Yearn - To have an intense feeling of longing

Today I pondered yet again. Why doesn't God just show up flamboyantly, in a mighty cape with smoke bellowing beneath Him and a booming voice that says "I'm here." Super-hero style. Possibly with tons of cherubs flying around him and mighty battle angels by his side.

I think God is teaching us how to yearn for Him. To yearn is to have a longing, an intense feeling of longing for someone. If He were to appear at random every time we call for Him or have a "church-y" meeting, I reckon we would never understand what it means to host Him.

Just as I was listening to Heidi Baker talk about waiting on Him, I think that when we learn how to entertain Him in our personal lives, we learn to respond to when He shows up. Since, because, technically, He is always there. But we never really know how to entertain Him unless He shows us how to be aware of His Presence. There's just something about yearning that keeps us looking. It keeps our eyes peeled for the one whom we long for, it keeps our hearts prepared to receive Him.

I think a lot of my journey with God is learning how to respond to Him - to His love, to His teaching, to His voice, to His ways, to His knowledge ..and the list goes on. It's a great thing that He is teaching, even though I only begin to understand little by little. I am so grateful for the way He has lead me, teaching me to be still until I hear His gentle whispers, to enter into His rest.

If God were to show up the way I expected Him to every time, I would not be able to value my experiences with Him as much as when He leads me into closer and deeper encounters with Him over seasons. He creates in us a longing so that we will be able to recognize His moves and entertain Him and the hosts of Heaven.

God is a great mystery to me... a mystery that is so close to my heart. Sometimes I cannot help but wonder what He has planned for us in the great future. Eternity itself is a mystery. Truly there is no one more wonderful than Him!

Psalms 119:93 " I will never forget Your precepts, for by them You have revived me."