We cannot long for God if we do not experience Him in our lives. We experience God when we obey Him in every area of our lives and trust Him in everything that we are going through. When we go through difficult times, we ask God to help us because we believe that He can help us. We pray because, in the past, we have seen His work in our lives. We have seen God answer our prayers. We have felt his encouragement when we are discouraged. The Psalmist wrote this at the end of Psalm 42, "Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and my God! (verse 11)" The Psalmist was encouraging himself not to be discouraged and sad because His hope was in God. When we experience God in our lives, our first step when we go through difficulties is to go to God because we know that we can trust God. We have experienced God in the past.
It is always sad when people think they are Christians but never experience God. The reason they cannot experience God is that they never surrender or do not want to obey God in their lives fully. They still want to do their own way and are not willing to commit to God. As a result, they do not have a personal relationship with God because they do not want to obey God. They do not want to give up their sinful lifestyle. They only want God's help and nothing else. But our Living God wants us to surrender everything to Him. The Psalmist was encouraging himself not to be discouraged and sad because He knew God personally in his heart. He wants to trust God, where he can find rest for his soul and peace in his mind and heart.
If we want to experience God, there is only one way to do it: we have to surrender our lives to Him and be willing to obey Him. If we have been running away from God, it is time to go back to Him and find rest for our souls. The striving of this world wears us out. It drains us into tiredness and despair, but when we return to God and are willing to surrender our lives to Him and be willing to obey Him, we will experience Him again, and our lives will become peaceful again.
Ask yourself these questions for application: (Think through carefully and meditate on the questions while answering them, and let the Spirit of God speak to you). Have I experienced God? What should I do to experience God? What should I do when I am discouraged and sad?
Write down all the worries you face today and lift them up to God.
Prayer:
Father in Heaven, thank you that you are my hope. You are the only one who can bring rest to my soul and peace in my mind and heart. Please help me to stop striving for this world and pursuing my own ways. I need your guidance and help, so please help me to surrender everything to you and be willing to obey you. In your name, Lord Jesus, I pray. Amen.