Seeking God

Introduction

Good Morning, thank you so much for choosing to join us this morning.

You sought to be here.

We are continuing spending our summer by reading in the Psalms today.

For the past few weeks we have been spending every Sunday morning looking at different psalms.

A psalm is a religious poem or hymn written by ancient Israel.

They were used to praise God but also edify the readers.

Much like the songs we sing as a congregation today.

So we take this time to see what wisdom we can gain from the Spirit’s guidance as we look at this awesome collection found in the book we call Psalms.

This morning we are going to be in Psalm 105.

As I read this psalm it actually reminded me of my grandfather.

One day in the mid 2000’s before I could drive my grandfather took me along as he found a new care for him and my grandmother. After visiting around 3 dealerships and him, I didn't have my permit yet, test driving about 6 cars he finally found the one. Of course my grandfather being a master negotiator wasn’t going to let them know that. So we took that Jeep Liberty for a test drive and after inspecting my grandfather felt he found a good car but did have one question. As he closed the tail gate, and being a little tired after a long day of car shopping, he leans against the car and asks the dealer, “where is the spare tire?” Now the thing about Jeep Libertys in the early 2000’s they had their spare tires in a very prominent place, mounted on the beck on the tailgate. In fact this was the very part my grandfather was leaning on after inspecting the car. The dealer had no clue if my grandfather was tell a joke or not, so in the awkward silence I lean over and tell him he is leaning on it. Of course after he buys the car and brings it home to my grandmother the first thing I have to do is tell my grandmother all about it. My poor grandfather never got to live the story down. He was so focused on finding the right car for him and my grandmother he didn’t even notice anything else, even a spare tire.

The reason why I thought of this story when reading Psalm 105 is that in this praise to God of all He has done...

The psalmist gives us a clear challenge of what we should be focused on.

Worship the Lord

Slide: “Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.” - Psalm 105:1-4 (NIV)

We could honestly end things here.

That may have gotten too many people’s hopes up

But here is the thing, seeking God is not a new concept

We see this throughout Scripture.

“In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.” - Psalm 10:4 (NIV)

“When calamity comes, the wicked are brought down, but even in death the righteous seek refuge in God.” - Proverbs 14:32 (NIV)

“God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” - Acts 17:27 (NIV)

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” - Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)

I do not believe that anyone who reads scripture would argue agains the idea of seeking God.

And the psalmist puts no qualifier on this command.

It’s not seek God only on the mountaintops, when life feels like it is going great.

It’s not seek God when you feel like you’re drowning, the waves all around and that no one else can save you.

It’s not seek God only when you feel like it.

It says to...

Slide: Seek His face always.

We are challenged to always seek our God.

So great, we are to seek God! But what does that mean?

In order to answer this question so there are two aspects that we need to need to keep in mind.

First, to keep it as simple as a child asking their parent…

Slide: Why?

Why?

We are very motivated beings, and what I mean by that is that we all need motivation to do something.

Whether a friend, boss, teacher, parent, spouse, or stranger asks us to do something, we all ask why.

This may not be a verbal conversation, but something done internally or even in the subconscious.

Though the why might look different, the question is, “is it worth it?”

The question is often not why should it be done?

But more of why should I do it?

While this might be an oversimplification of a complicated process, here is the truth...

We as humans do not do something unless we are properly motivated.

Time spent with friends, family, work, hobbies, even church all have internal motivators that promote our dissuade the ways we spend our time, energy, and resources.

And some motivating factors are better than others.

We may go to work for the money, because we enjoy it, its for a cause, or some combination of these factors and/or other factors.

We may do school work because it will make our parents proud, our teacher asked us, we want good grades, we want to just survive school, or some combination of these and/or other factors.

And so, if we are told to do something we ask, why?

Here is the command: Look to the Lord and His strength, seek His face always.

So the question has to be answered, why?

There is two elements to the answer of this question.

Slide:

What He has done.

What He is faithful to do.

Let’s look at the first.

What He Has Done

Here is the great thing, just as we discussed the psalmist follows a similar pattern.

The psalmist declares that the readers should seek God, and then follows with a why.

And so this beautiful psalm calls for action and then defends the need for that action.

The psalmist looks to what God has done for the Israelites and their ancestors as to why one should seek God.

See just after the psalmist decrees that readers should seek God, the psalmist reminds the readers as to what God has done for their ancestors which in turn is what was done for them.

Slide: “Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced, you his servants, the descendants of Abraham, his chosen ones, the children of Jacob. He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth. He remembers his covenant forever, the promise he made, for a thousand generations, the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant:” - Psalm 105:5-10 (NIV)

And so the psalmist calls for another action.

Slide: We seek God because we, remember the wonders that He is done!

And while the psalmists first readers would have instantly connected with these words, I fear that we are a bit disconnected.

We live a few thousand years past this point, in a different nation, with a different culture.

And I fear that we may read words and dismiss them as if they are only for the Israelites.

After all it is their history

However it is important to note that, as Christians we can share in this history.

Not by nationality or ethnicity, but by being children of God

That through God’s covenant with Abraham, Jesus would eventually enter the world to seek and save the lost.

It is a continuation of the same story.

It is Jesus who is the ultimate fruition of Abraham’s covenant.

And more so, it is through His sacrifice we have adoption.

Even Paul writes this in the letter to the church in Galatia...

Slide: “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” - Galatians 3:26-29 (NIV)

While the point of this verse is to diminish any elitism that could be found within the Church, we see that through Christ even we are a part of the story of Abraham.

And so, like the Israelites before us, as we read this psalm we can remember what God has done for us through those who came before us.

Moreover, we are blessed to see more of the story than the contemporary readers of this psalm.

While the psalmist recalls to the stories of Abraham and Isaac and ultimately Joseph and then the Exodus, we know how the story continued.

And so not only do we praise God remembering how he guided the Israelite nation, but also remembering His sacrifice for us.

That Christ came and died for us even while we were yet sinners

Slide: “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” - Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)

And so we seek God for what he has done for us.

That he guided humanity, a people, a nation, to bring forth a Messiah that would die to save us all.

We seek God because that He has redeemed us.

We seek God because that despite any blemish that we may have had, He valued us above Himself to the point of death, even death on the cross.

We seek God because He loves us.

But we also seek God for what He is faithful to do.

What He is Faithful to Do

Not only do we know that God guided Israel so that Jesus came to this earth to die for our sins, but we know that the Holy Spirit has been sent to us to aid us in this life.

We are blessed to know that the Holy Spirit was sent from our Father

Jesus tells His disciples that there will be an advocate sent, the Holy Spirit.

We see the Spirit guiding the early church.

And while we could spend all day on the Holy Spirit and only scratch the surface, but I wanted to share one of my favorite verses on the Holy Spirit.

Paul writes about the Holy Spirit’s work in believers this way in his letter to the Romans.

Slide: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” - Romans 8:26-27 (NIV)

And so we can rest in knowing that the Holy Spirit is at work within us, dwelling within us, and even interceding for us.

We can also rest in knowing the promise of eternal life with God our Father through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Through the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus we can have the assurance of salvation that leads to eternal life with Him

John wrote it this way...

Slide: “As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—eternal life.” 1 John 2:24-25 (NIV)

And so we seek God knowing He is faithful to be with us through this life.

We seek God knowing that He is faithful to grant us eternal life through the grace of Jesus.

And so we seek God not only from looking at the past but also looking to the future.

That we can rest in is promises knowing that He is faithful to deliver.

We seek God not because it is how we earn salvation, by no means.

Seeking God gets us no closer into heaven than any other means.

Now, we seek God because it is a natural reaction to accepting salvation from God.

That once our life has been saved by the transforming power of Christ, we can see a change in our very hearts, our desires.

And so we seek God not to earn salvation, that somehow it makes us more eligible to be a citizen of heaven, but because it is the reaction of being saved.

We seek God knowing of what He has done for us, personally and as a collective, what He is doing in our lives right now, and the unfathomable peace, joy, love, and unity that we will know one day.

So we praise His name, we sing to Him, we revel in His glory, we look to the Lord, and we seek Him.

Slide: We seek God because of what He has done, is doing, and will do.

So we have look as to the “Why?” now we look to the second question...

Slide: How?

How?

Of course, seek is a rather vague term.

After all what does it mean to seek Him.

What we see is that seeking Him is to focus on Him.

I love being a father, for so many reasons.

And one of my favorite feelings, speaking selfishly here, is getting to make my daughter smile.

I am enjoying this stage of life cause I know that it will only get harder to get her to smile, but right now it is almost to easy.

Don’t know if thats like an all baby thing or just her.

But it really isn’t that difficult.

If you can maintain eye contact, maybe make a funny noise or two its almost guaranteed to get a smile.

Yet if she breaks the eye contact, she focuses on something else, she looks away, you’re done.

You have to start over.

Whatever got her attention is like the only thing that exists until you can get her attention again.

Slide: To seek God is to keep Him in focus, and to keep our eyes on Him.

Because its when something shiny that catches our eye and we shift focus on that item, thats when we can so easily stop seeking Him that sin can creep into our lives

To seek God is to keep our focus on God in all aspects of our lives.

Habits, rituals can be a strong tool.

When used correctly, they can help build up our focus.

In Israelite culture there was prayer that was a daily habit.

It was done every day to calibrate their focus.

We see this prayer in scripture in Deuteronomy...

Slide: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” - Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (NIV)

The prayer is a reminder of who the Lord is and a challenge to give our all to Him.

And so the ancient Israelites would have prayed this prayer daily as a reminder to keep focus on God. To give God their all.

This prayer was even referenced by Jesus in His ministry when asked about the greatest command. (Mark)

And here is the amazing thing, we can give God our all because He gave us everything through His redeeming sacrifice.

Slide: We seek God by giving Him our all.

Communing with Him in prayer and through scripture, growing closer to Him, worshipping Him, being with the Bride of Christ, talking to others about Him, serving brothers and sisters and the lost.

Spending our time with Him and for Him helps our focus us stay calibrated on Him.

Creating habits and rhythms in our life that glorify God keep our focus on Him, just like a good habit.

That is how we give our all to Him.

Conclusion

It can be concerning how many things are vying for our attention.

We live in a place and time with so many things that we can pour our time, energy, and focus in.

Some good,

Some not so much.

Yet we live with the same challenge that also stood before many readers who came before us.

Seek God

And Scripture is full of men and women that both sought God and sought other things.

Yet the challenge that lies before us is this, seek God.

Why?

Because of what He has done, and what He is faithful to do.

How?

Creating habits and rhythms in your life that glorifies Him and keeps your focus on Him.

So at the beginning I said that I could have done after saying seek God.

Which may just seem to be insult to injury at this point

But if there is one point I want to get across, it is that.

Slide: Seek God

Seek God no matter where we find ourselves.

Seek God because He loved us even despite rejecting Him and choosing sin, and that He brought out the Anointed One through His chosen nation at the right time to die in our stead

Seek God because He did not leave us, but that we have His word and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit so that we do not face the difficulties of this world alone.

Seek God because through His grace and mercy we have the promise of eternal life with Him.

Seek God with our time and desires creating habits and rhythms that help us keep our focus on Him.

Seek God giving Him our all because He has given us everything

Seek God by keeping our focus on Him.

Seek God because He first seeks us.

Slide: “Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.” - Psalm 105:1-4 (NIV)

Prayer