WRITTEN BY TIM LABRECHE
As we grow up, we often want many different things. We want freedom and independence. We want to go where we want to go, do what we want to do, and do it when we want without anyone telling us no.
As we continue to grow older and mature, we often want a relationship that gives us what our hearts desire. We want someone to share life and experiences with, someone who enjoys being with us as much as we enjoy being with them.
We also want a job, and eventually a career, that allows us to do what we love while still providing what we need. We want work that does not always feel like work, but feels meaningful, fulfilling, and rewarding.
Many of us want a family. We want people to love and people who love us in return. We want a place where we can share life, make memories, celebrate the good days, and be encouraged through the hard ones.
Oh, and the income. How many of us want financial freedom so we can do what we want without being restricted by money? We want the ability to make choices, enjoy life, and pursue the things that matter to us without always wondering if we can afford them.
These are all good things to want. But there is a difference between wanting something and longing for something.
A want is often connected to something we desire, enjoy, or believe would make life better. A longing goes deeper. Longing is an ache within the heart. It is often tied to our desire for love, peace, and fulfillment.
The problem is not that we want these things. The problem comes when we expect these good things to satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts.
Unregulated freedom creates many opportunities for failure and poor choices.
Without a doubt, every relationship will involve hurt and disappointment at some point.
Every job or career will be difficult at times. There will be challenges, struggles, and opportunities to grow through hard situations.
By nature, a family includes people, and people will always have the ability to sadden, discourage, and hurt us, even the people we love most.
And I haven’t forgotten about money. First Timothy 6:10 says, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
So if all of these things are good, but each one has the ability to disappoint us, what are we supposed to long for instead?
A few weeks prior to writing this I was in the book of Psalms. In chapter 42, verses 1-2, it reads:
1 I long to drink of you, O God,
to drink deeply from the streams of pleasure
flowing from your presence.
My longings overwhelm me for more of you!
2 My soul thirsts, pants, and longs for the living God.
I want to come and see the face of God.
The above is from The Passion Translation. I love how, in verse 1, the psalmist longs to drink of God. At the end of that same verse, he says, “My longings overwhelm me for more of you!” In the NIV, it says, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God”
As we do every spring, we bought some beautiful plants to put around the yard and on the patio. My wife and I (mostly my wife) took the time and repotted them, put them in new soil and supplied them with nutrients. Some are small and colorful. They’re young and need to grow, blossom, and bloom. Some are tropical with big green leaves and fronds. Here’s the thing. That process isn’t over. Those plants need and long for water to sustain them. Without being watered daily, they will start to wither. They won’t be as vibrant as they could be or once were. Without water, they’ll eventually die. Those plants long for the water they so desperately need.
Just as those plants daily long for water, we too need to long for our Savior, to sit at His feet. That’s where we get fed. That’s where we are sustained and filled. In the Hebrew, the word used for longing hints at bending and bowing towards. In those times that we sit at His feet, we are to lean into Him for what we need to live.
Instead of “What do I want most?”, maybe the better questions are, “Where am I leaning towards? Who is my heart longing for?”
Because that longing of our hearts will never be fully satisfied by freedom, a relationship, a career, a family, or financial security.
The deepest longing of the human heart can only be satisfied by sitting at His feet and leaning into Him.
