Panting for His Person
“As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul 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
The Psalmist understood what it means to long for God’s presence. He longed for it, thirsted for it—like a deer longing for water. He wanted God, the living God who communicates His presence to men—the fullest expression of which is seen in Jesus Christ.
Jesus is what makes heaven, heaven. He is our heart’s passion, our reason for being, and the answer to the cries and longings of our heart. Without Him heaven is just a place, just like my house is just a house without my family. It is my wife and kids that make my house a home, just like it is Jesus’ presence that makes heaven, heaven. Nevertheless, many of us haven’t yet seen Jesus as the fullest answer to our deepest desire because we have failed to understand who He is and how He has communicated His presence to us.
In the New Testament, John testifies that the Triune God sent the second Person of the Trinity—God the Son—to assume the flesh of humanity as God’s love gift to man (cf. John 3:16). Jesus, God’s Son, came and dwelt among us: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth”—John 1:14.
Jesus actually lived and walked among people, as John wrote:
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete”—1 John 1:1-4.
John and others had heard Jesus talk, seen Him work and touched Him (1 John 1:1). Not only in Him was life (John 1:4), but He is the essence of life personified (cf. Colossians 3:4; John 14:6). And His life on earth shows the reality of God’s desire that we participate in the divine life made available by the benevolent self-giving will of the Triune God (2 Peter 1:4) fully communicated in and through Christ (John 5:21; John 10:28; 1 John 4:9-10). Jesus gave Himself so that we might live by trusting in Him.
After His crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection, He ascended to heaven where He is seated at the right hand of God the Father, waiting for the day of His consummation when He will rule manifestly over the world (Acts 1:9; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 12:2). Nonetheless, while Christ is ruling in heaven, He has not left Himself without witness—but has sent His Holy Spirit to dwell within the hearts of those who have believed in His name (John 14:26; 16:4-14).
And because He has sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in us, we are able to commune with God intimately (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:19). C.S. Lewis understood this to mean that by God commanding us to worship, He was enabling us to experience the joy of His presence, because it is by our worshiping Him that He communicates His presence to us. By joining together in corporate worship, God communicates His presence in a very real and powerful way (cf. Matthew 18:20; 1 Corinthians 5:4; 14:23-25)—and like the Psalmist, we pant for God’s Person—we want Him, not talk about Him, nor the formal ceremony about Him, but Him. It is by communing with Him that we experience the power and joy of His presence.
I pray that each one of us might pant for His Person as the Psalmist did. I pray that we might have an insatiable longing for Him that cannot be quenched until we have worshiped and communed with Him. And I pray that when we do, our worship might overflow with joy inexpressible and full of glory to the delight and praise of His wondrous and glorious name (cf. 1 Peter 1:8). Amen.
so pants my soul 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
The Psalmist understood what it means to long for God’s presence. He longed for it, thirsted for it—like a deer longing for water. He wanted God, the living God who communicates His presence to men—the fullest expression of which is seen in Jesus Christ.
Jesus is what makes heaven, heaven. He is our heart’s passion, our reason for being, and the answer to the cries and longings of our heart. Without Him heaven is just a place, just like my house is just a house without my family. It is my wife and kids that make my house a home, just like it is Jesus’ presence that makes heaven, heaven. Nevertheless, many of us haven’t yet seen Jesus as the fullest answer to our deepest desire because we have failed to understand who He is and how He has communicated His presence to us.
In the New Testament, John testifies that the Triune God sent the second Person of the Trinity—God the Son—to assume the flesh of humanity as God’s love gift to man (cf. John 3:16). Jesus, God’s Son, came and dwelt among us: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth”—John 1:14.
Jesus actually lived and walked among people, as John wrote:
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete”—1 John 1:1-4.
John and others had heard Jesus talk, seen Him work and touched Him (1 John 1:1). Not only in Him was life (John 1:4), but He is the essence of life personified (cf. Colossians 3:4; John 14:6). And His life on earth shows the reality of God’s desire that we participate in the divine life made available by the benevolent self-giving will of the Triune God (2 Peter 1:4) fully communicated in and through Christ (John 5:21; John 10:28; 1 John 4:9-10). Jesus gave Himself so that we might live by trusting in Him.
After His crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection, He ascended to heaven where He is seated at the right hand of God the Father, waiting for the day of His consummation when He will rule manifestly over the world (Acts 1:9; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 12:2). Nonetheless, while Christ is ruling in heaven, He has not left Himself without witness—but has sent His Holy Spirit to dwell within the hearts of those who have believed in His name (John 14:26; 16:4-14).
And because He has sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in us, we are able to commune with God intimately (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:19). C.S. Lewis understood this to mean that by God commanding us to worship, He was enabling us to experience the joy of His presence, because it is by our worshiping Him that He communicates His presence to us. By joining together in corporate worship, God communicates His presence in a very real and powerful way (cf. Matthew 18:20; 1 Corinthians 5:4; 14:23-25)—and like the Psalmist, we pant for God’s Person—we want Him, not talk about Him, nor the formal ceremony about Him, but Him. It is by communing with Him that we experience the power and joy of His presence.
I pray that each one of us might pant for His Person as the Psalmist did. I pray that we might have an insatiable longing for Him that cannot be quenched until we have worshiped and communed with Him. And I pray that when we do, our worship might overflow with joy inexpressible and full of glory to the delight and praise of His wondrous and glorious name (cf. 1 Peter 1:8). Amen.
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