Does God Long For Us?

At a recent retreat at Wildacres I had the privilege of learning Zohar with scholar, Rabbi Ebn Leader. The question the texts pondered: Does God long for us the way we long for God?

Longing for God. How often do we articulate that concept? The Zohar teaches that when we feel our longing—to belong, to be known, to be cared for—our hearts open and our yearning takes the form of prayer, song, or acts of loving kindness in our world.

The Kabbalah tells us that our longing and crying out in prayer stimulates the flow of divine love into the world and into our lives.

When we are in love and our beloved leaves us, the longing begins immediately. We turn to catch a glimpse of a frame before it fades entirely. The same with God and us.

We are always turning our gaze towards God’s love. How deep is their longing for Me? How deep is My longing for them?

Yearning is a spiritual stance, an orientation of longing to connect with that fundamental love. It is not about obtaining anything or getting an answer. In fact, yearning is its own answer.