As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.
Psalm 42:1-2,7
English Standard Version (ESV)
Do you remember what it is like to be wooed? You might have to flash back a while, but you have been wooed before. The surprise flowers that were delivered, the love note in your locker, just “happening” to run into that person all over campus. Being wooed is a wonderful and powerful experience. As a man, I am immune to woo. Let me explain, the impact of being wooed is high, it’s just that I tend to misread or miss the signals like most other men when a woman is wooing me, just ask my wife Amy. I misread just happening to run into each other every night at dinner as co- incidence, instead of realizing that this woman is trying to make her intentions clear to me.
There is a subtle impact of wooing that is perhaps central to the woo, the reaction. When you effectively woo someone, it causes a reaction. It takes someone with a heart of stone to receive surprise flowers from a secret admirer, and have zero reaction. Wooing demonstrates love, and interest in the other person. At its best you woo because you want to see the other person loved, and to make them smile. You offer your heart and feelings to the other person, hoping that their reaction will reciprocate a similar love and care for you.
As I read scripture there is a precedent, perhaps even encouragement that we should woo God. Let’s be clear, you do not earn God’s love, nor should you act out to get his attention over other people. Scripture is filled with examples of people crying out, calling out, reaching out, to the God who they love deeply and wooing. Affirming God’s greatness, thanking God for his provision, asking for his protection.
Wooing is common early in relationships, and sadly tends to become less prevalent, if not non-existent in more long-term relationships, and I believe it can be the same for most of us with God. The question I wrestle with is who ever said you should stop wooing your spouse, your kids, or God? God is still the God you professed your faith in, the same God who blessed you with life, family and friends, the same God who sent His son to die so that you can have new life. Isn’t He deserving of wooing? Take sometime today to cry out to God, to profess your love, to make clear that no matter how long you have followed God, your love and gratitude remains over all that time.
Pastor Bill