Where to Feed the Hunger

"You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek You; I thirst for You, my whole being longs for You, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and glory." (Psalm 63:1-2)
     This entire Psalm is based on relationship. "You, God, are my God." We seek for what we already have, because the having increases the hunger and thirst for more. But one of our Brethren "saints," Anna Mow, used to say, "being filled with the Holy Spirit doesn't mean that you get more of the Holy Spirit. It means that the Holy Spirit gets more of you." Coming to know God through Jesus Christ sparks the hunger within us. And the closer we get to Him, the more the hunger increases.
     So how do we get closer? Well, there are the usual responses, such as Bible study, prayer, meditation, fasting, solitude, and all of those spiritual disciplines written about by authors such as Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, Donald Witney, and John Ortberg, etal. But let's not forget one of the most important - worship. And here I mean public, corporate worship. Where did the hunger and thirst for God intensify? Verse 2 says, "I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and Your glory."
     We live now in a day when researchers like George Barna seem to celebrate the fact that Christians are eschewing worship gatherings for church via the internet and live streaming. Christians are trying to find ways to "schedule" worship into their busy lifestyles. Some are even opting for the old pagan standby, "Sunday is the only day I can rest and spend time with my family." So the church has attempted to cater to these ones by adding Saturday night services or Sunday evenings only. Now I can see this for those who have inflexible work schedules but still want to be involved in worship - more power to them. But what about all of the ones who make choices for convenience? And now the internet? Seriously? So we can stay in our pajamas and get an hour of church on the computer, which will save us getting ready and driving time, which will give us more time for the New York Times?   
     I AM thankful to serve a church that often has members absent because they are serving somewhere - at church camps, in Haiti or Guatemala, on Disaster work trips, on short term mission trips aand work camps. Sure, they all take vacation time, too, as do I. but they don't take the summer off going boating or the winter going skiing (not that you could do that in South Florida...
     Again, I must compare Christians in the comfortable, affluent West to brothers and sisters who will meet anywhere at anytime in order to praise God and hear His Word preached - whether it is underground in hiding, as in China, or in a non-air-conditioned tent with backless benches in Africa (Oh, and did I mention, 2-3 hour services?). I hear and read continual testimonies from American preachers and teachers who go to bless these folks and end up being the blessed ones because of the spiritual hunger they see. These dear Christians can't get enough. Ergo - they get more of the Lord because the Lord gets more of them, and the church in those places is growing like weeds, with life-changing power.
      Oh, for that spirit to once again invade our churches here. But hey! The Steelers are on at 1:00, so let's get this thing moving along. (Sorry, but I do favor the black and gold!)
     Isaiah's defining moment came when he "saw" the Lord high and lifted up in the temple (Isaiah 6:1). Job's moment of repentance came when he no longer just heard of the Lord, but saw Him. (Job 42:5)
     When we resolve to regularly attend worship and to fully engage in it - to love the Lord, our God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength - to sing with gusto, to pray with intensity, to be active listeners to the Word preached, to be joyful givers - then we will behold His power and His glory. The result? Greater hunger, that will bring us to offer more of ourselves to Him, which in turn, will give us greater hunger still.
     "We should not stop gathering together with other believers, as some of you are doing. Instead, we must continue to encourage each other even more as we see the day of the Lord coming." (Hebrews 10:25, God's Word Translation)
     "And Christ is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him. ... In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 1:18-19, 2:3, NIV) So let's gather together for worship like this is true.