This is the language of a believer panting for present fellowship with Jesus—sick for the Lord! Gracious souls are never perfectly at ease except when they are near to Christ. When they drift from him, they lose their peace. The nearer to him, the nearer to heaven's perfect calm. The nearer to him, the fuller the heart becomes—not just with peace, but with life and vigor and joy! All these depend on constant communion with Jesus.

What the sun is to the day, what the moon is to the night, what the dew is to the flower—such is Jesus Christ to us. What bread is to the hungry, clothing to the naked, the shadow of a great rock to the traveler in a weary land—such is Jesus Christ to us!

Therefore, if we are not consciously one with him, little wonder if our spirit cries out with the bride in the Song: "If you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love!"

But here's the glory—this earnest longing after Jesus carries a blessing with it! "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness." And therefore, supremely blessed are those who thirst after the Righteous One himself! Blessed is that hunger, since it comes from God. If I may not have the full-blown blessedness of being filled, I would seek the same blessedness in its sweet bud—pining in emptiness and eagerness till I am filled with Christ. If I may not feed on Jesus, it shall be next door to heaven to hunger and thirst after him.

There is a hallowedness about that hunger—it sparkles among the beatitudes of our Lord! But the blessing involves a promise. Such hungry ones "shall be filled" with what they are desiring. If Christ thus causes us to long after himself, he will certainly satisfy those longings. And when he does come to us—as come he will—oh, how sweet it will be!