The Soul's Nighttime Hunger for God's Presence

"With my soul have I desired Thee in the night." The sleepless hours possess a peculiar power over the human spirit. When worldly distractions fade and darkness surrounds us, the soul engages in its most consequential work—calling upon departed friends, recalling the past, foreboding the future, and wrestling with its deepest longing: communion with God.

The soul's religious craving manifests in two dimensions. First, it hungers for assurance of God's love. We are fashioned to crave possession of what we love; were all creation ours without God Himself, we would remain eternally famished. The Almighty who gives His strongest love gives Himself entirely. Second, the soul yearns for revelations of His mind—ideas flowing from the great Fountain of intelligence and love.

This longing presupposes searching. The psalmist declares, "With my spirit within me will I seek Thee early." Such seeking acknowledges two truths: we do not yet possess Him in full assurance, though His works, influence, and presence surround us everywhere; and we believe He may be obtained. Unlike earthly pursuits—wealth, power, social distinction—that remain perpetually beyond reach for many, all who hunger for God shall obtain Him through Christ.

Without God, what are we? Detached planets wandering from their sun, "wandering stars for whom are reserved blackness and darkness." Religion's supreme power lies in sustaining the soul beneath Divine retribution's weight and preparing us for that final judgment when all humanity shall stand before God's eternal sentence.