Last week we focused on the first portion of Psalm 27:4: One thing have I asked of the LORD (Jehovah). We studied the meaning and importance of the name Jehovah, and the difference Jehovah can make in a situation, a person or an experience if we place Him in that “thing.” We talked about how Jehovah needs to be our “One thing.”
Our main truth last week was:
When my One Thing is the LORD (Jehovah),
I can rest in the fact that HE IS in all my other things.
This week I want us to look at the next phrase in Psalm 27:4:
That will I seek after …
Let’s focus on the word
seek
for a few moments.
Seek – baqash(H1245)
To search out (by any method, specifically in worship and prayer)
To strive after, ask, beg beseech, to procure, require, desire, request, demand
To seek to find
To seek to secure
To seek the face
It denotes seeking someone’s presence especially the Lord’s or His Word.
Prior to having a personal relationship with Jesus, it is God who does all of the seeking. He seeks after or “goes after” us. He pursues us and draws us by His Spirit. After we have accepted Christ and His Spirit is in us, we have a hunger and thirst for Him. Seeking God becomes something we desire and delight in doing. Psalm 42:1 says, As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.
But seeking God is also something Jesus commanded us to do in Matthew 6:33 which says, But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
So we can say that seeking God is an attitude of the heart and an act of one’s will. We have an internal desire to go after God, but we must also fight our compulsion to be self sufficient, lazy and at times apathetic. It is at times like these that we must combat our fleshly nature where seeking God is concerned. We must purpose to seek after Him. We must decide to act with intentional obedience and go after God just as we would if we were searching for a hidden treasure.
Read Proverbs 2:1-5 (ESV) (Emphasis added)
My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
If I told you I hid a check in your home made out to you for $100,000 would you go searching for it? I believe you would! (I know I would!) How would you “go after” that money? Would you nonchalantly roam through your house, skimming the surfaces to see if, by chance, you came across it? I don’t think so! I think you would probably turn your house upside down and inside out until you found it. You would probably even call a friend and have them come over and help if you became desperate enough.
Is that how we “go after” God, though?
If part of “going after” God is searching out His Word and praying, how are you doing with seeking Him?
What about your worship? God is seeking those who will worship Him in Spirit and in truth. How IS your worship? Do you have an intense desire to praise God? Do you desire to bring Him glory with your life? Do you desire to worship Him through obedience to His commands?
What about idols? Are you more concerned about cleaning your house than sitting and reading the Word? Are you more concerned with TV, the internet, food, shopping or some other hobby than you are with praying? I say “idols” because anything we place before God is, in fact, an idol. An idol doesn’t have to be a wooden statue. An idol can be another person, a thing, an overly indulged pleasure, a comfort and even a security that we put our trust in. ANYTHING we place more value on than God is an idol. It’s what your heart most desires. It’s what you “go after.”
Take this
Idol Test
. Ask yourself this question:
What is the first thing I think of when I wake up in the morning,
and the last thing I think about before I go to sleep at night?
Did you gain any insight as a result of your answers to that question?
Seeking after or worshiping anything other than God deadens our heart, drains our time, depletes our energy and destroys our fellowship with the Father. It leaves us desiring more and more of it because nothing other than God truly satisfies us, rejuvenates us or frees us like worshiping our One Thing – Jehovah!
Please don’t hear me wrong, a clean and orderly house is a good thing. A hobby is much deserved. Our children, husbands and friends are wonderful! A job is important. The comforts and securities we have are a blessing. But those things should never be placed above or before Jehovah. Who is your God? Nothing and no one should be “god” to us except God! He Is the One whom our soul loves. (Song of Solomon 3:4)
Can you say that?
I have found the one whom my soul loves
and His name is Jesus!
· What or who are you striving after or worshiping today?
· What adjustments do you need to make in your life to make certain you are seeking after God? Will you make them?
· What are you doing to actively and purposefully seek God?
· Are you studying the Word?
· Are you praying daily and throughout the day?
· How is your obedience level? Are you seeking to please Him by following His will for your life?
Remember this truth throughout your week:
Seeking after my One Thing – Jehovah – satisfies my hungry soul.
Jacqueline Heider is the Director of Women’s Ministry,
Prayer & Resource Specialist at Warren Baptist Church.
Visit her blog for more encouragement.