Seek God’s Face

2 Chronicles 7:14

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Most of us who are adults like to be in control. We control our waking and sleeping patterns, the foods we eat, clothes we wear, places we go, even the job we hold! But we need to recognize God is in control, and we are not. When we make poor or erroneous decisions, we are happy to have God hold the reigns to our lives.

Today, we look at “pray, and seek God’s face.” in the verse above.  We know that prayer is just communication with God. Though if you think about it, communication with the God of the universe is not a ‘just’ anything! It’s huge! When we communicate with someone, we usually expect an answer. I say usually because there are people who just like to dominate a conversation. They tell you all the minuscule details of their lives. In fact, sometimes the things they are telling you have no relevance to the story. But oftentimes you cannot interject a thing. Those people may do that when talking to God too!  

They give the point-by-point of their day, then the ‘list’ of their needs, then they are off before God even gets the opportunity to respond. Here’s the thing: He will always respond when we “seek His face.” The face is where all our emotions are shown. On our face our mouth can respond also. Seeking God’s face takes time. 

Have you ever held an infant and given them a bottle? It takes time! You may be in a hurry, you may try to rush it, but there are very messy consequences! Same here. When we don’t allow God to respond to our requests, we may end up in a mess! God will never steer us in the wrong direction. We, however, may do that all by ourselves if we are not listening. 

I would encourage you to take the time to actually sit in God’s presence. Start off by thanking Him for everything you have in your life – health, strength, provision, family, friends, church, a job. I could go on and on, but you get the picture. God is so generous with us. We cannot begin to thank Him enough, but we can try.  

Then, tell Him just how amazing and magnificent He is!  Remember, He’s the Creator of the entire universe, time, people, and every good thing. Somewhere in your prayer, stop and listen. That’s when I hear ‘the still small voice’ of God. He may just show me a smile, He may give an answer to something I asked, or just make a comment. But you know in your ‘knower’ that it was God! It takes time.  

But now with ‘corona’ keeping us from group events, that’s what we have… time! Don’t waste it, spend it with God Almighty!

If this sounds like it may be a repetition of a previous post, it is because repetition helps us learn, and we need to lean this!