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Divine Hunger
By Marilyn Anderes

"There must be more than this." That is the heart cry of many. It is what settled the American West and planted footsteps of an earthling on the moon. The problem comes in knowing what more looks like and how to get there. The Creator programmed us with a hunger and thirst for more of him, so apart from him, adventure, power, knowledge, riches, and even serving him will not satisfy.

It is not more of the same that fulfills. It is more of him. And in the pilgrimage to more of him we realize that, amazingly, he longs for more of us. More is spelled s-u-r-r-e-n-d-e-r. John the Baptist got it: "He [Jesus] must become greater; I must become less" (John 3:30).

Years ago when our then four-year-old son, John, wanted more of me, he would spin me around and put his little hands on my face and say in as serious a voice as he could muster, "Mommy, point your face at me." What followed was predictable. He would invite me to stop and taste a cookie or to answer a question burning in his heart or to look at treasures in his hands.

One day I came upon Psalm 27:8. David says: "When Thou didst say, 'Seek My face,' my heart said to Thee, 'Thy face, O Lord, I shall seek'" (NASB). It was as if God had said: Marilyn, point your face at me.

When God prods you to come and grow in intimacy with him, it translates into "Point your face at me." When He bids you to explore the width, length, height, and depth of his love, when he invites you to his feast, his race, his mountain and his river, he is repeating, "Point your face at me." Then he invites you to a place of R & R-a grown-up cookie break. He answers your questions even before you form them and he shows you treasures in his Word.


God's feast
God offers us extravagance. He is looking for a bride who has "made herself ready with fine linen, bright and clean" (Revelation 19:6). "Everything is now ready," he proclaims (Luke 14:17). The table presents "the richest of fare" (Isaiah 55:2). "You will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests" (Luke 14:10-11). The host "takes great delight in you . . . and rejoices over you with singing" (Zephaniah 3:17). That would be an invitation difficult to ignore and yet I bet you do it all the time. I do.

God longs for us to be hungry and thirsty for him; to "taste and see" that he is good (Psalm 34:8). He wants to show us the wonder of a banquet only he can offer. Calvin Miller contends that "we are too hungry for the eternal to feel satisfied with the contrived and the contemporary." God invites consistently, but Satan plays on our hunger and taunts us to turn stones into bread. So we settle for lesser menus. The enemy's forgery offers food that is hard, stale, and tasteless. We believe his lies.

Perhaps you feel that you cannot go to the feast because you do not look right; you do not have the proper clothing. Or perhaps you are afraid because you do not know how to dance. Or maybe you have not finished all your expected chores and the time to twirl freely is frankly just.not yet. Perhaps you have a desire to move ahead with God, but not much progress is apparent. Is it possible that you look alive, but you know something is amiss?

If you feel that way, you are not alone. Countless others are "doing church" and not encountering the God of the church. It is as if they are napping while the invitation to receive more gathers dust.

That reminds me of the preschooler who fell out of bed in the middle of the night. When his mother ran to comfort him, she asked the frightened little boy what had happened. He said, "I don't know. I guess I fell asleep too close to where I got in."

That is what some of us did. We fell asleep too close to where we got into the faith and we long for more. We yearn to know his love that invites us to the feast. In Romans 5:5, Paul tells us that "God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."

Being convinced of God's love is of critical importance because when we know that he loves us, we are free to love him back. We are also at liberty to love others.  Even enemies. Even the unlovely. God always welcomes a humble, contrite heart, but without the certainty of his love, we are shy to approach the Holy One with our own unholiness. The banquet hall is a scary place unless we are sure of a loving welcome.

I needed to surrender to God's love and, in that regard, I found a kindred spirit in Job. Let's look at his story.


Lessons from Job
Job was a man who did all the "right" things. He loved God, and he was respected for his godliness-God himself called Job blameless and upright-but he had not really connected with the divine. He looked good on the outside, but had not fully surrendered his life. When he did, true repentance came and his eyes and ears were opened to the wonders of God. He came to the feast.

The biblical account puts Job's life under the microscope. Consider this testimony from Job's friend, Eliphaz: "Think how you have instructed many, how you have strengthened feeble hands. Your words have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees" (Job 4:3-4). Friends flatter and it is easy to buoy ourselves up with glowing assessments. Job did:

"But [God] knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread" (Job 23:10-12).

I have been there. Have you been there, too? You are probably a person of the Word and God has most likely used you in the lives of others. But, perhaps you are not broken and surrendered.

Job makes it clear when he replied to the Lord: "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.' My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:1-6).

These verses represent Job's surrendered response. His losses prompted a quest for more. God thundered these words: "Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me" (Job 38:2-3). God repeated these words in Job 40:7.

An Hasidic Jewish saying declares: "It is not within our power to place the divine teachings directly into someone else's heart. All that we can do is place them on the surface of the heart so that when the heart breaks, they drop in." God had spoken the identical words before, but now Job's heart was broken and humble, ready to receive.

Instead of "Woe is me" over his loss of health, wealth, and family, Job finally confessed, "My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you." The result? Repentance. The accompanying action? Surrender. The final outcome? Transformation, intimacy with God, and glory to God.

Consider Job's "before and after" scenario and see where you are, possibly in need of an extreme makeover.

Before, Job did a lot of talking. He said: "If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling! I would state my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would find out what he would answer me, and consider what he would say" (Job 23:3-5). When God started asking his own penetrating questions, Job's repentance began. He said, "I am unworthy-how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth" (Job 40:4).


Finally!
Before Job's new realizations, he had only heard about God. He felt justified in standing up for his rights and his personal agenda. After his awakening, he repented. He took God's counsel and started listening. Before, he had God all figured out. After, he started bowing to the mystery. "Surely I spoke of things I did not understand; things too wonderful for me to know" (Job 42:3).

Before Job's surrender, he demanded answers to his own questions. "If I have sinned, what have I done to you, O watcher of men? Why have you made me your target? Have I become a burden to you?" (Job 7:20).

But as Job's heart softened under the humbling hand of his loving God, he was able to hear this question from the Most High: "Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? Do you have an arm like God's and can your voice thunder like his?" (Job 40:8-9).

Before Job's surrender, he taught the majesty and glory of God. After, he treasured God's glory and worshiped him. As John White says, before, Job was big, but puffed up. After God's probing questions about his creation, Job was small, but lifted up. Before, Job was familiar with God. After, he was intimate with the Almighty.

What does it take for us to surrender to God? Broken and contrite hearts (see Isaiah 57:15) and humility-depending on him-is what motivates God's hand to lift us up (see 1 Peter 5:6).

Are you beginning to see your name on the invitation? Our understanding of the width of God's love is not a matter of how much knowledge we have of God, but how much of us he has; not from knowing and doing more, but from surrendering to the Holy Spirit more. Every time we say yes to his invitation, we yield, and that step toward him is the beginning of surrender.

We need divine help to come near to him. Jesus said, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him" (John 6:44). But when we take even a baby step toward him, he promises to gallop in our direction. "Come near to God and he will come near to you" (James 4:8). I believe God's favorite word is Come and he says it with arms open wide.

Come to the feast and remain in his banquet hall. Mystery, intimacy, and more are waiting. Come. Linger. Allow him to convince you that his banner over you is love.

Marilyn Anderes is an author, Good News columnist, and a member of Mount Oak UM Church. This article is an excerpt taken from her new book, More: Four Dimensions of Intimacy with God, Chosen Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2006.



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