All of life is cyclical, and when things are really bad I find myself constantly seeking help from God. But when times are good, so good like right now in my life, it is hard to be really desperate for God. Some of the most powerful moments I have had with God are when I find myself in desperate need for Him. Right now, life is good, I have truly been blessed! In this time where I am feasting at the Father’s table, it is really hard to “be hungry” for Him.

I want to be hungry all the time. I want to really need Him all the time, not just in the bad times. I don’t know of any other relationship I have where I only talk to the person when times are tough. With the people I love the most, I communicate more when times are good and shy away when things are tough. Why then do I, with the most important relationship I will ever have, do just the opposite.

Then there is this: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (Psalms 46:1).  I am reminded that “His ways are not our ways” and that He can see what we cannot. So although times may be good, great even, I should lean into the refuge that is my Savior.

I started this thought by just reading the first verse of Psalm 46. Then I decided to look up the whole passage:

¹ God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.^[c]

⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
⁵ God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
⁶ Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

⁷ The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

⁸ Come and see what the LORD has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
⁹ He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields^[d] with fire.
¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

¹¹ The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Again I am humbled by nearly the same message, just be with God. I started this blog by wanting to write good thoughts of my “struggle” to be hungry and to really seek God. But I think God makes it easier, just live in Him. Go to Him, in the good and the bad, simply “be still and know that I am God.”

What a good God we serve. What a glorious King who has picked me out of my own filth and brought me into the banqueting room. What a gracious Father that He sees me in the middle of my sin, He sees me for exactly what I really am, and still He pours His love over me. What love is this…