Many people try desperately to fulfill their longing with physical and worldly things, but, unfortunately, the things of this world can never truly satisfy us (1 John 2:16). Every time we get what we long for, it never seems to be enough. We are always looking for the next thing to satiate us, but the only one who can truly satisfy our longings is God. David, the king of Israel who wrote many psalms and was known as a “man after God’s own heart,” knew this intimately—as is shown in his writings where he describes his longing for God. Although he was in many precarious situations where he desperately needed or wanted food, shelter, sleep, and safety, it was ultimately God himself whom David longed for.
Part of That World
Most everyone can think of a time they have experienced a deep longing. Perhaps it felt like a pang in their heart at experiencing something so true and good that it caused everything else to pale in comparison. C.S. Lewis, the Irish-born author, philosopher, and theologian described his experience of longing as a “desire for our own far off country… for something that has never actually appeared in our experience.”1 Many of us, after experiencing such a feeling, cannot help but search high and low until we find it again.
For Ariel, she first experienced longing when she encountered human artifacts under the sea. Desperate to experience as much of her longing as she could, she collected a cavern full of human trinkets. We are not so different from Ariel. In desperation, we collect a menagerie of memories, experiences, and things that we think will bring us closer to what we long for. Sometimes we search to fulfill the longing we encounter through books—whether self-help, fictional, or other genres. Others turn to fulfilling their desire through physical pleasures like eating, drinking, and sex. Still others turn to spirituality. But, as Ariel points out in one of her songs, she still “want[s] more.” The longing itself isn’t good enough. She wants the actual thing. And anything that brings only the longing and not the fulfillment can never be the thing itself.
Created for More
Lewis explains in The Weight of Glory why this is:
“The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.”
The Christian worldview, which Lewis held, describes what the actual “thing itself” is: it is Christ, in whom is all the fullness of God, our creator, in human form (Colossians 2:9). And, for the Christian, it is through Christ that we can be “brought to fullness” (Colossians 2:10). Every longing is fulfilled in him. As Augustine wrote, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”3 This is something that King David knew intimately, as he experienced great hardship and danger in his life. While he wandered in a dry desert he said: “I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1). In another psalm, the Sons of Korah, the directors of worship for Israel, wrote: “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Psalms 42:2). This is what longing for God looks like: recognizing that he alone knows our innermost desires because he created us (Psalm 139:13), and he alone can bring us ultimate fulfillment.
However, there are many Christians who don’t resonate with or experience the kind of longing for God that the Psalms describe. These believers may wonder why they don’t long for God, feeling like there is something wrong with them or what they are doing. However, even the desire to long for God is a kind of longing. It is a sign that the Holy Spirit is at work in one’s heart and life. For those who want to deepen their longing for God but don’t know how, they need to start by setting their mind on God and things above (Colossians 3:1-2). Pratically, this can look differently, depending on your setting. For example, you can emulate David and the Sons of Korah: crying out to God, asking him to open in them a fountain of longing for him. They could then engage in a less familiar spiritual practice such as lectio divina or visio divina; or memorizing Scripture to be spoken or performed dramatically.
In The Little Mermaid, Ariel’s longing for the human world becomes greater as she meditates on, imagines, and searches for human curios. Likewise, by meditating on God, his word, and setting our minds on heavenly things (Colossians 3:2), we can cultivate a deeper longing for him, all done in partnership with the indwell Holy Spirit. Ruminating on God’s word, praying (both spontaneously and prayers that have stood the test of time), fellowshipping with other believers (Hebrews 10:24-25), adding to our faith the various virtues (2 Peter 1:5-8), keeping a weekly gratitude list, practicing trust in God’s faithfulness to his promises—these are all ways we can set our minds on the things of God.
Most of all, we can recognize that the longings we feel throughout our life are ultimately longings for God himself—our true home. When we recognize this and turn those feelings of longing back toward him through spiritual habits, we will find that we were already longing for him. We have to be willing to search for God, trusting that we will find him when we search with all our hearts (Jeremiah 29:13), but we should also trust that he is going to meet us exactly where we are. He will give us those moments of longing to point us back to himself.
Consider what C.S. says in The Last Battle, “I have come home at least! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now…. Come further up, come further in!”4
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