Thursday, May 25, 2017

"Hallelujah! I have found him whom my soul so long has craved!"


Hymn: “Satisfied” – Clara T. Williams (1858-1937)
Tune: SATISFIED

Eureka! This expression of delight at finally succeeding would be a great word to begin this hymnline; if it had another syllable, Clara T. Williams might have chosen it. Not that the word “hallelujah” isn’t a wonderful word for use in hymns, but “eureka” gets to the point of the excitement of having found that which has been long-sought.

Do you ever have a craving… an insatiate desire? Some people say they crave chocolate, but what they mean is “I’d sure like to have something that originated in Hershey, Pennsylvania, about now.” I’ve learned that whatever food for which I suddenly have a craving will be one that is not in our cupboard or fridge! I sometimes get a hankering for a Boberry biscuit – a decadent, sugar-drizzled breakfast item we learned to love from Bojangle’s fast-food restaurants in North Carolina. One of the reasons I can almost smell and taste that morning treat is that I know I cannot have one now that we’ve moved to the Bojangle’s-less state of Texas.

That’s how those kinds of yearnings usually turn out: unfulfilled.

But when our souls hunger and thirst for God, they are totally satisfied; God’s cupboard is well-stocked with all the spiritual blessings we can think of… and he knows exactly which shelf they rest on in order to get them to us quickly.

Jesus tells us in the beatitudes of Matthew 5 to hunger and thirst after righteousness. If we understand righteousness not as some condition of perfection but as the state being rightly related to God in Christ, it is not only something we might crave: it is a craving we can gratify. It is a positional relationship, not a conditional one.

Robert Browning said, “God’s in his heaven, all’s right with the world.” Great quote, of course. Better yet, “God’s in his heaven, and all’s right between him and me.” I find that to be a much better view of what righteousness means.

I can easily sing the refrain of this gospel song and mean it. Whether I say eureka or hallelujah, it is true of my own personal, spiritual longing… because the next line says, “Jesus satisfies my longings.”

Today, may you be given the deepest desires of your heart. Can I get an “amen”? Or a “eureka”?!

Gaither Vocal Band Sings This Hymn

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Hymnlines - Hemlines: Get it?! :)

Hymnlines - Hemlines: Get it?! :)