We live in a world filled with so much, yet there is the continual search for meaning. So many continually striving to accomplish more, achieve more, acquire more . . . still at the end of the day they find themselves empty. Just like Naomi who said,”I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty” (Ruth 1:21a), we find ourselves in pursuit of so many things only to find them meaningless. The devil goes about trying to fill our lives with so many things, so many diversions that rob us of what is real; yet the only true meaning in life can be found in the one who gives life. “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10
To have life more abundantly we need to focus on what we are seeking after . . .In the stillness of the night when we come to the end of our day and we feel that overwhelming sense of emptiness, the Lord is ever present . . . longing for us to reach out to him . . . longing for us to seek his face among the chaos of life . . . “When thou saidst, Seek ye my face: my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord will I seek.“ Psalm 27:8
Aa we we turn to seek him, he has promised that we will find him. “But if from thense thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.” Deuteronomy 4;29 He has also promised that he will never forsake us if we seek to find him. “And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.” Psalm 9:10
So in the moments when we come to the end of who we are and all the failures of what we had hoped to accomplish, we will find him and the strength that comes from him alone. “Seek the Lord, and his strength: seek his face evermore.” Psalm 105:4
In reflection, I smile as I am reminded that not only will he be there, not only will he never forsake me, not only will he give me strength . . . . but when I seek him waiting for him, he will be “good” unto me. “The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. ” Lamentations 3:25 Even though I deserve nothing but his condemnation, he has promised so much to me . . . “Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men.” Psalm 31:19 . . . . and so I will glory in his name, I will rejoice in him as I seek his face . . . “Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face continually.” I Chronicles 16: 10-11
Thy face Lord will I seek . . .