As a youth pastor, summer is a relatively slow time. Sure, I’ve spoken at two camps, which meant preparing an extra 16 messages and spending an intense couple of weeks hanging out with teens. Trust me, it still feels slow compared to the September-June routine of ministering through a school year. With that break, I’ve been able to get a lot more reading done than usual, including a book my daughter, a YWAM-Brisbane staffer, suggested to me.
My daughter recommended Discipleship Begins with Beholding by Samuel Whitefield, so I naturally ordered a copy on Amazon and took it with me to camp. It’s a good read. I don’t think I enjoyed it as much as Emma, but I’m glad I read it. There’s one phrase, though, that jumped out to me.
Relatively Undisturbed Lives
In Psalm 132, David locks eyes with God’s beauty, and it wrecks him. That ache becomes his heartbeat: “I will not give sleep to my eyes… until I find a place for the LORD.” He won’t rest until God rests among His people. And in his own unsettled life, he modelled what a longing for God looks like.
Nearly three thousand years later, that longing remains unanswered. Jesus hasn’t returned. Heaven hasn’t touched earth. And yet… there are many of us who no longer ache. We live what Samuel Whitefield describes as “relatively undisturbed lives”: lives of quiet Sunday religion, hasty prayers, and missions more about comfort than sacrifice.
We sing “Jesus is coming again.” But do we feel it? Do we live with the ache of anticipation, or with the complacency of contentment?
Comfort Is a Danger Zone
Here’s the thing: no one scoffs at rest. But if we’re resting on our terms, without longing, we’ve lost something. David’s heart broke under the weight of divine beauty. Our hearts barely flutter when Jesus isn’t at the center. That’s the real crisis.
Jesus endured the cross so that He could receive His inheritance. And He’s still waiting patiently and graciously for His bride to awaken with His zeal. Yet many of us snooze, barely noticing.
What Would David Do Today?
Imagine David’s psalm rising in our churches today. He’d challenge us:
- Are you living with longing or settling for ease?
- Are your prayers urgent or habitual?
- Do your actions reflect a world waiting for its king?
We Need a Witness of Longing
The world doesn’t need more people who sound good on Sundays. We need people who look like they are living in exile, homesick, yearning, anchored in something not yet seen.
Imagine a church so full of longing that people would ask, “What are they waiting for?” Then the answer wouldn’t be, “Comfort,” but “Jesus.”
Step Toward the Ache
- Sit quietly and let God’s absence, yes, absence, be felt.
- Ask: “Do I miss you more than my schedule, my successes, my security?”
- Pray with David:
“I will not rest until you dwell among us.”
If we live without longing, we risk loving the age, not the King. May our hearts ache, not for the past or our comfort, but for the day when His kingdom comes and God finally rests among His people.
The Introverted Pastor 