Longing After Divine Refreshments
From a sermon on Psalm 63
IN their time of trouble the children of God turn to their Father. It is according to their new-born nature to seek him from whom it came. The believing heart is like the needle in the compass: you may turn it round with your finger east and west, but when you withdraw the pressure, it will, beyond all doubt, tremble backward towards its pole. With God the regenerate heart is in its proper position. A mystic something draws the new life towards the source from whence it came. We may, alas! by the force of temptation, or by the demands of business, or by an overpowering lethargy, become indifferent to our highest love; but this cannot long continue: we can never rest except in God. The winds of trouble blow the dove of our soul back to the ark. Our heart repents of its wanderings when they bring it into a dry and thirsty land, where no water is. Then we long after divine refreshments, and cannot be quiet till we have them. Then we cry, “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee”!
Spurgeon, “Experience and Assurance,” MTP 36 (1890)