6. I WILL SEEK HIS FACE
Our Lord esteems and honors those who walk in humility and dependence on him and who seek his face in fellowship and communion. Jesus gave us a pattern of regularly spending time alone with the Father to seek his heart and commune with him in prayer. He did this even in the midst of many demands, pressures and even harsh circumstances. Following Jesus’ model, I want to seek him regularly in personal communion and prayer. I know this will please him and enable me to more align myself with him, his ways and his will. I also want to live within my human limits by taking regular times of rest (Sabbath) to restore my soul. I know this will mean withdrawing from the pressures of my world for periods of time. My heart is to serve him in faithfulness all my days until he takes me home or returns in his glory. By his grace I want to seek his face.
(
Isa. 66:1-2; Matt. 14:23; Matt. 26:36-39; Mark 1:35-39; Luke 4:42-43; Luke 5:16; Phil. 4:5-7; 1 Peter 5:6-8)
A few 'bridge' thoughts about 'seeking His face' before possibly next time studying some of the Scripture references included with the article and relating to prayer.
I have often wondered what it was like in the Garden of Eden before the fall. Was the L
ORD regularly present with Adam and Eve, did they have close communion with Him, did they not have to actively 'seek His face'?
Genesis 3:8English Standard Version (ESV)
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden
.
Immediately after their disobedience, they certainly tried to hide from His face.
And that is somewhat where we have been at ever since.
We need to take care of unconfessed sin, and we need to 'seek His face' it seems to me.
Throughout the OT, successfully seeking His face seems to have been difficult, although not impossible.
Certainly there were success stories, Enoch being one of them,
Genesis 5:24English Standard Version (ESV)
24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not,[a] for God took him.
Footnotes:
[a]Genesis 5:24 Septuagint was not found
Abraham, I think was another, who successfully sought His face.
Abraham's life shows faith and obedience, important requisites for 'seeking His face'.
Job and Daniel were also successful I believe, Moses, Elijah and others as well.
And then, one day,
Galatians 4:4-7English Standard Version (ESV)
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
...And so it became possible to 'seek His face' in a new way.
And then the veil in the temple was torn...
....And then the Holy Spirit came and yet another dimension was added to our ability to 'seek His face'.
Do we really take advantage of the all the opportunity we have?
Hmmm.
Problem is perhaps, sometimes I find myself in the Garden, trying to hide something, maybe not realizing what I'm doing, satisfying my first instincts....