'Longings Fulfilled' Kathi Pelton
- Global Prophetic Voice
- Aug 4
- 4 min read
“I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine…” Song of Solomon 6:3
Though I do not have a tattoo— if I did, this is what it would say. Though these words aren’t etched onto my skin, they are engraved upon my heart. “I am his and he is mine!”
I have recently been listening to many conversations regarding the deep longing of God’s heart and the deep longing within the heart of his bride to be one with him. It is like trying to put into words the description of deep calling out to deep.
“Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.” Psalm 42:7
The Psalmist writes these words in a time of deep turmoil and longing to connect with God. He longs to tangibly experience the unlimited depth of God’s love and compassion once again. He is searching, aching and longing for his soul to be able to connect with God’s deep longing for him.
He begins Psalm 42 by saying,
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” Psalm 42:1-4
He is agonizing to be able to meet with God— and yet, God is already with him. Can you relate to the agony and longing of his soul in times of turmoil and desperation? We have all been there at one time or another. In those moments (seasons) it is as if a great chasm has come to separate us from God. Circumstances and suffering appear and suddenly our souls seem lost in the darkness of the storm that surrounds us.
But where is God in these moments?
I’d like to suggest that he is at resting in the midst of your storm and inviting you to join him there. Just as Jesus slept in the boat while his disciples were blinded by fear as the storm threatened their lives— he has made a resting place for you and I within the great storms that come into our lives.
He is not absent— he is not fearful— and he is not unaware.
The Psalmist’s friends say, “Where is your God?” But the truth is that God never left and is right in the place of grace, trust and faith. God longed for David, his disciples and for you to come away from the storm and rest with him.
His response to the deep longing to meet with him is found in the Book of Isaiah,
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” Isaiah 55:1
You don’t have to buy it, you don’t have to earn it but you have to “come.” He has all that you need and he longs for you to come through his grace and receive all that you need. The water, the wine, the milk are all, symbols of spiritual blessings and it is an invitation to “the afflicted and storm tossed soul.”
Even when the circumstances in our lives are good— there is an affliction of longing that cannot quite be satisfied. Our souls have so much mixture; distraction, self-protection and “self”, that it becomes like a fig leaf to cover our shame and humanity.
Before sin entered in, Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed. But after sin was revealed they desperately searched for a covering. We have become so accustomed to living behind the soul’s fig leaf that vulnerability and intimacy have become an unmet ache and longing that we do not know how to reconcile.
Prior to eating of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Adam and Eve did not know “unmet longing” because they had perfect oneness with God. This is what we are longing to be restored to and what God is longing to have with us once again. It is the deep that calls out to deep.
We see this in Jesus’ last recorded prayer before going to the cross (John 17:20-24),
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”
We were created for oneness and unity with God and one another. We long for it— God longs for it— the earth groans and waits for it. And it will come to completion when we see him face to face.
Until then, he has prepared a place for us, through grace, where we can be “naked and unashamed”— where we can come without cost and drink until we are filled with every spiritual blessing. This is a place of refuge from every storm and battle, a place of rest and peace, a place of “longings fulfilled” and where hearts are healed. It is a place of intimacy and oneness and a place of comfort and companionship— where vulnerability is met with perfect love. No fig leaves are required in this place.
It is within his heart— and his Spirit that lives within you is like the place in the storm-tossed boat where he is resting and waiting for you. He is right there with you— you are his longing and he is yours. He is your beloved and you are his. Faith in this truth ushers you in!
Kathi Pelton
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