Crave

What do you CRAVE? What is the one thing that you can't live without? What do you send your husband to the grocery store for when you've had a bad day? When I was pregnant with Zach, I craved red rind hoop cheese. Now, I haven't had that kind of cheese since I was a child and Ackel's had their grocery store in downtown Athens, Louisiana. My mom bought a pound of cheese from them often - most often when we had chili. For some odd reason, being pregnant with Zach made me long for something I had not even laid eyes on in probably 20 years. 

(In case you were wondering - or even care, with Evan, I craved Wendy's junior bacon cheeseburger. Again, cheese.)

Over the sabbatical, I thought I heard from the Lord about a large move I was to make in my life. I was pretty certain of what I was sensing from Him, yet after we got home, it didn't seem like that was what He was saying at all. I struggled with some disappointment over this, until one Sunday morning during worship. We were singing "I'd Rather Have Jesus," and the words touched my heart once again:

I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold,
I'd rather be His than have riches untold;
I'd rather have Jesus than houses or land,
Yes, I'd rather be led by His nail-pierced hand.

Than to be the king of a vast domain
And be held in sin's dread sway
I'd rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.

I was so moved that I was almost in tears. The flooding in Baton Rouge had just happened. Singing the words, "I'd rather have Jesus than houses or land," nearly did me in. At that point, I said to myself, "Jesus, I want You more than [this other thing]. I just want You."

Just this morning, I read Psalm 105. Verse 4 particularly grabbed me:

“Seek, inquire of and for the Lord, and crave Him and His strength (His might and inflexibility to temptation); seek and require His face and His presence [continually] evermore.” (‭AMPC‬)

Rather than food, rather than pleasures of this world, rather than fortune or fame, we are to crave Jesus. We are to seek Him. (And notice the verse says "seek" twice, so that means it's important that we do it.) The yearning for His face and His presence should be so great that it becomes a requirement for our lives. It should be as necessary as our next breath. That's what gives us strength, and, as the verse says, a way to resist temptation. Jesus should be what we're running after. He must be what we most crave.

What the Lord has been telling me is that I don't need to run after my own ambition. I don't need to long for something that may not be what He wants for me. Even if it is, it needs to happen in His own time and His own way. All He wants me to do is seek Him, inquire of AND for Him, crave Him and His strength, and require Him. He will do the work in me that's needed. I must crave Him first. And the Bible promises that if I seek Him and His righteousness, "all these things will be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33)

So what do you crave? Crave Him first!