LONGING for MORE

Herman A. Moldez, Guest Contributor

Formerly the National Director for IVCF Philippines (Intervarsity Christian Fellowship), Herman is a pastor, the National Director of MentorLink Philippines, and on the Executive Committee of TOPIC Philippines (Trainers of Pastors International Coalition).

In a country hard hit by COVID 19, Herman reflects on the challenges and blessings of the pandemic–and LONGING for MORE!

“You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you, I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a  dry and parched land where there is no water.” 

Psalm 63:1

Many plans have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Many “stuffs” of life for happiness have suddenly been taken away.  One important aspect of life disrupted by quarantine is social engagement with relatives, friends, church members and work mates.  Social encounters are mostly online these days.  At the start, it met human need to communicate and fellowship but was not enough.

We are designed for intimate encounters with God.  We are created in God’s image to have a meaningful relationship of life and love with God.  The divine DNA at work in all that we are makes communion with God deep and meaningful.  The deeper disconnection is felt in the soul.  So we long for His presence to satisfy the human spiritual yearning.  It’s like a thirst for water while in a desert land.  Inner dryness can be so deep and dark.  We feel lonely and empty.  We sense that something is missing.  Life is not what it ought to be.  To be fully human we must keep thirsting to drink the water of life and love in solitude.  

One thing good in quarantine is it awakens a deeper longing for God. 

One thing good in quarantine is it awakens a deeper longing for God.  Those of us who listen to the cry of the soul start to seek God earnestly.  The state of helplessness directs us to God for help.  Even if God answers our prayers for His provision, protection, and experience of His presence, it’s not everything we long for.  The danger is to settle in the immediate experience.  God is simply giving a taste of His power and a touch of His presence to stir our desire for more of God’s reality to satisfy our soul.  

To seek God for more, our little story must be framed in the larger story of creation, redemption, and consummation of time where God perfectly restores the way it must be.  As in the beginning where there is no disruption in human-divine fellowship, let’s long for the time where God dwells with His people in a New Heaven and New Earth to enjoy His presence and to end all human sufferings (Revelation 21:1-4).  While the restoration of the perfect state of things is in waiting, God is always beginning something new to taste what is good, know Him more to experience the presence of the Kingdom of God now (v. 5).  

Life’s reality-struggle in imperfection is a means to yearn for the taste of the perfect things to come in our lives. 

As we continue our journey this year, there will be many challenges to make us weary and dry, disappointed and discouraged, and troubled and tried.  We will be thirsty again in order to long for a deeper experience of living in a relationship with God.  Life’s reality-struggle in imperfection is a means to yearn for the taste of the perfect things to come in our lives. The reality of suffering that makes us feel dry also deepens our thirst for God. Let the continuing crisis draw us deeper in God’s love. It is a call to long for more.

Spiritual Conversation  

• In what circumstance have you experienced a deeper longing for God?   

• Why could it be dangerous to your spiritual life when life becomes comfortable? 

• Even if the state of things is far from God’s original design, God remains good and committed to restore His plan and purpose in your life.  How will the cultivation of spiritual longing for more give you a taste of what life with God ought to be? 

• What is your prayer to keep longing for the Kingdom of God to come where you are?