Come Near

You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”

Psalm 27:8    

It is important to seek God’s hand.  In fact, it is essential.  We seek God’s hand to provide the things that we need.  “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt. 6:11).  

We seek God’s hand because we need him.  Because we are dependent upon him.  Because we are desperate for him.  

This dependence pleases God.  It is the opposite of proud self-reliance.  Over and over, the Bible tells us:  “Ask.  Ask.  Ask.”  We seek God’s hand.  

But there is something even more important than seeking God’s hand:  seeking God’s face.  That is, seeking God himself.  We seek God first not for what he can do for us, but just for himself.  We seek him in order to know him, to love him, to draw close to him, to be intimate with him.  

We worship.  We adore.  We give thanks.  We sing to him.  We tell him we love him.  We pour out all that’s on our heart.  A.W. Tozer once wrote:  “We are called to an everlasting preoccupation with God.”  

Stuart Sacks tell this story:   

While I was serving in Paraguay, a Maka Indian named Rafael came to sit on my porch.  I was eating and went out to see what he wanted.  He responded, “Ham, henek met.”  Again I asked what I could do for him, but the answer was the same.  I understood what he was saying but not its significance:  “I don’t want anything; I have just come near.”  I later shared the incident with a local veteran missionary.  He explained that it was Rafael’s way of honoring me.  He really didn’t want anything; he just wanted to sit on my porch.  He found satisfaction and pleasure just being near me.  ‘”What brings you here, my child?” the Lord asks.  “Ham, henek met.”  Doesn’t that reveal the heart of true worship?  

Yes, we seek God’s hand.  But first and foremost we seek God’s face.