"To Long For"

"Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness." (Psalms 119:40)

  The way I see it, we are almost a quarter of the way done with this Psalm; not that I am trying to speed through it, but four more verses and we are one forth done. Which reminds me of something I have been doing for the last thirty-plus years. I heard someone say on the radio, I believe it was back in 1985, that we sleep one-third of our lives. That seemed like a lot of wasted time, so I decided back then that I would only sleep one-forth of my life instead; and it has worked out pretty good. Actually, as it turns out, I probably only sleep about four or five hours a night, so I guess I am gaining hours the older I get. The word "longed" use in this verse is only used twice in the Old Testament writings. It is the word "ta'ab," which is used in the verse above and in verse 174 of this same Psalm. It basically means, "To Long For," or "To Desire." Because this is a verb, it requires an action; which basically means that it is really not past-tense, but it is actually ongoing. What that might speak into our hearts right now, is the simple fact that God is not done with us yet! "Being confident of this one thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." That is what we have longed for, what our inner man cries out for, as a groan, longing for the day when this fight will be over and our salvation will be realized once and for all. It is not a past tense experience, it is over and over that we live to get it right. That is why we never give up, because every day is a new day that we get to long after the precepts of God. If we are confident that the Lord will complete the work He has begun in us, then this is what we ask for, to be quickened or brought to life again! To have the fellowship with the Lord be the first thing on our minds when we rise up each morning, and the last thing on our minds when we lay down to sleep. After all, if we want receive anything from the Lord, then we need to ask Him as a friend: A friend in need is a friend indeed...

"So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses." (Galatians 5:16-18) NLT