Y is for Yearning
God is what we yearn for, whenever we yearn for anything.
You might think that the things your heart is set on are not proper things to pray for, and so you might edit your prayers. The late VictorWhite O.P. (no relation) would teach that the reason so many of our prayers don’t go anywhere is that we are praying for what we think we ought to pray for, rather than for what we in fact desire. But if we pray for what we really want—however pathetic it may be—God can use that to draw us into his love and transform us. But if we never tell him the truth, we are almost impervious to his approach (almost, but never completely).
This is literally true. If you are yearning for ice cream, that is a desire that will lead to God. If you are yearning for a certain person to love you, the truth in the center of that desire is a desire for God. You might want a car, a job, an end to back pain, or even to see your competitor lose out: dig deep enough into that desire, and you’ll find it is, however twisted or concealed, a desire for God.
Which means it’s okay to ask God for whatever you really want. God can work with that.
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But it is also the case—and this is more mysterious—that God yearns for us.
God wants to be our lover. Look at the Bible’s Song of Songs, which expresses a longing that runs through the Old Testament: God wants his people to long for him. Look at Jesus, weeping over Jerusalem which has repelled his overtures. Look at him at supper with the disciples, explaining that he is going to die for them because he and they are friends.
Yearning goes two ways. The human soul longeth for God, like as the hart desireth the water-brooks! And God longeth for us likewise. This, a truth hidden from philosophers, is one of the deepest mysteries of the universe. The maker of all things yearns for you to yearn for him.
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Out & About. I am to preach on Advent Sunday, November 28, at Church of the Incarnation at Dallas, the traditional services at 7:30, 9, and 11:15 a.m.
The next “Good Books & Good Talk” seminar is set for 5 p.m. that Sunday, November 28. We will discuss Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Anyone who reads the book is welcome to the conversation.
On the Web. My latest “Pastoral Reflection” for the Human Life Review is “IVF Extras”: “She was telling me about her friend, a married woman who, having found it impossible to conceive a child, had turned to IVF. Two embryos were implanted in her womb, but as they were developing problems arose, resulting in a highly dangerous pregnancy from which she could have died. Her friend refused to give up, however, and eventually gave birth, prematurely, to twin boys. The boys had a months-long NICU stay, their lungs maturing with the help of machines. Their traumatic birth was not without lingering challenges, but there had been fewer difficulties than once feared, and the children, now school-age, were thriving.” You can read it all here: https://humanlifereview.com/ivf-extras/