CONTEMPLATIONS ON JOHN OWEN

A quote from "Communion with God" by John Owen:

"In the hard censures and tongue-persecutions which the saints meet withal in the streets of the world, they may run with their moanings unto their Father, and be comforted. 'As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you,' saith the Lord, Isa. lxvi. 13. So that the soul may say, 'If I have hatred in the world, I will go where I am sure of love. Though all others are hard to me, yet my Father is tender and full of compassion: I will go to him, and satisfy myself in him. Here I am accounted vile, frowned on, and rejected; but I have honour and love with him, whose kindness is better than life itself. There I shall have all things in the fountain, which others have but in the drops. There is in my Father's love every thing desirable: there is the sweetness of all mercies in the abstract itself, and that fully and durably.'"

Why is it that we run to things that are so pale in comparison to the love of our Father God? It is true that those who haven't been touched yet by the Holy Spirit desire only evil and can't even comprehend desiring God(Rom. 3:10-18) But what about those of us who have tasted the sweetness of salvation? Why do young women seek after the love of men or young men try to find "acceptance" and pleasure through pornography? Or the workaholic through working or a business man through money? Even the middle-aged American who finds their delight in food. The list could go on. Have you ever turned completely to God and asked him to satisfy all of your deep desires? It seems easy to go by in life, thinking about loving God when I crisis comes and then calling out to him. But did you know that when you ask him daily to satisfy you in even the most meager way that those things which will never quench your thirst will begin to fade away? You will stop depending on money, food, sex, acceptance, and excitement: things that will never give you the peace you're really looking for. It's almost like being on a roller coaster. You lie in wait for the next thing that will thrill you so you can be distracted from the emptiness caused by not being completely satisfied in God. So why not get off the roller coaster? And there [you] shall have all things in the fountain, which others have but in the drops.