CHAPTER 8

 

PART OF MY HEART

 

From our origin in the Garden, God has put a longing in our hearts for Himself.  As it states in Ecclesiastics, “He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”  (3:11) Truly I say to you that God made us as beings that long to praise and worship Him.  Sometimes we try to fulfill this longing with self-made gods of pleasure like money or drugs, alcohol or sex, physical fitness or beauty.  But there is only one way to satisfy this desire and that is to immerse oneself in your Holy Father’s agape love.  No earthly pleasure could ever be any greater!

 

Men of God have often written of their longing for their Father.  As we will see from the following saints of old, David and Isaiah, who so eloquently wrote of that longing and search.   In Psalm 119, verses 9 and 10 David say’s, “How can a young man keep his way pure?  By living according to your word.  I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your command.”  In another Psalm David wrote “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”  (Psalm 63:1)

 

Isaiah, using his own poetic license, expressed his thoughts this way,  “Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.  My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you.”  The Lord tells us in Proverbs 8 that He loves those who seek and find Him.

 

During a recent Unsolved Mystery there was an individual who found out that she was adopted, and was now searching for her natural parent.  As I watched the show unravel I began to feel the same hurt she was feeling.  I thought about how one must feel not knowing whom their true mom or dad are.  It became apparent that those who find that they were adopted seem to have an innate longing to find the truth about who they are.  They do this because they feel that this would be the only way that they could continue on with their lives.  They want to know about their natural parents; diseases in the family; or other brothers or sisters.  They long to know the truth in order to have peace in their own heart, soul and mind.  Sometimes the search bares fruit, other times it is futile, causing the individual to long all the more.

 

 I’m here to tell you that each search can be fruitful.  The hardest question to answer is who is my parent(s), and I have that answer for you, GOD!  God is both Father and Mother.  The people that rear us are but instruments, chosen by God, to help us to find Him.  If your parents are not helping you to do this, they are stumbling blocks along your pathway to truth.  (Remember this, there are two truths: God’s, which is reality; and man’s, which is perception)

 

Matthew’s gospel states, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”   Are you tired of being left out in the cold, longing to live with your true Father?  Are you weary of asking only to hear "no"?   Are you exhausted of climbing one mountain, in search for the truth, only to find another, and another, and another?  If you are I have the answer, “ Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

 

I am gentle and humble in heart!  Isn’t this something we wish we could say about each of our earthly parent(s)?  Don’t we long to crawl into our father’s arms and just rest, secure in knowing we are protected?  Don’t we long to look into our father’s eyes and know everything is all right?  Don’t we say things in strength when we know our father is close by protecting us?  Don’t we blush with pride when we ask our dad to show us his muscles in front of our friends?  The answer to all these could be, should be, yes!  That is if your Father’s name is I Am.  I Am is my Dad, and I pray He’s yours too?

 

Again, Isaiah says, “ Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.  Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts.  Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.”  I’m sad to say that time never stands still.  Tomorrow is a day that never arrives.  Don’t put off your search for the Lord!  So many, today, regret not saying I love you to their mom or dad before that parent’s untimely death.  Their heart breaks with each remembrance of how their foolish pride prevented them from finding true peace.  Know this, it will be a day, not too different from day, when Jesus returns, then it will be too late.  Seek the Lord while he may be found!  Go to him while you still can for tomorrow........?

 “By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away.  For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.  And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:5)  I can’t promise you will not die physically, but I can promise that you will not receive the second death of being separated from God.  If you live by faith and earnestly seek him you will find him.  If you believe in God’s son, Jesus Christ, and repent of your sins, you will surely find Him. 

 

Basically, what I’m telling you is seek God out. Search for His truth.  Don’t feel uncomfortable with the answer you find, saying it’s just too easy. For the answer is easy, and your reward could be eternal salvation!  Seek first His kingship over you, and the rest will fall into place.  I will not candy coat this message by saying it’s easy, because it’s not, but the rewards are out of this world.  There is true peace when you find what you are looking for.  It is only when you fill that longing in you heart with God that you find rest.  Remember the words from the one that came from heaven, “Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”