pursuing God after tozer
I’m finding that one of the best things about writing a blog is how it opens up the wisdom of the community of friends reading it - thank you so much to all of you who have already passed me “leads” to follow from your own search for holiness
While we were at Lee Abbey it was great to be reminded (by Andy who lead the worship beautifully for us all week) of A W Tozer, whose writings I hadn’t returned to since student days
Tozer (1897 - 1963) was a pastor & author based in Chicago, who lived a simple lifestyle (wikipedia says he gave royalties from his 40 books to the poor, and only ever used public transport - pretty unusual I imagine, for a big name preacher in post war US)
Two of his works definitely on my reading list for the next few weeks are the classics “The Pursuit of God” (1948) and “The Knowledge of the Holy” (1961)
Following the Dylan song in my last post, here’s a taste of Tozer’s own deep conviction about “pressing on” - leading into his moving prayer that I invite us to make our own …
From “The Pursuit of God”, Chapter 1 :
To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too-easily-satisfied religionist, but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart. St. Bernard stated this holy paradox in a musical quatrain that will be instantly understood by every worshiping soul :
We taste Thee, O Thou Living Bread, And long to feast upon Thee still : We drink of Thee, the Fountainhead, And thirst our souls from Thee to fill
Come near to the holy men and women of the past and you will soon feel the heat of their desire after God. They mourned for Him, they prayed and wrestled and sought for Him day and night, in season and out, and when they had found Him the finding was all the sweeter for the long seeking.
Moses used the fact that he knew God as an argument for knowing Him better. ‘Now, therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight’; and from there he rose to make the daring request, ‘I beseech thee, show me thy glory.’ God was frankly pleased by this display of ardor, and the next day called Moses into the mount, and there in solemn procession made all His glory pass before him.
O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, ‘Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.’ Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still ….
“Pressing On, Lord” : Amen and Amen