Hello everyone! I apologize for taking two weeks between posts, it has been quite a busy time of year for me. In this post I would like to share my story as the Father has been teaching me what it means to seek His face and not His hand.
Several weeks ago, the song “Dance with Me” by Paul Wilbur was played during worship at my church. The song is all about how God, our Bridegroom, desires to dance with us, His bride. While I was singing, Abba brought me back to my wedding, specifically my first dance with my wife. During that dance it was as if there was no one else in that room. Our eyes were locked and we were looking straight into each other’s souls. There was no room to hide. If there was something I had kept from her, she would see it. I’m sure every married person can relate to this experience. The Lord then spoke to me saying that this was the dance He was looking for when we ask Him to dance with us and then He said I want you to seek my face and not my hand.
We all want that well paying job, that broken relationship to be restored, that sick person to be healed, that miraculous check in the mail and for all of our prayers to be answered yes, but that is not where He wants our eyes focused. He wants to dance with His bride with her eyes fixed on Him, His heart. I’ve realized that though there is nothing unscriptural with the idea of blessings and curses if you obey or disobey, He wants to take us deeper. The outward blessings we receive for living righteously are only to draw the unbeliever to jealousy. The true blessing of living righteously is being able to have unhindered intimacy with our Bridegroom. The one who seeks His hand and not His face will only have relationship with Him as deep as you would with one of your own friends that treats you the same way, only looking for favors or an ear to listen to their problems. The one who seeks His face knows His heart and never doubts His love for them and has no need to worry about the future because they know He will take care of His bride.
Personally, I have found that this is easier said than done because sometimes you want to see God’s hand move in a particular situation so badly that it is hard to know what your motives truly are in anything that you do. What was your true motive for forgiving that person? What about the homeless man that you helped the other day? What about your tithes and offerings? What about your daily prayer and devotion time? Are you simply just trying to put on a show of good works for Him waiting for His hand to move and bless you? Or are you truly seeking His face and making yourself available for Him to reveal His heart to you? The past few weeks or so I have been asking the Father what it really looks like to seek His face. This past week on Yom Kippur, as I was reading the psalms, two verses stood out as clear as day that I felt was the answer to my question.
Psalm 25:14 “The Lord confides in those who fear him;” Those who seek His face are those who fear Him, those who He can confide in and share His heart with. Take a moment and think about the times that someone has confided in you or vice versa. When something is weighing heavily on someone’s heart and they choose to trust you with it. When was the last time any of us felt like God had confided in us and shared something with us that was weighing heavily on His heart? If I’m being honest, I don’t know if He has ever confided in me which probably means He hasn’t. The verse says it is those who fear Him that He confides in. For that reason I believe that those who truly seek His face are also fearful of what they might find. Yes, God loves us and is for us, but you must understand that when you are seeking a deep level of intimacy with the infinite, incomprehensible, unseen God, there is absolutely a need to be fearful.
The 2nd verse He led me to was Psalm 27:14 “Wait for the LORD, be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.” The word here for wait is qavah and it means to wait, look for, hope, expect, collect, or bind together. I believe that when we wait, look for, hope, and expect Him, in that process He collects us(if done corporately) and binds us together with Himself. Those who seek His face wait on Him to speak, guide, and direct their paths before moving. Those who do not seek His face wander aimlessly looking for His hand. The greatest men of God I know or have read about, are the ones who have spent countless hours in prayer, usually without speaking. They spend hours waiting for Him to give them His heart, to confide in them, and guide there every step. Granted, 8 hrs of prayer each day is an extreme and not what I am advocating for everyone but I know He wants to take His people deeper.
Fear Him and wait on Him in prayer. These two things are what separate those who seek His hand from those who seek His face. In closing, we serve an all powerful God and right now He is looking for a Bride who is ready to dance with Him, she just has to be willing to lock eyes with Him and lose sight of everything else. I pray this resonates with you and blesses you, shalom.
Jonathan
As I Ponder... 