“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” (Psalm 139:23-24 NLT)
One of the tragedies of the sexual “revolution” of the sixties that has continued through to the present day is that it believes “freedom” to exploit one another sexually leads to satisfaction emotionally, but it doesn’t. We’ve believed that sex with multiple partners would lead to some measure of emotional contentment or even sexual satisfaction, but it doesn’t.
God had it right from the beginning – one man and one woman in a lifetime commitment to one another in marriage. Sexual intimacy that is satisfying and long-lasting grows out of the security of a lifelong commitment that can be difficult and takes effort to maintain. It grows out of a relationship in which we sometimes kick and scream and fight the temptation to not pay the price; to bail out of the marriage, but, unfortunately, many still do.
But the prize is to those who stay together and pay the price to break through to true intimacy where the two become one flesh. It’s a closeness that will never be achieved over night, but only comes over a lifetime of facing the ups and downs, tragedies and triumphs of love and life together, all along holding tightly to the hand of the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Intimacy with our spouse and with our God is a lifelong journey, one that demands time and work and a willingness to persevere. It doesn’t take minutes a day, it takes hours, but it’s worth every second.
If you’re serious about getting close to the Lord, you first must be willing to let Him be close to you. The Psalmist asked God to “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”
In order to allow the Lord to do those things you’ll need minimally 30-45 minutes to let your “engine” cool, so your heart and mind are in a suitable posture to listen. Sit with pen and paper close by because when He speaks, and He will, you’ll want to listen carefully and take lots of notes. Also have your Bible handy because sometimes He’ll point you to things He’s already told you, but you weren’t listening.
God’s Word will come to life for you like never before. You’ll read with a “sixth sense” that enables you to see things you’d never seen before; understand how to apply things you never saw before; and open avenues of intimacy to the heart of God you never realized existed before.
You’ll learn to see who God is, what He loves, why He loves, how He loves, how He teaches us, corrects us, desires for us to know and love Him on more than a superficial level. You’ll see more clearly why the people of the Bible we consider “great” men and women of God were that way and how they got there.
Loving God and being loved by Him is the greatest adventure of a lifetime and the reason most people never learn to enjoy Him is because they think they’re too busy. I couldn’t find who said this, but it’s the truth. It says: “If the devil can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy.” You’ll rarely, if ever, find the Lord in your busy-ness. You’ll find Him in your quietness.
In tomorrow’s post I’ll give you some guidance in planning a personal “spiritual retreat.”
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 