admonishes his listeners.
Read Isaiah 55:1-9. When has God’s grace inverted your expectations?
Read Psalm 63:1-8. As you mature in faith, what new questions about God do you ask?
Read 1 Corinthians 10:1-13. Think of a time you have faced great temptation. How did God help you endure it?
Read Luke 13:1-9. For what do you need to repent?
Respond by posting a prayer.
I join many of those who will pray for you as you seek to discern what you are called to be at this moment. May God grant you the courage to fulfill that calling. May we all open our eyes and see the misery, open our ears and hear the cries of God’s people, and, like God through the Lord Jesus Christ, be incarnate amongst them.”
View a growing list of resources for the spiritual work of overcoming racism.
