August 27

Yes, we wait for You, O LORD; we walk in the path of Your judgments. Your name and renown are the desire of our souls. — Isa 26:8 BSB

How sweet and expressive is the phrase, “The desire of our soul!” It captures the longings and yearnings of a soul that God has touched with His grace and mercy. “The desire of our soul”—this phrase speaks to the deep, heartfelt longings, the cries, the sighs, and the spiritual hunger and thirst of our new nature. It reflects the gasping, panting, and yearning of the inner man of grace. All of these are expressed in those beautiful words, “The desire of our soul!” What a mercy it is that, despite God’s righteous dealings with us—dealings that often run contrary to everything our natural selves love—there is still that grace within us that draws our desires toward God.

The verse continues, “With my soul have I desired you in the night!” If you can say that much about the work of grace in your heart, can you truly use these words to describe the feelings you have experienced? “With my soul have I desired you in the night.” Do you find your soul longing after Jesus Christ? Do you ever find yourself in the night, hungering for His presence, thirsting for a word from Him, longing for some whisper of His love? These are unmistakable marks of grace. The carnal, the unregenerate, and the ungodly have no such desires. Their hearts have no corresponding feeling of “the desire of the soul” for the Name of God. But this is true of all the righteous, for “the desire of the righteous shall be satisfied.”