“In this hour of all-but-universal darkness one cheering gleam appears: Within the fold of conservative Christianity there are to be found increasing numbers of persons whose religious lives are marked by a growing hunger after God Himself. They are eager for spiritual realities and will not be put off with words, nor will they be content with correct “interpretations” of truth. They are athirst for God, and they will not be satisfied till they have drunk deep at the Fountain of Living Water” (A.W. Tozer).
Jesus and Paul never taught doctrine to feed the intellect alone, they taught to drive men to Christ or to feed the sheep that had already found Christ. It is said that Thomas Aquinas, the theologian of Rome in the 1300’s that was a prolific writer, shortly before he died gave up writing and thought all of his writings were worthless. He had some sort of experience in which he said that he had a vision of some sort where he saw God. Whatever else it was or whatever could be said about it, the sight (spiritual) of God opened his eyes to true glory and he refused to write anything else. Evidently Aquinas had something happen in his soul that can only be described as something like “he tasted and saw that the Lord was good.” Perhaps what he saw was something like Paul who was so zealous for his traditions and orthodoxy until he saw the light which knocked him to the ground. Once Paul recovered, he set the world in its head by the light that he saw shining through him in the world. A person must see God or that person will never have the fire in his bones or belly.
Where are the mighty men of God today? We see many books being written, and that is not all bad. But where are those who have met with God? Where are those who are truly thirsty for the glory of God? Where are those who are so hungry for God and so thirsty for Living Water that they will not rest until they find Him? These are the one’s who believe in orthodox theology and correct interpretation of Scripture but are never satisfied with those until they meet with God. These are they type of men that groan for the glory of God and so they pray for that with a burning heart. But where are these type of men today? We have a lot of heat in some circles, but little to no light. We have a lot of light in one sense from other circles, but no heat. The real problem is that men are simply too satisfied with orthodoxy and will not seek the God that orthodoxy teaches about.
Jesus taught that men must desire or wish to follow Him enough that they would deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him (Luke 9:23-26). Men think that they have denied themselves when they bow their minds and submit to an orthodox understanding of Scripture. But that can be done without true self-denial. Orthodoxy can be that which puffs the mind up with self (pride of I Cor 8:1-3) instead of denying self. Jesus did not say, however, that one must deny himself and take up an orthodox opinion of Him. He said that self must be denied in order to take up the cross and follow Him. Stopping at orthodoxy and morality is not following Christ.
Where are the historians, theologians, and Biblical scholars that weep for the glory of God more than scholarship? Where are those men that will have conferences on seeking the presence of God and not just knowing more about Him? Where are those men who will lay down their scholarship and admit it is nothing compared to knowing the living God? Where are those that will admit that knowing all the details about justification by faith alone is not the same thing as believing God Himself who justifies the ungodly by sheer grace? Where are the conferences that will teach men as much as men can teach on the issue of drinking from the Fountain of Living Water? Where can we find instructions on how to feed hungry souls with God Himself and not just dry bread? Where are the writers and teachers that will teach the Church to seek God with all the heart and not just the mind?
The Church must wake up and realize that we are drowning in a sea of information by means of books, tapes, CD’s, Bibles, and all types of conferences and meetings. Those things do not mean that people are finding God there, it must means that they are hearing information. Amos 8:11 speaks to our time: “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the LORD.”” There is a lot of teaching and a lot of literature, but are those things inconsistent with a famine of hearing the words of the LORD? No, it is not. Verse 12 says this: “People will stagger from sea to sea And from the north even to the east; They will go to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, But they will not find it.” That appears to me exactly what is going on today. Many are going around from coast to coast going to conferences and reading books, but they are not hearing God speak. They are not finding God Himself. We must seek the Lord that we may begin to hunger and thirst for Him, not just the means.
God Loves... Himself 
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