Longing for the Glory of God

“Your glory, God, is what our hearts long for, to be overcome in Your Presence, Lord.”  (Francesca Battistelli, “Holy Spirit”).

This song is one of my new favorites—I can’t stop listening to it this summer, ever since we sang it at a church we visited in California. However, this week on one of my drives to work, I heard this song and the line above caught my attention in a new way. 

Is God’s glory what my heart longs for?

I think of Moses in Exodus chapter 33, when he requests of God, “Show me your glory,” (verse 18). 

He desired to know the glory of God. 

He wanted to SEE the glory of God. 

His heart’s desire was FOR the glory of God.

So the question I had to ask myself this week, is that MY heart’s desire?

I think also of Psalm 37:4, which says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (The verses after this verse are also excellent, by the way, and some of my favorites!) When I think about my heart’s desires, I come to this verse. It encourages me when I’m discouraged by life. But the truth that this verse always reminds me of is this: The desires of our heart come AFTER we delight ourselves in the Lord. Not the other way around. 

Which brings me to my next thought…When we are delighting ourselves in the Lord, then I believe our heart’s desires will be for HIS will, for His plans. 

For His GLORY.

So what does my heart long for?

My own plans? My own happiness? My own success? 

Or maybe something more than that, maybe my heart longs for love? For good to triumph over evil?

As I think over the song mentioned at the beginning of this post, my prayer has become that my heart would long for the glory of God. That I would desire His glory, more than anything else.

Because honestly, isn’t He the only one worthy of glory?! He is worthy of our praises, worthy of all glory!

So may my heart’s desire, my heart’s longing, be for the glory of God. 

And may it be your heart’s longing, as well.