Most of the biblical history consists of people waiting for God to do something. And often they waited in very dire circumstances that made the wait all the more difficult. They were held in the tension between the divine promise and the seeming absence of any implementation of that purpose. Matthew Jacoby, Deeper Places, page 92.

We always follow the strongest desire we have in any moment. The way to escape a destructive desire is not to try to deny the desire. This never works. We can overcome one desire only with another greater desire. Where one desire clashes with another, the greater desire will turn the lesser desire into repulsion precisely because it threatens the greater desire. Matthew Jacoby, Deeper Places,…

The only thing we must do in life is the will of God. Given that we were created in accordance with God’s will, this is as natural to the soul as flying is to a bird or swimming is to a fish. Far from being onerous, the doing of God’s will is actually the very means by which we experience the joy of life. It is the flight path of the soul. And what is more, it is also beautifully simple. God’s…

The more we seek God, the more our desire for God will grow. And if we keep on seeking God, if we refuse to give up until we have found God and even then keep seeking a deeper knowledge of God, if we stubbornly persist in seeking God in the face of all doubt and discouragement, then our desire for God will gradually outgrow our other desires. Matthew Jacoby, Deeper Places, page 106.

Throughout the psalms, a profound process of transferal takes place. One yoke is replaced with another. The exodus experience is enacted over and over again. The yoke of slavery is replaced by the yoke of God. This process is the essence of what we call worship, and it is essential that we allow the psalms to define worship in accordance with this process. It is important to understand worship on…

When we call on God, we expect him to turn up right away with our requests in hand, but from where has this expectation come? It is a culturally formed expectation, not a biblically formed one. The biblical narrative – and particularly the psalms – show us that God often allows a lot of time between the seeking and the finding so as to intensify the seeking, which in turn enlarges the finding.…

Here is the importance of waiting for God. Here is why gives us time, lots of time, to seek before we find. By seeking God, we exercise our desire for God, and as we exercise our desire for God, it grows. And when our desire for God grows to a place of supremacy in our hearts, then God is truly the God of our hearts. Seeking, therefore, creates within us the capacity to know God as God. It is by…

To worship is not just to offer compliments to God but to offer oneself to God, not as a gift but as something that always rightfully belonged to him. Worship is therefore giving God what is due to him, not just our service and obedience but our very selves. We can obey and serve God to a self-gratifying extent without ever trusting in him. The entrusting of oneself to God is the essence of…