The Ultimate Desire

“The Ultimate Desire”

By Zach Wood

Psalm 27:4 NIV

One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.”

For the past couple of months, our pastor has been going through various passages in Ecclesiastes and it has been opening my eyes to the fact that so many things I chase after in life are completely meaningless in themselves.  In the past many years of my life, I have found myself chasing one thing after another, hoping to find true meaning.  Solomon chased after so much and finally concluded that apart from God, any other longing or chasing is absolutely meaningless. 

As I have continued to think about this over and over again, I am realizing how desperately more I really need God to lead me and to rescue me from my attempts to so often follow my own desires.  I truly want my desire to be nothing but seeking God every day and doing the best I can to surrender and submit to His ways and His plan for my life. 

I guess I sort of feel like Solomon in that I have chased after so many different things in life and just always come up dry.  I think this or that will satisfy, but as David says, he wants to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord.  And, as Solomon found out, everything else apart from chasing God, is utterly meaningless. 

Through the various personal journeys I have been on in the past years, I’m discovering more and more that God is teaching me to draw near and close to Him.  He allows me to realize the ways I go on my own leave me out of breath and gasping for Him.  Only He can truly satisfy me.  I’ve found myself in the valleys and on the mountaintops at times.  But I can truly say that I learn the most when I’m in the valleys and that’s where I find myself longing more and more for Him.  My ultimate desire for Him grows and I just want more!

What is your ultimate desire?  What do you find yourself chasing after so much?  We all have to admit that we chase after a lot other than God in our lives.  We find ourselves chasing after marketing promises of different things that promise to satisfy, but then only leave us so very thirsty for more. 

I want to share with you all that my ultimate desire is to do nothing but chase after Him and gaze up on Him.  I know only He will satisfy and provide ultimate fulfillment.  Like David and Solomon, they both came to realize that nothing else is meaningful except being fulfilled by God and Him alone.  I want God to create within me a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Everything in life, apart from God, is absolutely meaningless.