“Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.” — 1 Chronicles 16:11
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Are you seeking God’s hand or His face? If I’m honest with myself, it’s His hand. Seeking God’s hand is about what He can do for me. Seeking His hand turns my prayer time into my “personal wish list,” and I start treating God like my own genie.
It’s really easy to make my prayer time about me — my wants, my needs and how I think God should handle all my situations and answer my requests. I pray for favor and blessing — not necessarily wrong things, but the posture of my heart turns into entitlement. “God, You owe me!” It becomes a transactional relationship where I try to convince God of my self-righteousness and expect Him to give me the so-called desires of my heart.
God — the Creator of this universe; the One who is holy, perfect and righteous; the One who loves us unconditionally and gave us His only Son to die on the cross for our sins, so we can have a relationship with Him — craves us. He wants us to seek Him, to seek His face. He’s the God who forgives. He sees and knows all things. He should not be treated as a vending-machine god. My heart breaks for the times that I view Him like that and I ask Him to forgive me. I’m learning that as I seek His face, the favor and blessing I’m praying for are His “presence,” not necessarily His “presents.”
Is your heart’s desire to seek His face? Seeking His face is seeking His presence. Do you want a deeper, more intimate and meaningful relationship with God? Seek His face rather than His hand and you’ll begin to fall in love with Jesus. Your prayer time will begin with gratitude and thankfulness as you reflect on His goodness, grace, mercy, forgiveness and love. Instead of rushing into the throne room with personal requests and wants, you’ll begin to enjoy just sitting at His feet like Mary did.
You’ll begin to crave and enjoy your quiet time. It will no be longer a check-list item or to-do activity to get done during the day when you have a little extra time and it’s convenient; it becomes more intentional and focused. It becomes a priority, and instead of a “have to,” it’s now a “get to” — no longer duty but rather devotion and delight. You’ll actually look forward to spending time with God and being in His presence.
And here’s the beautiful thing about seeking His face: He transforms you and changes you. You become more and more like Christ because of the time you spend with Him. Moses came down from the mountain and his face glowed because of spending time in the presence of God. In the New Testament, Jesus calls us to be light. Are we bright? Do we shine? Do our teammates, friends and family see the difference in us because of spending time with God and being in His presence?
And, oh yeah, those desires of your heart start happening and occurring because they’re actually not your desires anymore — they are His desires which now become your desires because of spending time with Him. Seek His face!
Prayer: Dear God, please forgive me for just seeking Your hand. My prayer is to seek Your face. May I crave Your presence and seek intentional time with You on a daily basis. Amen.
— Jim Good
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