In the last two blogs, I have quoted and commented on the first two verses of Psalm 42.

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Psalm 42:1-2

 Martha, one of my subscribers, commented that the last blog had challenged her “to thirst more for God and His word.”

Something about those words set me to thinking. Do we decide one day, “I’m going to thirst for God today”? Somehow that feels contrived as though we can conjure up a thirst for God, turn it on and off, so to speak. Is thirst something we decide to do or is it a natural outcome? 

I lived for a few days with that question mulling over and over in my mind. Had my relationship become so stale, so complacent, that I had to create a thirst for Him? Can one create thirst?

With these thoughts in mind, I went on vacation. Sun lotion applied, I plopped down in the beach chair and began a conversation with my daughter-in-law on the thirst questions that had been circulating in my mind. In a related realm, she had been dealing with this as well, concluding that the beginning step for her was confession, weeding out the personal, deep-seated sins in her life. She mentioned that she had been reading A. W. Tozer’s book, The Pursuit of God. 

I brought up the topic with my son and he had some wonderful thoughts which escape me now. (Where is my pen when I need it?) He mentioned that they had brought Tozer’s book with them and offered for me to read it.

I soaked up the first half of the book in the time I had at the beach and vowed to purchase my own copy so I can read to the end. I highly recommend this small, powerful book to you.

Tozer takes you deep into the inner man. I’m not sure yet if he is the one who coined the phrase “practicing the presence of God,” but that is one of the ideas of his book. Up front he uses the Psalm 42 verse. Interesting.

Now let’s go back and trace how God was at work in this whole process. He planted this verse in my mind and heart—enough that I mentioned it in TWO previous blogs. He worked through Martha’s comment to get me to thinking and questioning. Shortly thereafter, I landed on the beach with two who had been dealing with similar thoughts. They brought the book with them at a period when I had time to read. Tozer used the very Scripture that started this whole process.

Do you see how He often works in our lives when we become open and receptive? Makes me thirsty for more!

Thank you, Lord, that your presence is always there, always available. Draw us out of our passive, complacent attitudes to seek and find and be thirsty for more.

~ Joyce ~ 

After I wrote this, I checked emails. There in living color was a blockbuster ad for not only “The Pursuit of God”, but a combination of this and two other of his books. Our God is so amazing!