Show Me Your Face

Introduction

Going through series “The Secret Place”

Series about prayer - one of the most important facets of the Christian walk

I want to finish off the series by asking a question - that I probably should have asked at the beginning of the series, except I didn’t preach the beginning. And that question is simple: Why should we pray?

See it’s not as simple a question as it may seem at first: Why should you pray?

Is it to request things from God? But isn’t that just transactional - it reduces God to like a genie

Is it to seek our His will for our lives? But won’t His will get accomplished regardless of what we do since He’s God?

To Seek God? But isn’t His presence everywhere, regardless of whether we posture ourselves in prayer?

And yet despite me being able to answer each question like this - prayer remains a principle in scripture that is not only insisted on, it’s actually deemed necessary.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 “17 pray without ceasing,”

And if we Christians are meant to do it so much - we should at least know why we do it.

Today will be more teaching - it’s basic, but so important. And so unknown to so many Christians.

Pray

Segment 1: He Called First

Why should we pray? Before we answer this question - I need to address TWO FOUNDATIONAL THINGS ABOUT PRAYER that are CRUCIAL for every Christian to know

Turn with me to Psalm 27:8 “8 You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.””

This verse highlights for me a truth that is revealed throughout the entirety of scripture. One that is so foundational for prayer theology: God always reaches out first.

Think about 1 John 4:19 “19 We love because he first loved us.”

We can only love because He first loved us, and likewise - we can only reach out to God because He wants to be reached.

This IMMEDIATELY disarms an all-too-common belief about prayer: That we are praying to God to GET His attention. We are praying to a God SO THAT He will see us. We are praying to a God who is too busy for us. We are praying to a God who is UNWILLING.

No - the first and perhaps most important thing that you need to know about prayer is that you are praying to a God who WANTS to be reached.

You are praying to a God who WANTS to meet with you, who WANTS to encounter you.

On every level of scripture - God has REACHED OUT to us first. From initiating our very creation, to SEEKING Adam and Eve out when they sinned, to CHOOSING a people group that would bear His presence, to making covenant with us so we could reach him DESPITE the chasm of sin, to finally bridging the gap to Him through Jesus - at every step of the way God has always reached out to us first. God INITIATED relationship with us on every count.

And this leads me to the FIRST FOUNDATIONAL THING we need to know about pray - which is that: ALL PRAYER to God is a RESPONSE, not a PERFORMANCE.

For a person who is GENUINELY SEEKING GOD - There’s no such thing as: “If I pray well enough, maybe God will finally hear me” “Because I haven’t prayed in a while - God doesn’t want to hear from me” “I’m a sinner and so God won’t even want to meet me in prayer.”

These statements reveal something about the heart of the one praying - that prayer is performative, something you have to do so that God will notice you, something that you have to do to EARN his attention, to EARN his love even.

Let me tell you something - there is no such thing as EARNING God’s attention, my friend - you already have it.

Prayer is a RESPONSE to God reaching out towards you,

in other words - the willingness of The Father to meet with you is A CERTAINTY.

Jesus even clarifies this in the New Testament in John 15:16 “16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you”

You aren’t chasing a God who’s trying to get away from you - you are answering a God who has ALREADY asked you to “Come and seek His face”

Whenever you pray - whether it’s the first time, or the thousandth time; you aren’t EVER initiating that communion. You aren’t EVER bothering a God who has no time for you, who has turned away from you - you are always responding to a Father who deeply loves you and DESIRES to meet you in your secret place.

That’s the FIRST FOUNDATIONAL thing you need to know about prayer.

Segment 2: Prayer isn’t a transactional tool, it’s relational discipline

Let me explain the SECOND thing you need to know. Some of you may have noticed that just one verse ahead is: Psalm 27:9 “9 Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation!”

This verse is so different to the one just before it and it raises a reality in prayer that every Christian will encounter - what happens when God is silent? What happens when God doesn’t answer my prayers? What happens when I draw near in prayer but I can’t feel God?

Just from my experience - can I say that typically, Christians nowadays don’t handle this well at all. When God is silent, when we can’t hear God, when we don’t “feel” God, when we don’t get the right answer to our prayers; I notice that so many Christians are quick to immediately question God.

And not in the way that David is doing here in this Psalm, we don’t usually bring it to the Lord in prayer, we don’t wrestle with it, we don’t continue to approach God.

What usually happens is we begin to question God. We give up praying because we believe it doesn’t work, we can’t “feel” God’s presence or see His answer, and so we just assume prayer doesn’t work.

Why do we do this? Can I respond bluntly? We do this because we’ve made prayer entirely about us. My feelings, my emotions, my results, my timing, my expectations.

Which brings me to the SECOND FOUNDATIONAL THING WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PRAYER: PRAYER ISNT A TRANSACTIONAL TOOL, ITS RELATIONAL DISCIPLINE

More and more Christians seem to have this idea that prayer is transactional - I spend time with God, and then I get what I want. I spend time with God, and I get health, I get wealth, I get favour; prayer is reduced to just a transactional tool that we have. We trade our time and attention and affection for results.

But that’s quite literally the opposite of what prayer is meant to be to the Christian; Prayer is a discipline built on the highest privilege there is: to be able to know God and be known by Him.

It is ENTIRELY relational. It is all about KNOWING God more, and experiencing what it is to be KNOWN by God.

Think of it like this: Picture a husband and wife who stop making time for each other. No quality time. No real conversation. Just two people sharing an address. Now, Are you surprised when they drift apart — when the marriage quietly dies? Of course not. It's a foregone conclusion. No effort, no relationship.

Well let me ask you then - if neglect could kill a marriage, what did you think it’d do to your walk with God?

Are we surprised when a lack of prayer leads to a lack of faith?

We shouldn’t be.

Segment 3: Irreverence

How does prayer become just a transactional tool for us? How do we manage to reduce it from something so important to something so trivial?

Quick Answer? It’s a reverence issue.

At the heart of this is a lost REVERENCE for God that seems to have made its way into churches.

For some reason we seem to have this idea that we should be able to summon God on demand with the right words, on our schedule, and on our terms.

Hear me out guys - God is NOT a genie that He should answer you on demand. That is not a flaw in prayer - it’s a flawed view of God.

Let’s call that what it is: IRREVERENCE.

This is the ultimate flaw in prayer, in my humble opinion. That we treat God with such a level of irreverence and disrepect, that He would be like a genie to us; and then when we don’t get our way or the desired result - we immediately disrespect him even more like a toddler who’s toy has been taken away - we throw a fit, we lose faith, we stop praying.

Scripture even sternly warns us against approaching God with irreverence in Ecclesiastes 5:1–2 “1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is BETTER than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. 2 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.”

In other words - DON’T FORGET who you are approaching! God is in Heaven, you are on Earth, know your place! It even says - it’s better for you to come near and just listen than to turn prayer into some meaningless transaction (offer foolish sacrifices).

Is it true that God is willing? Yes absolutely, Is it true that He desires to meet with us? Yes again! Is it true that prayer is a RESPONSE to a loving Father who has already reached out to us? Absolutely, yes again.

BUT it is EQUALLY as true that God is Holy and that any approach to Him should be made with reverence and awe.

ILLUSTRATION: Ham, Henek Met.

There’s a story I heard by a pastor by the name of Stuart Sacks, that really sums up what the heart of prayer should be for a Christian.

Pastor Stuart tells the story of how he used to serve in Paraguay as a missionary to the local tribespeople there. And one day a Maka Indian by the name of Rafael randomly came and sat on his porch. Pastor Stuart wasn’t even on the porch, he was eating inside, and so this was a really random kind of situation that he’d never experienced before.

So Pastor Stuart goes outside to the porch and greets Rafael and eventually asks him what he’s doing here, or if he wanted anything to which Rafael responded with the words “Ham, Henek Met.” Again, pastor Stuart asked if there’s anything that he could do for Rafael but he replied with the same phrase in the local dialect “Ham, henek met.” Since he didn’t really know what was going on, he went back inside to continue eating and Rafael just hung out on his porch for a couple hours until he left.

A few days later Pastor Stuart met with a local veteran missionary where he shared this strange encounter and repeated the phrase to this missionary “Ham, Henek Met.” And with a great smile the local missionary gently explained that phrase translates to “I don’t want anything; I have just come near.” and it’s the way the Maka Indians honour one another. Rafael really didn’t want anything, he just wanted to sit on Pastor Stuart’s porch, he found satisfaction and pleasure in just being close to pastor Stuart, he considered it a joy just to be NEAR to pastor Stuart.

This to me truly captures what the heart of prayer REALLY is.

When we meet with the Lord in prayer and He asks us “What brings you here, my child?” Our response should be “Ham Henek Met.” “Nothing Lord, I just want to be near.”

Segment 4: Seeking His Face, Not His Hand

Now those two foundational premises have been said - let’s actually answer the question, why should we pray?

And to do that - I want to look at that passage as a whole: Psalm 27:8–9 “8 You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” 9 Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation!”

The answer is kind of staring us in the face to be really honest with you - What’s David focusing on in this passage? The face of God.

Why do we pray? To seek His face.

Simple? Perhaps. But perhaps more profound than it sounds.

The word “face” in Hebrew is pānîm.

The meaning is not just to seek the physical face of a person - in scripture to seek someone’s face means to seek the PRESENCE, the PERSON. To seek God’s face is to seek God HIMSELF.

Nearness to God, closeness to God, the PRESENCE of God is the end goal of every prayer that we are to pray.

And this is revealed in other places throughout scripture: 2 Chronicles 7:14 “14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

1 Chronicles 16:11 “11 Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!”

Hosea 5:15 “15 I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me.”

God desires that we seek His FACE, His PRESENCE.

This Psalm that we are reading from is actually written in a time where David is surrounded by his enemies, he’s in danger, he’s in war - and yet if we read just a couple of verses earlier in our passage in v4, it says:

Psalm 27:4 “4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.”

Despite the fact that David is surrounded by his enemies, in the midst of war, in a dangerous situation - the ONE THING that he still requests, above deliverance, above rescue, above a solution is still the face of God - the presence, the person of God.

Can I get real now and just ask you something personal? When was the last time you sought the face of God in prayer - just His presence. Just sat in his presence, you may have had a million things on your mind, you may have been troubled, life may have been hard - but you just came and sat in your secret place before God. And just soaked?

It sounds like a ridiculous thing in a culture where we glorify busyness doesn’t it? Even our prayers have become tools of productivity. If we’re praying it’s because we believe that God has the power to make things move.

But no - I’m talking about just sitting, being with God. Without words even, just quiet, just happy to be in His presence - that’s all you were seeking, just His face, just His person.

Because I think this is the problem nowadays - we miss seeking the face of God, because we’re too busy seeking His hand.

I think if we’re honest about how most of our prayers go they contain phrases like: Give me, Fix this, Change that, Open this door, Heal this, Provide that.

And can I just be really clear - NONE of that is wrong, we are ASKED to bring petition to God, we are ASKED in scripture to cast anxieties on God because He does care for you. Please don’t think that I’m saying that we can’t ASK God for things; nothing is further from the truth.

What I’m saying though is that when we seek the HAND of God OVER seeking His face; then prayer turns into what I was talking about before, just a transactional - God slowly gets reduced to a genie, or worse, just a spiritual ATM where we only come to make withdrawals.

Watch what Jesus says in Matthew 6:8 “8 …your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

God already knows what we need BEFORE we ask Him! He knows us so well that whenever we approach Him in prayer, He already knows what is weighing us down, He knows what you are about to ask for!

The woman with the issue of blood barely TOUCHED Jesus’ cloak and was healed on account of her faith, The widow of Nain whos son had died never asked for Jesus to raise him from the dead. Yet Jesus was moved with compassion and raised Him anyway The man born blind didn’t ask for healing - yet Jesus healed him The paralytic lowered down from the roof just came before God, didn’t plead His case and God healed him

It is more than OK to petition the hand of God as long as it doesn’t replace seeking His face.

The Giver will ALWAYS be more precious than the Gift.

ILLUSTRATION: This Week

You know a couple of months ago, Sharon lost hearing in one of her ears. Originally we thought it was nothing (she’s a doctor, they’re actually the worst patients). After bugging her for a week she went to go get an MRI done to see if there was anything causing the hearing loss.

She got a call about it during work - the MRI showed a tumour in her brain that was pressing against the nerve that connects the inner ear to the brain, which was resulting in her hearing loss.

When you get that kind of bad news in your life - things just sort of stop. You don’t really know what to do, a dark cloud just descends on everything.

Sharon was instantly at peace with it - whatever happens she just trusted it to God. Woman of faith. I was different, I broke immediately. My mind immediately went to dark places, doubt started to creep in, I started to vividly recall when mum was diagnosed with cancer. That was just a really, really dark week for me.

We decided to get away from things for a while - so 2 weeks ago now, we took a trip down south to Margaret River and spent time at this beautiful house over looking green fields, just the two of us and my rat-dog.

Upon arriving at the house - I immediately realised something horrific. I had forgotten to bring my work bag with my laptop and everything (and I literally NEVER forget to bring that bag with me anywhere) - and I was meant to be preaching that coming Sunday at Mains. I got ready to drive back home when Sharon said to me; “I think God is trying to tell you something.” And I knew in my spirit that she was right. So I called Dan and he immediately told me not to worry about it, that he’d cover the Sunday.

The first day there was nothing different, my heart was so heavy, everything just seemed so dark. And since I had nothing to distract myself with, I found myself in prayer. And it wasn’t one of the bold prayers that you’d normally see me pray from the stage here. I literally crawled into bed and shut my eyes and just said “God, are you there?” I didn’t ask for anything, I just lay there in His presence. Just crawled into His lap and stayed there for what would’ve been hours. It was prayer - but without words, no asking for anything - just seeking Him out, just being there with Him.

I vividly remember one moment though - I started to drift off to sleep, and just before I did, just a small voice speaking through the darkness “It’ll be ok, son.”

I woke up a couple hours later thanks to my dog who had decided to use my face as a trampoline.

As I got up, I realised - something had changed. Not my situation, that was the same, not even the heaviness of my heart, that was also still there.

But the darkness which I had been walking in for the last week had lifted completely. My spirit could hope, it could fight again.

The miracle of prayer.

You know, the most recent scan last week showed that the tumour was not cancerous - and at a size that is treatable with radiotherapy, so we’re waiting on the specialists to tell us what’s next.

But ever since that prayer - there’s a strength in me to face whatever comes next, as tough as it may be. Because I’m reminded that: when God is all you seek - you realise that God is all you need.

I don’t know if that’s some of you tonight - you’ve got a need, you’re in a rough situation, you’re burdened, there’s just a lot going on for you.

Can I encourage you, instead of seeking only His hand in prayer - learn to seek His face instead.

*CALL UP KEYS*

Segment 5: The Revealed Face

You know - when David wrote the Psalms you have to realise that he was writing it in the Old Testament, a period where God’s face was indeed hidden from His people.

A time when even Moses, who is referred to in scripture as a FRIEND of God could not see His face: Exodus 33:18–20 “18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 20 But,” he [The Lord] said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.””

Think on that for a second - Moses, one of the patriarchs of Scripture, one of the closest people to God was not even able to see His face and live.

So when David is saying “Your face Lord, do I seek” he’s also reaching for the thing that Moses was denied - the whole Old Testament is a people longing for a face that they could not see. The seeking was real - but God’s face remained hidden.

That WAS the case - until Jesus Christ came and changed EVERYTHING when He Declared in John 14:9 ““ Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

In other words: Jesus Christ is the FULLNESS of the revelation of God

Man’s desperate search for God’s face, for the person of God ends right here - with the person of Jesus Christ. In Jesus, God’s face was revealed towards man, God’s personhood and presence given PHYSICAL form.

What Moses begged for, that ONE THING that David desired is finally revealed in the PERSON of Jesus Christ. (david in Psalm 27:9 “9 Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation!”)

We aren’t searching for a God who’s hiding from us, no, God has turned His face towards us, He has revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ.

Do you ever wonder why we finish our prayers with this phrase “In Jesus’ Name, Amen” - you know why we do that?

Because scripture says in 2 Corinthians 1:20 “20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.”

In other words - When you say “In Jesus’ Name!”you are DECLARING God’s faithfulness. It is A DECLARATION that in JESUS - God’s faithfulness was completely shown. IN JESUS every promise that God made is answered: YES. JESUS is the PROOF that God never abandoned you, that He REMAINS faithful to His Word.

Christian listen to me, the next time you pray and are doubting if God is there, you’re doubting whether He sees you, whether His face is turned towards you - YOUR ANSWER is at the end of your prayer “In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen!” In other words “YES! The Father is here, Yes He sees me, Yes He is faithful - AND I KNOW THIS because His faithfulness has a Name - and that Name is Jesus! There is power in the name of Jesus.

And then we declare AMEN - let it be done according to Your will.

Altar Call

General prayer altar call - if you need prayer for anything, or if you just want to seek the face of God in prayer again; come to the front as we sing this song.

If you come forward - don’t just seek the hand, seek the face.