Deeper Longings with James
30 June 2020
Hello Church, I am James, a member of the 2nd congregation here at RHC.
So, in the midst of the current COVID situation, one of the things that I really miss is travelling. If you know me personally, you’ll know that I really enjoy travelling and exploring multiple places in a go. Personally, a feeling that I really find some satisfaction in is the moment when I finally book a plane ticket for a holiday destination, or planning the places I will explore there, and finally getting on the plane to the destination. That’s really the moment when it hits you that it’s happening.
And as I was reflecting on this, and how I felt about the current limitations and uncertainties ahead, it dawned on me that there’s 2 distinct ways in which we all long for something.
· We either long for something in anticipation that it is going to happen.
· We could also long for the things lost, that we formerly enjoyed.
And I’m sure that in this challenging season, perhaps that sense of longing for the things lost seems to resonate with what many of us might be feeling. Our hearts ache for that normalcy, we crave for that ease or comforts we had earlier; and I’m sure we wish that this detour for 2020 would somehow come to an end soon, and that we would be able to finally get back on the original path we were supposed to be on.
But, what if this detour, however it may look like in our lives, is actually the path that God wants us to walk through with him and be on? Perhaps, certain things or situations will get better over time. Maybe some prayers and more immediate longings may be miraculously answered, but I think if we were really honest with ourselves, we would have to acknowledge that the old pathway is gone. Moving on, the world as what we know is going to look very differently after this COVID-19 pandemic.
The writer in Hebrews, in chapter 13, verse 14, talks about seeking the city that is to come. So I guess the question for us in the midst of all this is: Have our longings for the city that is to come… has it been eclipsed by our longings for the things that we have lost? And if we look in Numbers 11:4-6 concerning the Israelites, we might identify with a lot of what they were experiencing as well. When the Israelites were being led by God in the wilderness, they too, also longed for all the comfort and food they had in Egypt that they’ve lost by being in the wilderness, having only to feed on manna, but one of the things is that they’d forgotten that they were slaves during then. While the application… the principle might not be the same for us necessarily fully, but I think a helpful takeaway from this is that we should not assume that the old pathway that we may have been walking on was perfect or the best, it wasn’t if we were really honest. Our human tendency is to always focus on that which we have lost, than on what we have or could have; if we constantly pay too much attention to those things we’ve lost, we might just miss recognising the rewards or blessings of this new pathway that God has placed before us.
I want to just end off with this encouraging promise that God made to his people even in the midst of the judgement, sin, and utter mess that they were in. “I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them” (Isaiah 42:16)
Lord, even as many of us have been affected by this pandemic and are uncertain with what lies ahead, help us to draw near with assurance to you with our cares and concerns, and lament or cry out to you, God. Lead us deeper, as well, God, in knowing you intimately, and to ultimately recognise that God, you are more important, you are much greater and unchanging, O God, than our shifting circumstances in life. Help us to process our unmet longings, our longings for the things that we may have lost through you, God. Help us to process these things through you and open our eyes again with hope. And help us to fix our eyes on you, God, and to know God with full assurance that you have gone before us, paved the way for us and that you will lead us. Help us to trust in you, God, as we walk on whatever new pathway you have set before us. And more than that, God, deepen our hope for that city that is to come and help us to live by faith through your grace that empowers us to do so. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.