Key Takeaway
Your soul was made for God, and true satisfaction comes only when you return to Him as your source.
We want God—and our heavenly Father wants us in return.
God created us with a desire for Him.
When we recognize this longing, we identify two things:
A. Something is missing in our lives.
B. What’s missing isn’t romantic love, career success, or any accolade; it’s the God who created us for Himself.
When we recognize these two things, everything begins to change.
Most people don’t realize they’re thirsty. Others may know they’re thirsty but haven’t yet grasped that what they’re thirsting for is a person—the God who made them.
We need something more.
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
Psalm 42:1-2
In the Old Testament, you physically went to the courts of worship. Here, the psalmist longs for that moment—his soul panting for God.
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
among the festive throng.
Psalm 42:3-4
This is why we gather. There is something powerful about coming together with one heartbeat, one mindset, and one passion for God.
When that happens, everything is different.
You don’t need to go to church to experience God, but you should want to.
We cheer loudly for our favorite sports teams in stadiums, yet we hesitate to gather with the same passion to worship Jesus.
We should be excited to be in the House of God. That’s what it means to be desperate for Him.
However, we live in a land of spiritual dehydration. No doubt we are dehydrated—but many don’t know it, or they don’t know what they are thirsty for.
Your soul was made for Him. Do you know what you’re thirsty for?
The enemy has a plan for you—to dry you out. He wants to dehydrate your soul until you become brittle. But God is the living water who satisfies. This has been the story since the garden.
Adam and Eve walked in the cool of the garden because they were made for God.
What we see in the garden is not just an assignment but a relationship. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God and listened to the enemy, they were separated from Him.
Read Genesis 3:21-24.
The beauty of this story is that God always had a plan for humanity to return.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem and people shouted “Hosanna,” He came through the east gate to give His innocent life, so that men and women could be restored and reconciled to the God for whom we were created.
The enemy wants to pull you away from the source. Jesus’ plan is to bring you back to the source.
Read Exodus 33:7-11.
Verse 11 says that God spoke to Moses as a friend. We were created for this kind of relationship with Him.
There are holy men of God whose deepest desire is simply more of God. Consider the life of A.W. Tozer. He loved God so deeply that he often lost track of time in His presence.
We, too, want to be people who meet with God regularly—making space for Him even in the busyness of life.
It may feel extreme or unrealistic, but we already spend hours working out, watching TV, reading, playing video games, or scrolling social media. Isn’t it reasonable to devote some of that time to meeting with God?
It’s not unreasonable if your heart’s desire is to be a person after God’s own heart.
So here are four things we can do to be with God:
Be still.
Open the Word (Jeremiah 15:16).
Worship (Psalm 95).
Let your words be few (Ecclesiastes 5:1-2).
Discussion Questions
What does it mean that God created us with a longing for Him?
How can you identify when your soul is “thirsty” for God rather than something else?
In Psalm 42, the psalmist compares his longing for God to a deer panting for water. How does that image connect with your own experience of spiritual hunger?
Why do you think people are more willing to be passionate in stadiums than in church?
What does it mean to be “spiritually dehydrated,” and how do we see that in our culture today?
How does the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 show the consequences of separation from God?
What encouragement do you find in knowing that God always had a plan for humanity to return to Him?
Why do you think Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem through the east gate is significant?
How do examples like Moses or A.W. Tozer inspire us to prioritize time with God?
Of the four practical steps listed (be still, open the Word, worship, let your words be few), which one do you most need to focus on right now, and why?
