I want to be right with God! I want Him to be pleased with me!

The thought of God being unhappy with me makes my heart hurt. I don’t even want to think about it.

And yet, I know I fall short in our relationship. I don’t always uphold my end of our covenant relationship. I am not as perfect as I would like to be. Not purposely disobedience or purposely drifting away; just living my life and look up and find myself far from where I know I should be spiritually. But I deeply desire to please Him.

The Bible defines my deep desire to please God, as “a hunger and thirst for righteousness.” This hungering began with the desire to receive Jesus Christ as Savior, which puts me in right relationship with Father God:

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

However, right relationship and right standing are two different things. You can be born-again (in right relationship), but also be habitually disobedient (lose right standing with Him).  For example, our birth children are our children by blood forever (relationship); but their constant disobedience causes us not to be pleased with them (lose right standing).  

The same holds true with Father God. When first saved, there is such a wonderful feeling of closeness to God. We diligently read our Bibles and pray so that we know and obey the will of God concerning us. But as years and life goes on, situations and circumstances can draw us away from that constant awareness of His presence and desire to seek His will. We start to use our senses, intellect, and past experiences to navigate our hectic days, making up our own rules for right and wrong.  We stop asking God for His wisdom, our fellowship erodes, and our chances of habitually sinning (falling out of right standing) are high. God described this behavior to Jeremiah like this:

“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns–broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13). Think on this. They are still His children, but He is my pleased with them.

Good News! The minute we realize we have drifted from His high call, are living a lifestyle beneath our spiritual privileges, and have dug our own wells, there is hope. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). When we want God’s standard for righteousness more than our own ideas of what is right for us, we will develop once again the thirst for God that the sons of Korah sang about:

“As the deer pants [longingly] for the water brooks,
So my soul pants [longingly] for You, O God.
My soul (my life, my inner self) thirsts for God, for the living God.
When will I come and see the face of God?” (Psalm 42:1-2, Amplified Bible)

Once we habitually turn our “inner self” toward God again, He consistently blesses us in a magnificent way. Jesus proclaims this blessing in his fourth beatitude:

“Blessed [joyful, nourished by God’s goodness] are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness [those who actively seek right standing with God], for they will be [completely] satisfied” (Matthew 5:6, Amplified Bible).

Just as our physical bodies hunger and need to be fed daily, so our spirits hunger and need to be fed daily.  We must consciously and consistently seek God’s face to keep our spirits fully nourished and strengthen with God’s love, peace, goodness. If we spend quality time in His presence, He will bless us abundantly:

“You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

“Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35).

It is best to always be in right standing with God. But it is comforting to know that if/when we allow our relationships to wane by prioritizing the cares of our day over quality time with Him, He will forgive us when we realize what happened and repent. 

As for me personally, it is a true blessing to rush back into His presence and feel my soul being filled with his peace, joy, and love once again. Like a wandering child marveling at all the goodies in the toy store, when I realized I am alone, and rush back to Daddy, I am relieved to see that He is always right there where I left Him. In fact, I was not lost at all; He had an eye on me all the time. When I rush back into His presence, He holds me close to His bosom, and whispers, “Here I Am. I will never leave you or forsake you. Now stay close and learn of Me.”

Desiring a good relationship with the Father should not be a one-time occurrence at salvation but must be our lifestyle. When we consistently seek right standing with Him, He will satisfy our longing. Let’s read the fourth beatitude again: 

“Blessed [joyful, nourished by God’s goodness] are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness [those who actively seek right standing with God], for they will be [completely] satisfied” (Matthew 5:6, Amplified Bible).

What are your thoughts about the fourth beatitude?  Join the conversation. Next week is the fifth beatitude. I look forward to reading your wisdom on it also.