God Comes Where He Is Wanted is a quote I recently heard in a sermon, and I’m pondering it with you today.
For Lent 2025, I’ll be writing new blog posts every day. I’m writing for just five unedited minutes on a quote of the day to deepen our faith in this Lenten season.
Day 3 of Lent 2025- March 7
I heard this quote in the Ash Wednesday sermon at my church. My pastor quoted Jon Tyson, an influential New York City pastor. You can watch the fascinating sermon in which this quote is featured HERE.
I remember reading the chilling opposite of this quote in a C.S. Lewis book I read in college – “The doors of hell are locked on the inside.” This means the people who choose to oppose God choose by their own will.
However, today’s quote makes the positive side vivid. God comes where he is wanted. He longs for relationship with humans who crave his presence. He doesn’t want us to follow him out of duty or just as an insurance policy against going to hell. God wants us to want him, just like he wants us. True love is freely given on both sides.
The psalmist captures this longing in several places:
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
Psalm 42:2 NIV
You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.
Psalm 63:1 NIV
My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you.
Isaiah 26:9a NIV
This quote and these scriptures force me to ask myself – do I long for God? Does he know that I want a relationship with him? Is this proven by my actions, not just by my wishes?
Just yesterday in a conversation with my counselor, I said that perhaps the reason I’ve felt God’s presence close by me every moment of the past three years of intense suffering is it’s a reward for my obedience. I decided even in the darkest times to keep up with my rhythms of reading morning devotions, praying intercessory prayers, singing praise songs, and attending corporate worship at my church. Even when I didn’t feel like doing these things because I felt betrayed by God, I kept up these rhythms for the future me, the one on the other side of all the suffering. I wanted to do her proud, and I wanted to do God proud too.
As I ponder this quote today, I am thinking more about how God came to me because he knew in my heart of hearts, even while I was ranting at him for the unfairness he was allowing in my life, I still wanted him. He knows my heart even better than I know it myself, and he honors my commitment to him no matter what happens.
I’m so glad that God comes where he is wanted even when we are going through the hardest times. He will honor our commitment to faith that demonstrates our fidelity to him. If we keep up the rhythms of faith, he will be faithful to us. I needed this reminder today, and perhaps you do too.
Join me again tomorrow for another reflection on a different quote.
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