Psalms 42:1-2 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
Deuteronomy 10:20 You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall cling, and swear by His name.
Following Yeshua (Jesus) isn’t just about believing the right things or checking boxes. It’s about wanting to truly know God — to experience Him personally. And here’s the amazing part: even that desire starts with Him. God is the one who stirs our hearts and awakens our longing. If you find yourself hungry for more of Him, it’s because He’s already working in you.
Yeshua said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father draws him” (John 6:44). Even as we run after God, we’re being held by His hand (Psalm 63:8). It’s a mystery — but a beautiful one. He moves first, and we respond.
But we must respond. Faith isn’t passive. Like Moses, who dared to pray, “Show me Your glory” (Exodus 33:18), or Paul, who cried out, “That I may know Him” (Philippians 3:10), we are called to pursue God with a burning desire. Salvation isn’t the finish line — it’s the starting point of a lifelong pursuit.
In Hebraic thought, this pursuit is deeply connected to the Hebrew concept of דְּבֵקוּת (Devekut), which means clinging or cleaving to God.
Devekut isn’t just about obeying God; it’s about being near Him, staying close to His presence. It’s the soul’s longing to walk in daily communion with the living God. As it says in Deuteronomy 10:20, “You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him (וּבוֹ תִדְבָּק).”
Our pursuit of God is made possible through Yeshua the Messiah, who declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). He is the living path into the Father’s presence, and through Him, the longing for devekut — deep, abiding closeness with God — is not fulfilled in a single moment, but in a lifelong, growing relationship.
Let’s never be satisfied with where we are. The saints of old weren’t content with surface-level faith — David cried out for God, and Paul gave up everything to know Him more. Why should our experience be any different? It’s time to strip away the clutter, silence the distractions, and abandon the “God and…” mentality. Let’s return to the simplicity of seeking Him alone. Even a single, honest word — “God” or “Love” — whispered from a longing heart can open the door to His presence.
This is the kingdom’s paradox of love: to have found God and still long for more of Him. Let that holy hunger define your faith. Let it drive you deeper, pull you closer, and draw you into the joy of knowing not just about Him, but knowing Him. In the end, you won’t just find peace — you’ll cling to the One your soul was made to love.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Tonight begins the feast of Purim, which celebrates the deliverance of the Jewish people from one of many of Satan's attempts to purge them from the world. Mordechai gave Esther a great challenge then, "and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"
Life can get so hectic sometimes -- we often try to do too many things at once. But when our schedule gets that hectic, we need to start investing in some quality time with the Lord. The operating word here is "investing".
The first man was called "Ah-dom", we know him as "Adam". The word used for "man", as in "mankind", in Genesis 1, is also the same word – "Ah-dom". "Ah-dom" is rooted in the three Hebrew letters, aleph-dalet-mem, and one of the Hebrew words for earth is "Adamah", which contains the same three letters, however it ends with the Hebrew letter "hay". "Adamah" means "red earth", or "red clay", and this word points to the natural earth elements, the "earth dust" that composed Adam’s body, and the body of every human being since. "Man" is "ah-dom", in a very real sense, "clay".
Yesterday, in our devotional I spoke of the two rains in Israel, the early rain and the latter rain. The prophet Joel speaks prophetically of these two rainy seasons in connection with the outpouring of God's spirit.
For much of the year, Israel receives little to no rain. The early rains ( "Yoreh") begin at the time of the Fall Feasts, September-October, and the "Latter Rain (“Malkosh”) concludes the rainy season around the time of the Spring festival of Passover.
En Gedi is a nature reserve about 40 minutes from our home. Surrounded by dry, barren, rocky ground, except to the east where the Dead Sea lies, it is an oasis, fed year round by springs of fresh water, and home to some of the most unique wild and botanical life in the world.
A father asked his son to carry a letter from their camp to the village. He pointed out a trail over which the lad had never gone before. “All right Dad, but I don’t see how that path will ever reach the town,” said the boy. “Well son, I'll tell you how. Do you see that big tree down the path?” asked the father. “Oh, yes, I see that far.” “Well, when you get there by the tree, you’ll see the trail a little farther ahead -- and farther down you'll see another big tree -- and when you reach that one you'll be closer and so on until you get within sight of the houses of the village.”