"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints."
Ephesians 6:18

"It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God."
2Chronicles 5:13-14

"As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God."
Psalm 42:1

 God is our spiritual water.  We are made in His image.  We are created by Him because of His love.  He created us to love us and to receive our love in return.  If we don't connect with God then we have a thirst that cannot be quenched.  We will always feel a longing and, if we don't recognize it as a thirst for God, then we often try to fill that longing with other things.  We can die in our souls if we don't drink from God.

Most of the summer I have not been drinking from God.  I have only been taking sips.  I did not spend dedicated time with Him and in His Word.  I did "take Him with me" most of the time.  I would include Him in my life.  I would praise Him and talk to Him each day.  What I was not doing was drinking from Him.

  There were a lot of things going on this summer that filled my days.  I spent many hours helping to build our barn.  I spent a lot more hours doing all the things that I do all the time.  Many evenings I would exhaustedly drop into bed, only to wake up in the morning and do it all again.

So, was it my fault that I wasn't spending enough time with Him?  Yes.  My choices were made every day as to what to do with my time.  My reasoning was:  they needed my help building the barn, some things wouldn't get done unless I did them, my husband needed my help, whatever, whatever, whatever.

  So, why didn't I get up really really early every morning to spend time with Him?  Why didn't I lock myself in my camper and turn on the air conditioner to spend time with Him?  OK, stop it!  Stop making me feel guilty!!  Just who do you think you are, anyway?   Oh, maybe this is God speaking.  Maybe He is washing away all my good reasons for not spending time with Him.  Maybe He missed me more than I missed Him.  Maybe He is training me on how to handle it next summer.  Maybe He is taking me through this desert to let me know how He felt while I was busy.  Maybe He is allowing me to become very very thirsty so I will never do that again.

 Let's go on in this chapter.  Verse 2, "My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?"  OK, God, I am appearing in front of You.  I have no good excuses.  I messed up.  My soul thirsts for communion with You.  You are the living God.  You are what I need.

Verse 3, "My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?"  Well, I haven't really been crying, but I imagine that the people I was with during the summer may have wondered where You were.  They didn't see me communing with You.  They didn't see the fruit of my drinking from You because I was only sipping.

 Verse 8, "Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life."  No matter how badly I mess up, yet He still loves me.  He still is with me.  I will not walk away just because I feel like I am in a desert.  I will still praise Him.  I will still spend time with Him.  I will still absorb His Word.

Verse 11, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God."  Why should I be cast down?  I will be encouraged by my God who is the health of my countenance.  I will trust that He will guide me through the desert.  I will trust that He will provide manna to sustain me as long as is necessary.  I will rejoice in this time and use it for reflection and for learning.  I will continue to praise my Lord, my God, my Life.

"Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise."
John 5:19

I'd say that one reason it is there is to show us what we should be doing.  God's will is what we should seek to be doing.  How do we know what God's will for us is?  The Bible is full of directions and guidance to point us in the right direction.  That would be an excellent place to start.  I would like to make a suggestion, however.  You  need to read it for yourself.  Don't rely on a pastor or teacher to do it for you.  Even if they are hitting the nail on the head in their teachings, they may be trying to teach you what God gave them FOR THEMSELVES.

God will speak to you on an individual basis through His Word.  He will open your understanding in such a way that it is personal to you.  He will remind you of other scriptures you read and show you how to put them together.  Get into your Bible and meet God there!

If you don't have it firmly planted in your head, then work on planting the fact:  God will speak to you.  God will let you know what He wants you to do.  Sometimes it is clear and sometimes it is not.  Sometimes I think He wants you to choose what to do to show you whether or not you know Him very well.

Other times He wants you to learn so much about His nature and to be so attuned to His heart that you are supposed to be guided by His eye.  (Ps 32:8) 

Jesus spent a lot of time alone with God.  There are lots of times when He went off by Himself.  If Jesus needed to spend time alone with God, what makes us think that we don't?

Let's not be so presumptuous to think that we are in God's will just because we are a good person and go to church every week, either.  It takes communication with God to determine His will.  How will we know whether or not to witness to someone?  Was your first thought, "Of course!  We should witness to everyone!"  Not necessarily.  I have spoken to people who came to the Lord because I DIDN'T witness to them.  Occasionally God would open a door for me to be able to speak of the things He was doing in my life.  Sometimes He just wanted me to demonstrate His love and compassion.

We aren't necessarily the person that God chooses to bring someone to the Lord.  He has an entire Body of people that are to be at His beck and call.  He may take that person that you had the job of softening their heart and send another Christian to them to bring them to the Lord.

I know other people who are turned away from all things of God because they were hammered with the gospel over and over by well-meaning Christians.

You see where I'm going with this?  What we assume to be God's will may not be His will at all.  We need to be in constant communion with Him.  Don't say, "Amen" at the end of your morning prayers and dismiss God until the next morning.  Keep thinking about Him all day long.  Include Him in your life.  Expect to hear from Him.  Do things and say things because He wants them done or said.

One last thought:  when you mess up, ask Him to forgive you and try again.

One more thought:  when you mess up after you've asked forgiveness for messing up and after you've tried again.... ask Him to forgive you and try again... and again... and again...