Seeking Satisfaction

When I was in college, choosing a "life verse" was vogue. Mine was Psalm 27:8 (NASB) "When You said, 'Seek My face,' my heart said to You, 'Your face, O Lord, I shall seek." I can't remember now what drew me to that verse then, but I now recognize how heart-mind-soul-and-strength-consuming that life goal is.

Another theme that has shaped me is that of "thirsting for God". Passages such as John 7:37-39, Psalms 42 and 63, Isaiah 55:1-3, Jeremiah 2:13 have helped feed this imagery. I long to be a "riverheart" in and through whom the Spirit is overflowing, one who is so satisfied with and in Christ that he is freed to joyfully give others a taste of this thirst-slaking Savior.

For awhile I wondered what these two themes had to do with each other and why God would impress them so strongly on my heart. How pleased I was a few years ago to discover Psalm 17:15: "As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with Your likeness." The Lord encouraged me with this verse by confirming that "seeking His face" and "thirsting for Him" were one and the same pursuit! But Psalm 17:15 goes a bit further to remind me that it is only "in righteousness" that I can "see and savor" Him. I need the gospel. And so, the gospel becomes the window through which I seek Him and the wellspring of my satisfaction in Him.