I have such longings
And foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
To minister to him, to love the name of the Lord. Isaiah 56:6
Read Zechariah 2:10—13
I have such longings. Such deep longings. No one else feels like I do. Longings for what I once had and can have no more. Longings for what I never had but thought I could. Longings for home. Longings for a bigger story than my own, a bigger family than my own, a bigger people, and a place for me in it all. No one could know the depth of this longing. Unless it was Judah, when it was in exile. Unless it was Judah’s Lord. Unless I was made for him. And he had put that longing into my heart. And he would come. And he would satisfy that longing, the only one who could. And it would be the longing in every human heart.
Dear Lord, you have made me to be dissatisfied by anything less than you. I thank you for this. I thank you that I long for what your exiled people longed for, to be home with you, and to be among the people you have gathered as your own. I thank you that when you came to Jerusalem you fulfilled a promise made to your people on behalf of all nations.[1] So that we would be joined together; so that we, the nations, would sing and rejoice. I still long for all this to be fulfilled. I still have those longings, it seems, but I know, tonight, where they are properly placed and who these longings are for, and who will finally fulfil the longings of my heart.
[1] Mark 11:17