Passionate Pursuit
Last week, our students went to youth camp at Riverbend Retreat Center in Glen Rose. Many of you joined us in praying for them – for their safety, for their fun, for their friendships with one another, and for their relationships with God.This week, our kids will attend Vacation Bible School at UBC and learn all about God’s love for them. We’ll pray all week for them, too, to know and love God.
One of my favorite prayers to know God comes from Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible. At the heart of this long chapter is a repeated yearning to know God, to hear His teachings again and again, to understand God’s commands, and to follow them wholeheartedly. The Israelite writer passionately pursues and petitions God:
Lord, teach me your demands,
and I will keep them until the end.
Help me understand, so I can keep your teachings,
obeying them with all my heart.
Lead me in the path of your commands,
because that makes me happy.
Make me want to keep your rules
instead of wishing for riches.
Keep me from looking at worthless things.
Let me live by your word.
Keep your promise to me, your servant,
so you will be respected.
Take away the shame I fear,
because your laws are good.
How I want to follow your orders.
Give me life because of your goodness.
(Psalm 119:33-40 NCV)
The Psalmist speaks in nearly every verse of God’s commands, demands, rules, orders, promises, and teachings. He sees them as gateways to understanding, wisdom, safety, deliverance, and happiness. His passionate pursuit of God leaves him “nearly out of breath. I really want to learn your commands.” (Psalm 119:131 NCV) If the repetition of his desire fails to communicate his urgency to know God intimately, his imagery of breathlessness demonstrates his deep craving!
We pray for our students and our children (and ourselves) to know God, to understand scripture, and to pursue Him passionately. That prayer continues beyond a week away at camp, beyond a week of VBS; it follows them throughout their lives. The Psalmist offers a result of this pursuit too: “Those who love your teachings will find true peace, and nothing will defeat them.” (Psalm 119:165 NCV)
God offers a promise of peace again and again throughout the Psalms and all of scripture. May the peace of God, which is so great we cannot understand it, keep our students’ hearts – and our own – in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7 NCV)