A Look at Psalm 119:20

Psalm 119:20 “My soul is consumed with longing for Your laws at all times.”
 

“For our God is a consuming fire” Hebrews 12:29. Our God consumes us. To give ourselves to Him means we can no longer exist because God consumes us. When something is consumed, it is destroyed. David said his soul was consumed with longing for God. The soul represents human nature. When the soul has been consumed with a longing for God, it has been consumed with a longing for God, it has been destroyed of its humanness. Human nature is one of the primary obstacles to spirituality. 

Galatians 5:17 describes this dilemma, “For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.” When the sinful nature is consumed or destroyed, we have wonderful spiritual freedom. However, the soul must be destroyed.
 

Everything that has physical life experiences hunger. The same is true of spiritual life. If we are spiritually alive, we have spiritual hunger. Spirituality is like carnality in this one sense: its craving is destined by its feeding. The more we feed it, the more it craves. If we were to respond to God each time we felt His prodding (prompting - the 10-second rule), soon we would feel His prodding more often. In time, our soul would be consumed (destroyed) with a longing for God. 

David’s soul was consumed with longing. This is where most of us differ from David. He was totally occupied with a longing for the Lord. There must be a longing in each of our lives if we are ever going to approach the spiritual craving of David’s heart. David had a heart that chased after the heart of God. It has often been my prayer, “God, give me a heart that wants You, a heart that longs for You, a heart that is completely taken up with You.” 

Take some time even now to pray over and to meditate on this verse; then, ask God for a heart that wants Him.

Continued