A Hunger for the Holy

HUNGERING AFTER THE HOLY LIFE THE JOURNEY INWARD —Psalm 1:1

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.

We humans are a hungry lot. We are driven by a craving to know who we are. Yet who we are is embedded in the heart of a holy God. Unless we seek for ourselves in the epicenter of God’s grace, we will be forever condemned to walk the arid edges of self-understanding.

We fear the search for who we are. Perhaps because we’re afraid that having located our true souls, we might not like ourselves all that much. So, we shrink to step across the threshold to our inner selves and invite God in. Yet, we do not hesitate to stick our hands into the human throng to shake a thousand others. But no matter how we love the busy world of our relationships, the fast-action theater of our noisy and hurried lives at last empties out. Then we find ourselves in lonely cells of bulky silence that compels us to turn from outer things and face our inner selves—and our mighty God.

There exists at least one other reason we turn from inwardness: It seems a kind of nakedness and soul exposure. Self hides its insecurities. It simpers where none can see, outwardly pretending to be gallant or holy, while inwardly it cowers in fear and trembling.

The journey inward is therefore painful. Remember Hamlet forcing his mother, Gertrude, to grapple with her inner depravity: “Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge. You go not till I set you up a glass where you may see the inmost part of you.”1 The young prince forced his mother to stare at the hidden woman who skulked at the center of her flamboyant outer being. The question is, what did Gertrude see? What sort of inner self does God’s holy mirror reflect?

Miller, Calvin. A Hunger for the Holy: Nuturing Intimacy with Christ (p. 6). Howard Books. Kindle Edition.