Are you desperate for God?
It wasn’t until my final year of college that I landed in a place where I finally realized I needed God.
Up until this point, the notion that I had access to the Creator and Sustainer of life wasn’t all that overwhelming or inviting to me. Sure, I would read my Bible and pray, but the idea of truly seeking God by spending time with Him seemed more like an obligation than a joy, and it certainly didn’t feel like something that I needed the way I needed oxygen, water, or food.
That all changed when I was left with nowhere else to turn. My last year of undergraduate school came with more pain than I had ever experienced in my life. All my typical safety nets had been stripped away, and I was left in a place of deep hurt and hopelessness, feeling utterly alone and forgotten. In short, I was desperate. I needed something… someone to heal me and put me back together.
I looked for that the healing in the form of close friends and family members, but these and so many other things just left me with a giant whole, still searching for healing. In my desperation for relief from my pain and hopelessness, I finally turned to God, simply because I had nowhere else left to go. That day, I settled myself on my couch in my living room and honestly cried out to the Lord for help.
That seemingly ordinary moment on my couch changed my life forever, because in my desperate cry for God, HE ANSWERED ME! It wasn’t some loud voice that called my name or an some earth-shattering answer to a question that I had been looking for. It was simply a still small voice that told me things were going to be okay.
It was this voice that I began seeking out regularly, desperately, because I needed it more than I needed food, water, or air. It was the presence of this voice, the presence of God, that brought me healing and hope, that gave me peace and guided me into restoration. In my desperate search for Him, I found that what God told His desperate people in the book of Jeremiah still holds true for us today:
“Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” -Jeremiah 29:12-13
In my desperation, the Lord answered me and filled my broken heart with an encounter of His presence. I believe the Lord wants to do the same for you. This can happen when we seek Him with all our heart. Are you that desperate for God today? Are you earnestly seeking Him, or are you allowing other relationships, things of this world, or unhealthy habits to fill you up? Instead, could you look to the Lord to be what you desperately need?
In your honest seeking of God, you will find that He is not only present for you, but gives you just what you need. It is an amazing thing that the Creator and Sustain of life wants to commune with you today.
Laura Claus
Pastor of Outreach and Small Groups
