Host: Good morning. This is The Pursuit of God Daily for Monday, October twenty-sixth. Today we begin chapter three of The Pursuit of God, Removing the Veil, with the first of ten readings, as Tozer asks why we were made at all.

Reader: Isaiah forty-three, verse seven. Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.

Reader: From A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, chapter three, Removing the Veil. Among the famous sayings of the Church fathers none is better known than Augustine’s, “Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.”

Reader: The great saint states here in few words the origin and interior history of the human race. God made us for Himself: that is the only explanation that satisfies the heart of a thinking man, whatever his wild reason may say. Should faulty education and perverse reasoning lead a man to conclude otherwise, there is little that any Christian can do for him. For such a man I have no message.

Reader: My appeal is addressed to those who have been previously taught in secret by the wisdom of God; I speak to thirsty hearts whose longings have been wakened by the touch of God within them, and such as they need no reasoned proof. Their restless hearts furnish all the proof they need.

Reader: God formed us for Himself. The Shorter Catechism, “Agreed upon by the Reverend Assembly of Divines at Westminster,” as the old New-England Primer has it, asks the ancient questions what and why and answers them in one short sentence hardly matched in any uninspired work. “Question: What is the chief End of Man? Answer: Man’s chief End is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

Reader: With this agree the four and twenty elders who fall on their faces to worship Him that liveth forever and ever, saying, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

Reader: God formed us for His pleasure, and so formed us that we as well as He can in divine communion enjoy the sweet and mysterious mingling of kindred personalities. He meant us to see Him and live with Him and draw our life from His smile. But we have been guilty of that “foul revolt” of which Milton speaks when describing the rebellion of Satan and his hosts. We have broken with God. We have ceased to obey Him or love Him and in guilt and fear have fled as far as possible from His Presence.

Host: Tozer opens this chapter with the simplest and deepest fact about us: God formed us for Himself. We are not accidents looking for a purpose; we were made with a purpose already written into us. Isaiah heard the Lord say it of His people: I have created him for my glory, I have formed him. And the elders around the throne in Revelation chapter four confess the same thing: for thy pleasure they are and were created.

Notice that Tozer joins two words that we often keep apart: glory and enjoyment. The Catechism says our chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. God's purpose for us is not a grim duty but a fellowship. David said in Psalm sixteen, verse eleven, in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. We were made to draw our life, as Tozer puts it, from His smile. Tozer is saying that this longing is itself evidence: the thirsty heart already knows it was made for more than this world can give.

But then comes the hard turn. We have broken with God and fled from His Presence. Genesis chapter three tells the first chapter of that story. When the Lord God came walking in the garden, Adam and his wife hid themselves among the trees. And Adam said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid. That is the restlessness Augustine named: a heart made for God, hiding from God.

Yet the first word spoken after the fall was God's question, Where art thou? The seeking began with Him. And it was finished at the cross. Paul writes in Romans chapter five that when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, and that we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Reconciliation is not only the removal of guilt; it is the return of joy. The restless heart finds its rest not by trying harder, but by coming home through Christ to the God who made it for Himself.

So today, when you notice restlessness, whether in a quiet moment, in boredom, or in the reach for one more distraction, let it be a signal rather than a burden. Stop and answer God's old question honestly: Here I am, Lord. Then thank Him that in Christ you no longer need to hide.

Host: Father, You made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You. Forgive us for the ways we hide from Your presence. Thank You for seeking us, and for reconciling us to Yourself through the death and life of Your Son. Teach us today to glorify You and to enjoy You. In Jesus' name, amen.

Host: In His presence is fulness of joy. Psalm sixteen, verse eleven. Go with God.