God's Longing For Us

Last week, I wrote a devotional on the restless ache we all feel — the longing, the desire, the hunger, the ache — that often manifests as anxiety and a nagging sense of unfulfillment.

Beginning to name this ache and bless it instead of numb it (through social media scrolling, indulging in appetites, or chasing the next career goal or relationship as a way to avoid our inner world, as we are all so prone to do) is the beginning of building a prayer life.

It’s how Jesus invites his disciples to follow him in John 1:38 — “What are you looking for?” In other words, what are you longing for? What is the ache in your heart?

Discipleship is ultimately about the formation of our desire as we are being formed into people who wholeheartedly love Him. Prayer is about learning to love other things less and to love God more.

Today I want to invite us to reflect on the other side of this longing: God.

If we are, as St Augustine says, restless until we find our rest in God, it begs the question: Why?

Why would God make us with insatiable longing? Why would He design us a God-shaped hole in our hearts that only He can fill?

The answer, I propose, lies in the first half of that quote from St Augustine: God made us for Himself.

In other words, not only is our restlessness an invitation to find God, a compass in our hearts that continually points us Godward, a gift that keeps us from getting too settled in any one location but instead keeps us moving on a life-long pilgrimage home to heaven…

It’s also a picture of how God feels about us. If we are made in the image of God, is it possible that our aching and our longing that only God can fill is actually a mirror image of a God who has an aching and a longing that only we can fill?

What if we were made to walk in the cool of the garden with God simply because He enjoys walking in the cool of the Garden with us?

What if the Eyes that spend their time gazing at us (Psalm 11:4) have one simple longing and desire — that we would look back?

What if the animating energy behind God’s choice to come to earth as a Man, Jesus Christ, to live for us, to die for us, and to rise again for us is simply a deep aching, longing to be with us?

We are so prone to take a verse as simple as “for God so loved the world…” and we depersonalize this love as a theological ideal instead of an experienced reality.

If I could be so bold as to name the steps of building a prayer life, it would be this:

1. Sit still and alone long enough to get in touch with your inner restlessness (Matthew 6:6)

2. Learn to bless the ache, the longing, and the desire as meant for God and meant to lead us towards Him (John 1:38)

3. Begin to learn how to continually direct your inner desire Godward (2 Thess 3:5)

4. Continually receive God’s love to fill the ache in your heart (Romans 5:5)

And, like both 16th-century mystics and crazy charismatics, I mean this for real. This isn’t an abstract idea, this is a real invitation from a real God that wants us to experience His love as real as any human relationship.

In Romans 5, Paul writes:

St Augustine makes the connection between continual desire and continual prayer like this:

To the degree that we can direct the inner desire and longing in our hearts toward God is the degree to which we are invited to pray.

And, it’s all a reflection of God’s immeasurable longing for us.

Today, I would love to invite us to take some deep breaths (and a few more — because we all probably need it!) and pray this:

God, would You pour Your love into my heart? Would You help me to direct my desires Godwards, and to discover that my longing for You is only a reflection of Your aching love for me? Would You show us your love that Paul says “surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19) and would You fill me with your fullness today?

P.S. Thank you so much for all of your replies telling me how these emails are impacting you! All I want is to help you to come alive and live in love with Jesus, and to know these emails are making even a small impact is so encouraging. Thank you 🙏🏼