Desperation

September 22, 2008

“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
-C. S. Lewis

Ah, Mr. Lewis always has a way of putting things that twists my brain around a bit to see from a new direction. Our desires are too weak and we are far too easily pleased…What is it then that our desires are too weak to grasp at? What is it that we are missing when we settle for being pleased with too little? Take a look at this song, written on a similar theme:

“I Miss You” by Shane & Shane

Put down your paper plate
come to the table made
deep blue china
found on the table by the wine
so fine

it brings out flavor
like You bring out color in life

oh, i miss You so
the feel of forever
oh, that taste i know
it hurts to remember

unfortunately high
ironically dissatisfied
i miss You
i miss You

oh, i miss You so
the feel of forever
oh, that taste i know
it hurts to remember

i had a fleeting thought this morning
and i mentioned you today
it breaks my heart just to know You in part
and not to be with You where You are

oh, i miss You so
the feel of forever
oh, that taste i know
it hurts to remember
oh, i miss You so
the feel of forever
oh, that taste i know


Let’s talk about that first verse, a call to lay down our cheap imitations and take up something better…something infinitely better. We’ve gotten so used to looking down at the dirt that we don’t even remember what the sky looks like, that deep blue expanse of heaven. Jesus is so much better than the things we grasp at. This song is a desperate longing to be as close as possible to Him, to taste Him, to touch Him, to know Him completely, to ever be with Him. It’s a dissatisfaction with merely knowing part of Him. I love the line “ironically dissatisfied.” Doesn’t that just capture it? There is no doubt that Jesus is all-satisfying when He comes into your life and into your very being like water to a man dying of thirst. And yet, in the midst of being so satisfied in Him, there comes a hunger to know Him more. He expands our hearts to reach for more of Him, to be filled with more.

When was the last time we felt desperation to know Him more? Isn’t this the big difference between what we have with Jesus, this deeply intimate relationship, and every religious system, philosophy, and self-help technique? The difference is Jesus Himself. While the most of the rest of man kind is reaching for God, God Himself has stepped into our world and they don’t see Him, they don’t know Him. Yet here He is, inside every believer. We know Him. But will we settle there? Or will we continually follow His beckoning call to know more of all that He is, to taste more, to drink more deeply from His heart?
Lord, give us desperate hearts.

I read a verse recently that kind of rocked me: “Whom have I in heaven but You, and besides You, I desire nothing on earth” (Psalm 73:25)…Really? Nothing?? I read it and my mind tried to rationalize, to find a loophole. “Well, maybe he didn’t really mean nothing. Maybe it was just a figure of speech, a hyperbole. Yeah, that’s it, a hyperbole…” But if I really believe that these words are God-breathed, inspired by God, written through a person, then I have to take into consideration that this “nothing” really means what it says…nothing. That is a radical thought. Run through your mind all the things that you desire right now…God might be on the list, but that’s just it. For the normal person, it’s a list. But to desire nothing, but Jesus…I do believe that we have God given desires, don’t get me wrong. But when you can truthfully say that all you want is Jesus and that everything else is just peripheral, my friend, I think that you’ll have come to a more truthful picture of this God of ours…because when you, a believer, see who He is, you must be drawn to love Him.

He is so good and compassionate. He cares about and gives attention to the outcast, the downtrodden, the brokenhearted, the orphan, the stranger, the weak, the failures, the lonely, the ‘insignificant’, the lowly, the ‘unimportant,’ the unpresentable – all of us, if we care to admit it. He lifts the burdens from the shoulders of those who’ll let Him. He heals the wounded, cares for the needy. He is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. He is humble though exalted. He is strong, selfless, forgiving, long-suffering, and faithful. He never fails. He is glorious, majestic, just, righteous, pure, sinless, and holy. He is the King above everything and the center of the universe. He holds everything together and everything was made by Him and for Him. He shook heaven and earth to save us and He has. He is the victorious warrior, the tender lover, the loving father, the Prince of Peace, the great I AM. In Him and from Him is everything we need.

May we put down the small things we’re so entangled in to reach for Him, though He is not far from any of us. May we miss Him so. May we be desperate for Him. He is worthy of our desperation.