It is so easy to get overwhelmed with our responsibilities and trials in life and to forget our first love and leave God out of the core of our lives. We should, however, have God at the center of our lives. We should long for a closer relationship with Him. We should crave His word and the truth. We should seek to spend our time with Him as the one we love most. Unfortunately, that doesn’t describe most of our lives, at least not most of the time.

Sometimes we fail because of the distractions of the world. Sometimes we hold back because we feel unworthy of a relationship with God. (We are unworthy, but that doesn’t mean we are unloved or unwanted.)

In the Old Testament, there is one man who is called “a man after My [God’s] heart.”

After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’ (Acts 13:22) {emphasis mine}

Despite being a murderer and adulterer, God calls David, “a man after My [God’s] heart.” This doesn’t seem like the man who would be this close to God, but if we look at David’s writings, especially in the Psalms, we can see what makes him “a man after My [God’s] heart.”

David wrote:

As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God? (Psalm 42:1-2)

For David, God wasn’t just a magic genie sitting there to make requests from when David was having a hard time. David longed for God’s presence. He panted for a closer relationship with God. He actively sought God and His leading in his life.

When David briefly drifted away and focused on himself, he missed God and would quickly make a course correction back to God.

My tears have been my food day and night, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence. (Psalm 42:3-5)

David not only turned back to God, but he led a “procession to the house of God.” His love of God was so ever-present that he spread it to those around him. (There is a reason that the reign of David was probably the most faithful time for Israel.) David praised God in good times and bad. He thanked God in good times and bad. He sought God’s help and leading in good times and bad.

I am not a David. I love God and love His Word. I seek to follow Him in every part of my life, but I can’t honestly say that I long for God to the level that David did. I want to share with you a group of David’s Psalms so you can feel what true love of God looks like. Please don’t rush through these verses. Read them. Meditate on them. Ponder your own relationship with God. Seek how you can draw closer to God.

O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water. Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You. So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips. When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches, For You have been my help, And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy. My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me. (Psalm 63:1-8)

Does your soul long for God? Do you value His lovingkindness more than life? Do you meditate on Him in the night? Can you honestly say, “My soul clings to You?”

Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me; My heart is appalled within me. I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your doings; I muse on the work of Your hands. I stretch out my hands to You; My soul longs for You, as a parched land. Selah. (Psalm 143:4-6)

When you are troubled and things are not going well, do you meditate on God’s great works and His great mercy? Do you long for God, or tune Him out because of your hurt?

Do not fret because of evildoers, Be not envious toward wrongdoers. For they will wither quickly like the grass And fade like the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off, But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land. (Psalm 37:1-9)

Do you fret over the success of evildoers, or do you trust in the Lord to make all things right in the end? Are you envious of wrongdoers, or do you rest patiently in the Lord?

Whether it is the heart’s cry from David or the truth shared from the other inspired writers of the Bible, we need to trust God and seek His presence. We need to study and meditate on His Word. We need to talk with Him in prayer. We need to follow Him as a shadow follows us in the sunlight.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body And refreshment to your bones. (Proverbs 3:5-8)

May our God and Savior give you a hunger for His word and a thirst for His presence. May you long for a closer relationship with Him and seek to follow Him in all His good plans. May your closeness with God be reflected and shine the light of Jesus on everyone around you, glorifying Him and drawing others to Him. May you see Jesus and eternity more clearly than you see the cares of this world.

Trust Jesus

All verses are NASB unless otherwise noted.