Seeking God's Face

"You have said, "Seek my face." My heart says to you, "Your face, LORD, do I seek."

All week, I have meditated on that verse. These are the words of David, from Psalm 27.

David had a heart for God. He hungered for God. He starts out in that Psalm by saying,
”The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?... One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.

David longed to live in God’s presence, beholding his beauty, seeing him face to face.

In another Psalm, David put it this way, “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water… My soul clings to you…” (Psalm 63)

How did David come to have such longing for God? I don’t have the answer. I know that he was a shepherd and spent a lot of time alone with the sheep. But there were a lot of shepherds in Israel. When God sent Samuel to anoint one of Jesse’s son as king, he told him that He did not care about outward appearance, but He saw the heart. God chose David, as a young boy, to be the next king of Israel because of something that He saw in David’s heart. God said “I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.”  David was willing to do whatever God said, but, more importantly, he had a heart for God.

We know a lot about David.

David was brave-he was ready to fight a giant when he was a teenager

David was uninhibited in his praise for God-he danced full force before the Lord when they brought to tabernacle to Jerusalem

David was creative-he wrote numerous songs of praise and thanksgiving; and he invented musical instruments to use in worship

David was committed to God-he wanted to build a temple, but when God said that his son would be the one to build it, David collected the building materials for it.

David was honest-the Psalms are full of honest, heart-felt, sometimes painful crying out to God

We know a lot of things about David, but these are just windows into his heart and soul. I want to know how he came to have a heart for God. Back to Psalm 27, it seems like there was a time when David had a conversation with God.

 

David asked God, what do you want from me, and God said, “Son, just seek my face, just love me and want me enough to seek to be with me. I want you to want me.” And David said, “Then that is what I will do. I will seek your face, and strive to live in your presence.”