Pale brown hills of sand and rock rise on either side of the road from Jericho to Jerusalem and stretch as far as I can see. I want to call it “desert” but our guide insists on “wilderness”: this is wild, uncultivated land that needs just a few showers to spring into bloom. Every […]
THIRSTY? CHOOSE WHERE TO GO WITH YOUR LONGING
Lent is making me grumpy. I decided this year to give up more food than I usually do and my stomach and head are not happy. So Sunday’s readings really speak to me: will I be like Israel, complaining in the desert, or will I be like the woman of Samaria who looked to Jesus […]
ACQUIRING DESIRE FOR GOD
Do you ever worry that if you don’t desire God more than anything else, all the time, from the bottom of your heart – there’s something wrong with you? Don’t fall into that trap! The first step in thirsting for God is wanting to thirst for Him. But if you have trouble getting that “wanting” […]
PSALMS 42-43: When God Isn’t Near
Have you ever felt overwhelmed by your troubles? Wave after wave of distress washes over you. You pull yourself up to shout for help and another wave knocks you flat. You start to wonder: where is God now, in this situation?” “Why doesn’t he help? Is he really there?” You fight the suggestion that he […]
PSALM 63: Five Steps from Desire to Delight
On my first visit to Israel, I couldn’t get the wilderness of Judah out of my mind. It’s a high mountain desert, bleak and dry, rocky and full of crags, not a bush or a green leaf in sight. The mountain shown here is at the edge of it. The feeling I got there was […]
THE PROPER GOAL OF DESIRE: GOD
In Old Testament times, the closest you could get to God physically was to go to the Temple in Jerusalem. This is where the holy cloud of his presence rested, on the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies. Three times a year, all Jews travelled there for one of their big religious […]
DESIRE: THE HEART OF PRAYER
August 7, 1988, our first child was born. I’ll never forget it. I think I screamed through the whole delivery – but all that pain washed away when they handed me our little girl. Mark and I just stared at her in wonder. Abby was so beautiful. We were filled with love and this deep […]
THIRSTING FOR GOD
(Traducción en español al final) I feel an enormous need for Spring-cleaning this year. It’s not just my house that needs clearing from clutter and cobwebs, my whole life needs a good shaking out. The extra time I set aside for Lent was not enough. What I need, it seems, is a space inside of […]
