What Are You Looking For?

We all have times of uncertainty in our lives, but this is what I know to be sure: anytime you are feeling unsure or fearful of the future, anytime the longing in your soul becomes almost unbearable in the time of waiting, there is always a way to walk straight into the security of the arms of our great God. In fact, our expectation — what we are looking for — actually seems to be the breeding ground for the miraculous in our lives.

I love how the poet Robert Robinson wrote about this in the beloved hymn, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”:

O to grace how great a debtor

Daily I’m constrained to be!

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,

Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love;

Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,

Seal it for Thy courts above.1

Rather than wandering through his life with no sense of leaning into the unknown, we can hear this hymn writer’s prayers cry out for his heart to be tied to the mysteries of God, and his love song of trust rises once more to the God he knows is so very close to him and his circumstances. Rather than settling for a casual commitment, he is looking for more. The power of expectation sets his sight on “Thy courts above.”

To find this kind of love in our own lives, we, too, must look for it.

God asks us to seek Him and seek Him first — over and above all other loves we may experience in our lives.

The Samaritan woman at the well had experienced many human loves and many man-made relationships, but it was not until she encountered the Lord of love that her needs were truly met and her thirst was truly quenched. Take a look at her familiar story with new eyes.

Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” Surprised, she said, “Why would a Jewish man ask a Samaritan woman for a drink of water?” Jesus replied, “If you only knew who I am and the gift that God wants to give you — you’d ask me for a drink, and I would give to you living water.”

The woman replied, “But sir, you don’t even have a bucket and this well is very deep. So where do you find this ‘living water’? Do you really think that you are greater than our ancestor Jacob who dug this well and drank from it himself, along with his children and livestock?”

Jesus answered, “If you drink from Jacob’s well you’ll be thirsty again and again, but if anyone drinks the living water I give them, they will never thirst again and will be forever satisfied!

For when you drink the water I give you it becomes a gushing fountain of the Holy Spirit, springing up and flooding you with endless life!”

The woman replied, “Let me drink that water so I’ll never be thirsty again and won’t have to come back here to draw water.”

Jesus said, “Go get your husband and bring him back here.”

“But I’m not married,” the woman answered.

“That’s true,” Jesus said, “for you’ve been married five times and now you’re living with a man who is not your husband. You have told the truth.”

The woman said, “You must be a prophet! So tell me this: Why do our fathers worship God here on this nearby mountain, but your people teach that Jerusalem is the place where we must worship. Which is right?”

Jesus responded, “Believe me, dear woman, the time has come when you won’t worship the Father on a mountain nor in Jerusalem, but in your heart. Your people don’t really know the One they worship. We Jews worship out of our experience, for it’s from the Jews that salvation is made available. From here on, worshiping the Father will not be a matter of the right place but with the right heart. For God is a Spirit, and he longs to have sincere worshipers who worship and adore him in the realm of the Spirit and in truth.”

The woman said, “This is all so confusing, but I do know that the Anointed One is coming — the true Messiah. And when He comes, He will tell us everything we need to know.”

Jesus said to her, “You don’t have to wait any longer, the Anointed One is here speaking with you — I am the One you’re looking for.” — John 4:8-26 TPT

Yes, with Jesus, there is always a “Yes, I have found what I was looking for!” moment to be had. We don’t have to wait any longer with fear or sadness to find the fulfillment for the longings of our hearts. We don’t have to wait in frustration in times of transition any longer. No, we are called to wait in hope that the newness we’ve been waiting for is, in fact, within us. Do you realize right now that the Holy Spirit is leading you into all things new?

In worship, we are given the ability and opportunity by the Spirit of God to enter into the courts of God, no matter what season or state we find ourselves in. And as we draw near to God, we find He has been drawing near to us all along, in every season, every moment of our lives.

1. Robert Robinson, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” public domain.

Excerpted with permission from The Golden Thread by Darlene Zschech, copyright Darlene Zschech.

Hear from Darlene in this special message to FaithGateway readers

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Your Turn

Do you feel unsure today? Are you waiting? Let this time and this circumstance cause you to walk straight to Jesus and His security and faithfulness! Wait in hope! Come share your thoughts with us on our blog. We want to hear from you! ~ Devotionals Daily

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