The Desire of Your Heart

In the path of thy judgments,
    O Lord, we wait for thee;
thy memorial name
    is the desire of our soul.
9 My soul yearns for thee in the night,
    my spirit within me earnestly seeks thee.
For when thy judgments are in the earth,
    the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
10 If favor is shown to the wicked,
    he does not learn righteousness;
in the land of uprightness he deals perversely
    and does not see the majesty of the Lord.
11 O Lord, thy hand is lifted up,
    but they see it not.
Let them see thy zeal for thy people, and be ashamed.
    Let the fire for thy adversaries consume them.
12 O Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us,
    thou hast wrought for us all our works.
13 O Lord our God,
    other lords besides thee have ruled over us,
    but thy name alone we acknowledge.
Isaiah 26:8-13

Key words:

• wait
• desire
• yearn
• learn
• seek (earnestly)
• acknowledge

These words each show an aspect of actively pursuing our relationship with God.  Christianity is not a spectator sport.  It's all about being on the team and participating.  

Waiting may sound passive, but it is an action verb in this case.  I would define it as, "A purposeful pause of anticipation."  In other words, making ourselves be still to see what God has in store.

Desire is to have an appetite for God.  That may sound a bit odd.  Think about it, though.  If our physical stomach is hungry, we feed it with something that will satisfy those gnawings in our "gut."  If we allow our spiritual hunger to draw us toward God, with a desire to be satisfied, He will satiate us with Himself.

Yearning is a close relative to desire, but actually means to have a strong desire.  Not so much, "I'm hungry, " but more like, "I'm starving!"

Our society's common definition of learning is to "acquire information."  The meaning in this passage is far deeper.  It's not only about accumulating facts, but to make those facts a part of who we are.

To earnestly seek God is again, an action.  Picture it like this:  You've lost one of your small children in a mall during pre-Christmas shopping.  You don't stand around and watch people pass by, hoping you will eventually see your child, and all will be well.  You "earnestly seek" to find them.  This is what the Scripture is saying to us as well.  We need to be active in our relationship with God.

Acknowledging God's name alone means we recognize Him as the ultimate authority in our lives.  This also involves an active setting aside of our own agenda, and allowing His plans to be ours.

It's time to get off the bench, get in the game, and do our part!