SEEK GOD'S FACE

“Don’t focus on the problem. Instead, just seek God’s face.”

It was a cryptic piece of advice from a treasured brother in the Lord, who knew some of the agony of prayer I had been going through. My first reaction was simple frustration with these words. I thought, “Right. Easy for you to say ‘Don’t focus on the problem,’ since you aren't dealing with it all day, every day.”

So, I figured I’d just ignore the advice until I heard something more in line with what I wanted to hear. After all, what I was looking for was a solution to the problem, and how was I supposed to find the solution if I didn’t think about the problem?

However, though I tried to ignore this piece of advice, it apparently wouldn’t ignore me. Every time I bowed my head to pray, every time I opened the Word for some time with the Lord, there it was, running through my mind again. Could this be the Lord speaking to me? Did God really want me to quit focusing on the problem and simply seek His face instead?

Well, two weeks later, I have begun to think that, yes, it is the Lord speaking to me. Almost every verse of Scripture I’ve read has said the same thing to me: seek the Lord’s face. That’s where the solution lies: not in human ability or ingenuity. Not in better organization, increased skill or improved work. Only in the presence of God, as I seek His face, will His solution to this or any problem ever be found.

Indeed, God seems to have set before me a challenge for Lent: that the focus of all my praying would be to seek His face, intently and intentionally. The difficulty with that is that I’m not so certain I know how to do that. Generally, when I come to God in prayer and quiet time, I’m seeking His advice, or seeking His blessing, or even seeking His power. Seeking His face: what’s that mean? I mean, really.

So . . . I’ve been asking God to show me how I should go about this. Two passages have come to me with a sense of urgency.

First, Psalm 16:11: “You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

The words “in Your presence” are literally “before Your face,” in the original language. In other words, as we come before God simply to behold His glory, and praise Him for the grandeur of His grace, there is available to us in that moment “fullness of joy.” The word translated “fullness” literally means “enough to satisfy:” this means that your desire for joy is fulfilled before the face of God. Since He is full of joy, we find our need for joy met simply by being intentionally with Him, focusing on Him.

Second, Psalm 27:8: “When You said, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart said to You, ‘O LORD, I will seek Your face’."

This verse is simple. God wants us to seek His face. Our proper response is not to say, “But what does that mean?” or, “I don’t know how to do that.” Our proper response is simply to come before God in prayer and say to Him something like this:
“Lord here I am. You told me to seek Your face: and so, I am seeking Your face. I don’t know what it means, but I ask You to reveal Yourself to me. I need to know You personally, face-to-face: the real You, not some image I may already have in my mind. So, here I am. Show me Yourself, because when it’s all said and done, I need You desperately. More than solutions, I need You. More than answers, more than guidance, more than blessing, more than anything, I need You. Just You. Here I am. Please, show me Yourself.”

Do you have the courage to set aside a few minutes each day to join me in praying a prayer like this? Could you? Would you?