“FROZEN II” AND MY ACHE FOR GLORY: PART THREE
“O God, You are my God; earnestly do I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory.”
– Psalm 63:1&2 (NKJV & YLT, combined)
Thirst. Hunger. The Desire of our souls. Inside every human heart lies an unquenchable longing for something we can’t describe, can’t explain, and can’t live without.
An ache for glory.
In Part 1 of this blog series, I talked about how Queen Elsa (from Disney Animation’s latest film Frozen II) goes on a search that reminds me very much of our own: she’s looking for answers, more specifically the Answer, which she has searched for her whole life to define her and give her a place where she belongs. In Part 2, I discussed what happened when she finally found it, exploring the flawed though popular belief that “finding yourself”, “being true to yourself”, and “showing yourself” is the answer to the human condition. Not that being confident or knowing your worth in the sight of God isn’t important; on the contrary, it is crucial. But we cannot find it in ourselves alone. As appealing as it sounds, self-discovery is not the answer to the ache within our souls. It will not satisfy, not in the long-run, anyway (trust me: I speak from personal experience).
So what does?
Is there any hope of this terrible thirst being quenched? Or are we doomed to be ever searching, ever-grasping yet never really finding that which will satisfy our desperate hearts and finally make us truly happy?
“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance.” (Isaiah 55:1 & 2)
And here we come to the part of this blog that I hardly know how to write…for how does one describe the incomprehensible glory and beauty and wonder of an indescribable God? How can I wrap Him up and give Him to you in a package of neatly boxed words when words keep failing me? Truly, for days I have struggled with what to say: not because there wasn’t enough to work with but because there is too much. So I will just come right out and say it the only way I can:
God is the glory our hearts ache for!
Not ourselves. Or our bank account. Or our social media status. Not our gender identity. Or our governmental power. Or our family connections. Not our religious prowess. Or our physical beauty. Or our marital state.
GOD.
And not just any god: the One True God, revealed in Holy Scripture. The single God made up of three distinct yet perfectly unified Persons: Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit. Blessed Trinity.
And not just God the Trinity: God the Trinity inside of us. It isn’t enough for us to simply know about God. The ache in our souls is to truly know God, and not just in a “distant acquaintance” kind of way or even as a polite friend. We long to know Him, to experience Him, to soak Him up with every inch of our being…for, truly, we must know Him this way or we will always be looking to dry wells and broken water pots to quench a thirst only He can satisfy (Jeremiah 2:13).
Why?
Because He wanted it that way. God wanted us to want Him, to thirst for Him, to ache for and search for Him and everything He is with everything we are.
Why?
Because He wants us!
This is the miracle of existence. The “news nearly too good to be true” (which is what the word “Gospel” actually means). This ache in our hearts, this longing in our souls, this itch we can’t scratch is put there on purpose so we will look for Him. But He doesn’t stop there.
He actually lets us find Him.
“And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the LORD…” (Jeremiah 29:13)
Why?
Why on earth (or in heaven) would the God of the universe—Maker of galaxies, Breather of stars, Master of oceans, Wielder of thunder and lightning and hail—why would Almighty, All-sufficient, All-powerful God allow sinful, broken human beings not only to “seek” Him but actually “find” Him?
The simple answer? (and thank God: He likes simple answers!)
Because He loves us.
This is the answer to my own search, the proverbial gold at the end of my rainbow that nothing this world ever throws my way or dangles in front of me can ever change or equal. Time and again, my own ache for glory presses me into Him and every single time His love overwhelms me. The fact that He would reveal himself is mind-blowing enough, but the reality that He wants to because He loves me is a truth so breathtaking, so overwhelming that to even try describing it would feel petty and cheap. A hundred billion Disney movies, no matter how technically brilliant or aesthetically stunning, could never hope to capture it. As the Psalmist wrote,
“My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:26)
And elsewhere,
“O my soul, you have said to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord, my goodness is nothing apart from You’…O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup…You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16)
Frozen II was right about one thing: we were made for more. But its flabby message of “self-love” falls completely flat compared to the glorious reality we were created for.
We were made for the One Who made us.
To search for Him is a holy privilege. To find Him, sheer joy. For when we find Him (and only then) will we find the source of all our desire. The answer to our every question. The fulfillment of our quest.
The glory we ache for.
“To them [us] God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory…” (Colossians 1:27)
Choose HEROIC,
CHRISTIS JOY
