SEEKING GOD'S FACE
Thou hast said, "Seek ye my face." My heart says to thee, "Thy face, Lord, do I seek." Ps. 27:8, R.S.V.
In the most fundamental way, your face is you. At the sight of it, the parking lot attendant will wave you through the gate and the teller at your bank will cash your check without asking to see your driver's license. Can you imagine how you'd feel if one day you were arrested--because someone whom you supposedly looked like had committed a crime? It has happened to others. Some innocent people have spent years in prison because their face was thought to closely resemble the face of a wanted criminal.
What usually happens is that the apparent "look-alike" is picked up by the police and subsequently is "positively identified" by the victim or eyewitness to the crime. Traumatic excitement, coupled with an intense desire for personal safety, is often an underlying factor in such procedures. Not until the real culprit is apprehended is the ill-conceived person cleared. Upon seeing the real criminal, the victim or eyewitness suddenly realizes that the wrong person has been sent to prison.
God calls out to us, "Seek My face! You are mistakenly identifying Me with that criminal, the devil. By sophistry and deceit he has convinced you that I am like him, that I am tyrannical, exacting, and full of displeasure for you. You have been victimized by him, yet blame Me for your sorrows. If only you will seek My face--seek to know Me as I am--you will no longer fear Me. Cleared of the false charges against Me, I will be allowed the freedom to become your friend."
Let us answer Him, "My heart says to You, Your face, Lord, do I seek. In my anxiety and trauma I saw You as one whose anger had been kindled against me. I thought it was You who beat me severely with Your law. And though Your Son came to lift me up into newness of life, I thought You were lurking in the shadows, ready to strike me down again should I not follow precisely after Him. But I see now that this is not true. Your face I will continually seek, so that I will never again be mistaken about who You are!"
Jesus summarized it: "This is eternal life: to know thee who alone art truly God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3, N.E.B.).
Thou hast said, "Seek ye my face." My heart says to thee, "Thy face, Lord, do I seek." Ps. 27:8, R.S.V.
In the most fundamental way, your face is you. At the sight of it, the parking lot attendant will wave you through the gate and the teller at your bank will cash your check without asking to see your driver's license. Can you imagine how you'd feel if one day you were arrested--because someone whom you supposedly looked like had committed a crime? It has happened to others. Some innocent people have spent years in prison because their face was thought to closely resemble the face of a wanted criminal.
What usually happens is that the apparent "look-alike" is picked up by the police and subsequently is "positively identified" by the victim or eyewitness to the crime. Traumatic excitement, coupled with an intense desire for personal safety, is often an underlying factor in such procedures. Not until the real culprit is apprehended is the ill-conceived person cleared. Upon seeing the real criminal, the victim or eyewitness suddenly realizes that the wrong person has been sent to prison.
God calls out to us, "Seek My face! You are mistakenly identifying Me with that criminal, the devil. By sophistry and deceit he has convinced you that I am like him, that I am tyrannical, exacting, and full of displeasure for you. You have been victimized by him, yet blame Me for your sorrows. If only you will seek My face--seek to know Me as I am--you will no longer fear Me. Cleared of the false charges against Me, I will be allowed the freedom to become your friend."
Let us answer Him, "My heart says to You, Your face, Lord, do I seek. In my anxiety and trauma I saw You as one whose anger had been kindled against me. I thought it was You who beat me severely with Your law. And though Your Son came to lift me up into newness of life, I thought You were lurking in the shadows, ready to strike me down again should I not follow precisely after Him. But I see now that this is not true. Your face I will continually seek, so that I will never again be mistaken about who You are!"
Jesus summarized it: "This is eternal life: to know thee who alone art truly God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3, N.E.B.).
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