Deeper Longings with Jane
25 March 2020
Hello, my name is Jane Sidhu and I’m on staff at RHC. We want to try something slightly new using this time with you. Through this great uncertainty, changes and upheaval that we’re experiencing through COVID-19, may we take it as an opportunity to really lean into God and to be a people of prayer.
So, we’re calling this ‘Deeper Longings’ and the background to this is I was just reflecting this weekend, you know, about all that’s been going on in my own heart and my own life. It’s just so much uncertainty and it just feels like we’re in limbo all the time. We don’t know how bad it’s going to get, what’s going to happen. And what I realised was that I was actually quite bummed and sad that life had just turned upside down. And as I was praying, I was reminded of this verse about not grieving like those who don’t have hope but of course I had to Google it and find out where it was in the Bible and it was in 1 Thessalonians 4:13.
And it says, “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, (says Paul) about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again...” and then he goes on and says, “And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
And I was just so captivated by that thought of being in the clouds with Jesus, or just being with Jesus forever, it doesn’t have to be in the clouds—it can be anywhere! And, you know, what I realised was that I was actually grieving about all this uncertainty and all the stuff that was going on in my heart, but the other side of that coin might be that I’m actually longing—I’m longing for something far greater than what COVID-19 is bringing up. And I’m longing for perfection, for glory, for restoration, for Christ, for God’s kingdom to come. And so, what a way and what a time this might be to be leaning into my own sorrows, your own sorrows, and turn them into longings and then longings, into prayers. And, you know, when this is all over or things have simmered down, it’d be great to just see that the Lord was drawing us near and that He will see us through this. And so, deeper longing - it’s always far greater than what daily life presents. Anyway, so here’s prayer number 1. I hope it encourages you and please send in some prayers that shares with us your deeper longings.
Our Heavenly Father, we praise you that you created us, that you know us, that you’re near us, that you love us. Yet, we confess, Lord, we’re tired and disoriented, and confused, and stressed out. Lord, I grieve the state that we’re in as a world, as a society. Many are sick and in critical condition. We have lost 2 people this past week in Singapore to the Coronavirus and we just keep seeing this news that the world, it feels like, is falling apart. We know that’s not true, that this is nothing new under the sun for you.
But Lord, I confess that I’m tired of just surviving and wrestling, sanitising my hands and constantly being weary of self-preservation. And I compound it with what I know I should be doing as a Christian - hopeful, full of faith, godly—I work at church—I should be serving and instead of being gentle and giving a smile to somebody who’s coughing, I am giving them a death stare. Lord, I am tired of my own self-absorption and self-centredness. I am tired of not being perfect yet, Lord. But when I look at the state, Lord, I realise that I have a deeper longing, a deeper longing for no more tears, no more pain, no more self-condemnation, no more judgementalism, no more striving so hard to live up to an image or project an image, free of, Lord, all these things.
And I know, Lord, that I should be resting in you. You say that you are gentle, Lord, and that your yolk is easy, that you will give me rest. And, Lord, I mourn that I don’t always live in that promise. Lord, you know my deeper longings. You know all our deeper longings - to be with you, free from all these thoughts and voices that are so busy and loud in our minds. To be completely beholden by your beauty, Lord, and your presence. I can’t wait to be in your presence. I can’t wait for you to show me what that perfect Jerusalem is, Lord, what home is.
And, Lord, how you will show me what it was always meant to be like on Earth. Lord, my heart longs for that. And, Lord, like Apostle Paul said, for your glory, for your kingdom, it is good for me to be here as you ordained it. It is good for us to be here in this day and age in this city called Singapore. So would you fill us with the hope that, Lord, our life, our every minute on earth will count, and it will continue on to that place called home. And you will show us, you will say… you will hold our hands and say, ‘Look back, child, that is why I had you there at that time in that space.’ And Lord, you will be made even more glorious, and beautiful, for you will show us your sovereignty that we can’t see right now but we put our faith in. Lord Jesus, fill us with that hope, with that faith, that you are indeed making all things new right now, and it’s not just the future that we should long for, but, Lord, that I long for your presence here and now, that you would fill me up.
Lord, when we look down at our sin, and when I see how worthless and hopeless and broken I am, Lord, lift up my head to see you. Lift up our heads to see you at the cross. And furthermore, help us to see you lifted up, risen from the dead, sitting at the right hand of the Father. It is not about the Coronavirus, but you are using that to—to expose the faultlines and the cracks in our lives and in our hearts. Reveal our hearts, search our hearts, O Lord, and help us be more like you. Show us our deeper longings - that they are not made for this world, but a much more eternal city and for an eternal God. Help us to channel our deeper longings and help us to see you. Use the suffering, use our longings to glorify you.
Thank you that you are enough and that our hearts are restless until we find our rest in you. Give us that rest now. Thank you for the hope and the promise of heaven. But thank you that you are with us now and that you are enough. Teach us, O Lord, how to live. Who have I in Heaven but you? There is nothing on Earth I desire besides you. Though my flesh and my heart may fail, you are the strength of my heart and my portion forever, Lord. Help us through this time where so much is under stress. Help us to see you. We love you for dying on the cross and for rising.
I pray this in the precious and eternal name of Jesus. Amen.