Remembering

 May 3, 2022

“My soul longs for You, O God.” —Psalm 42:1. 

Can I honestly say this? In one sense, it is true of all of us. God has put a longing deep within us that can be satisfied only by him. We often attempt to fill that longing with other things—money, sex, power, acclaim—but they all fall short, and we keep longing, searching, hoping.

The psalm goes on to say, “When I remember (this longing); “I will remember You…” We have both individual and collective amnesia. I have forgotten so much that I have lost touch with my own soul, my deep longings. We have forgotten what we are longing for; buried them beneath all the false and futile satisfactions that never quite satisfy. 

In the beginning, God formed man of the dust of the earth, making a body into which he breathed the breath (“spirit”) of life, and “the man became a living soul.” It is the spiritual infused into the physical that creates the soul, the person in his entirety. When the body and spirit lose touch with each other, the soul is the casualty. We forget…God, ourselves, our humanity.

O Lord, remind me of who I am. Remind me of how you value the crown of your creation. Remind me of who you are, that I might long for you, remembering your great loving sacrifice. Remind me in the night of your light, and in the day of your presence at all times. Remind me, that I might long again for you…and find you nearby, where you’ve always been even when I forget.