Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. - 1 Peter 2:2-10
Settling. I have watched my chicken search for food. She will search under every shrub and pot looking for something good to eat. And if she doesn't find something good to eat, she will try ordinary grasses and leaves. And if she doesn't find those, she will eat the bland chicken food in her coop. And if she doesn't find that, she will randomly try to eat almost anything, including my jeans.
But then there is the lid of the can where her treats are stored. But then is there is the sound of my wife or I calling crrrrrr to her. Her response is immediate, fervent and unrelenting because those are the sounds of the treats-the best of her foods being readied for her. Whatever she was doing before, it becomes as nothing to her and her attention is undivided. Even if she is laying an egg, sometimes she will left her labor unfinished.
Sometimes I think I forget how we "tasted that the Lord is good" and forget "crave pure spiritual milk". I just settle. I decide at some point that my sluggish pace to "grow up in [our] salvation" is good enough-the best that can be expected--and that my life with a watered down, tepid God is sufficient. In short--I settle. The startling amazement of coming "out of darkness into his wonderful light." gets lost.
I find that sad. Flashes of his glory and greatness fly by but there is no craving, just futile flailings of desire. I sense this, so sometimes I work in my mind's eye forward from the beginning until now, to retell the story of how God brought me to this particular place of blessing. Sometimes I work backward ,tracing the cause and effect as God's grace wended its way towards me. That takes effort and time. But when I have come back to the place of wonder, as I can marvel at his genius, compassion and power, I try to cement that moment in my memory of God as an aid to refocus and remember my deep, deep craving to be close to God.
