Longing For More!

December 15, 2022

Longing For More!

I don’t want a lot of gifts this Christmas.  Maybe that seems strange to some people.  But, I don’t want more things.  Instead, I long for more of some things that are not things.  I know I am not alone in my longing for more of these things.

From the beginning of human history, people have longed for more love, more joy, and more peace.  People have longed for more life, more purpose, and more guidance.  But, there is one thing for which we long more than all of these; we long to see the face of God.

During the past week, I have heard two references to Psalm 42.  I pulled out my Bible earlier this week to see why there is so much interest in this song.  One verse captured my attention more than all the rest.  In Psalms 42:2 we hear; “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When shall I come and behold the face of God?” 

Deep inside, each of us is longing for something more than we are experiencing today.  As the Psalmist says, we long to behold the face of God. 

With a very few exceptions, most people in the ancient world never beheld the face of God.  In fact, for centuries the ancients believed if you saw the face of God, you would die.  And yet, we want to behold the face of God!  Psalm 42 reminds us our soul is longing for more than what the world can offer.

Hundreds of years after Psalm 42 was written, something happened in a little nowhere town where a family had gathered in a livestock barn.  With small oil lamps providing the only light, a baby was born to a poor couple while surrounded by livestock, hay, and some feed. 

Some people would say the baby was just another Jewish baby born into poverty and destined for an insignificant life.  And yet, the couple experienced something very different.  They cherished the moments in which they witnessed the promises of the angels being fulfilled. 

Soon, a few shepherds joined the parents in adoring the baby.  Each one saw something they had never seen before; as they looked at the baby’s face, they beheld the face of God!

Shepherds whom no one would have expected to be part of something so spiritual, so holy, so divine are the first to share with the world that they had seen the face of God in a new born baby named Jesus.  In Luke 2:17 we hear; “When they (shepherds) say this (the Christ-child in the manger), they made known what had been told them about this child (by the angels) …”

Earlier in the evening, the angels told the shepherds they were about to behold the face of God in a new born baby.  In Luke 2:10-11 the angels tell the shepherds; “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people:  to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

The baby lying in a manger is the Son of God, the Savior, the Lord God.  The shepherds behold the face of God.  But, they do not keep what they see to themselves.  Instead, they tell everyone they meet they have stood in the presence of the Lord God. 

We long for more of what the shepherds experienced on the night that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

I don’t want a lot of gifts this Christmas.  Really…I don’t want more things.  Instead, I long for more of some things that are not things.  I want to receive the same gift the shepherds received on that starry night in Bethlehem when Jesus was born.  I long more and more to behold the face of God in Jesus.

I know I am not alone in my longing to behold the face of God.  Although many do not recognize it, the deepest and most desperate longing in our world is not for success or status or stuff.  The deepest and most desperate longing today is to behold the face of God, to be in the presence of the Savior, to be near to the Lord God.

Christmas is a promise that the Lord is drawing near again and again and again so we may all behold the face of God.  When we behold the face of God in Jesus our hearts will be filled with delight in the Lord.

May your Christmas be different this year.  I pray you behold the face of Jesus in a way that transforms your life.

Take Delight In The Lord!

Doug

P.S.  Invite someone who is longing for something more in life to join our blog community.  Encourage them to go to douglasdelp.com to join us.