Are You Thirsty for Jesus

Picture in your mind, friend, a deer As it runs through a woodland There runs the deer Through the woods Frightened after Barely being killed by a hunter There it runs as fast as it can Darting and dashing Its dry tongue cleaving To its mouth As it pants for some water brook To dip its weary head Our text today is found in Psalm 42 As the heart panteth after the water brooks So panteth my soul after thee, O God My soul thirsteth for God For the living God When shall I come and appear before God? There are dry seasons, unfortunately That come in the life of a believer Where perhaps we are busy about the Lord's work But we are missing the Lord in the work And things have become so routine in our life That the freshness has gone out of our walk with God It's like a marriage Which at first blush is exciting And we can't wait to get in the presence of our loved one To spend time with them But after a while Perhaps after a few years Things begin to go stale In the love relationship between the husband and wife They begin to take each other for granted And it's best illustrated by the married couple out for dinner Each more interested in their meal than in each other I remember when I dated my wife We were thin as rails We didn't eat at all We were so consumed with one another That's how it should be In our love relationship with Jesus Friend, have the ambers On the altar of your heart Been burning low lately? I'm reminded of a story told by Duncan Campbell Whom God used so mightily During the Lewis Revival in Scotland Let me share it with you now Duncan Campbell was up in his study early one morning Preparing a sermon on the Holy Spirit Which he was going to give to a group of ministers at a convention From down in the parlor He could hear singing It was his sixteen-year-old daughter And she was happily singing a hymn He went downstairs to listen to her He asked her Lassie, what is there to sing about so early in the morning at six o'clock? She came over and sat in his lap and exclaimed Oh, Daddy, I have just spent an hour with Jesus Isn't Jesus wonderful, Daddy? Duncan Campbell said he felt like a knife Had gone through his heart The remark stunned him because At that point in his life Jesus wasn't wonderful to him It broke his heart And he slowly walked back upstairs to his study When he got there He threw himself down on the floor And wept like a baby For his lack of love for Jesus Here he was A settled pastor Preparing a sermon on the Holy Spirit To preach to a bunch of ministers And Jesus wasn't wonderful to him Oh, friends That can happen to us as well If you want to be used of God, friend Then maintain a hot pursuit of God Let me ask you, friend Is Jesus wonderful to you right now? Are you thirsty for more of Jesus?