New Year Recalibration: Seeking God

Seeking God New Year Recalibration - #2 1 Chron 16:22; 2 Chron 14-16 Rev. L. Kent Blanton Review • January is a time of recalibration • Businesses often recalibrate their performance in January • Individuals also use January for recalibration • January is a good time for spiritual recalibration - recalibrating our relationship with God. • Last week we explored a phrase that the Bible uses to describe spiritual recalibration: turning to God. • We studied the life of King Josiah, touted by the Bible as a king who excelled in turning to God like no other king before or after him (2 Kings 23:25) • Josiah demonstrated a heart turned toward God in his zeal for corporate worship, in his reverence for God’s Word, and by repenting and turning from sinful practices (2 Kings 22-23). • Today we’ll explore another phrase that the Bible uses to describe spiritual recalibration: seeking the Lord. Scriptural References to Seeking the Lord • Throughout the Scriptures, God’s commands his people to seek him. • Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually! (1 Chronicles 16:11 ESV) • Now set your mind and heart to seek the Lord your God. (1 Chron 22:19 ESV) • “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near . . . (Isa 55:6 CSB) • Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land. (Zeph 2:3 CSB) • Seek me and live. (Amos 5:4 CSB) • . . . whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6 CSB) • Case Study: King Asa of Judah Important truths about Seeking God • Humans don’t naturally seek God. There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.” (Rom 3:11 CSB) • Since the Garden of Eden, the default state for all individuals has been to turn away from God, to reject him, and to seek our own interests. • The Bible calls this rejection of God, sin. Our sin brought death, separation from God (Rom 6:23). We are like rebellious, stubborn sheep who ran away from our Shepherd (Is 53:6). The power of sin working in us overshadowed any desire to seek after God. • In response to our sinfulness, God sought us. He came to us. God sent Jesus, his Son, to die for our sins and to bring us back into relationship with himself (Rom 5:8; 2 Cor 5:19). When we choose to believe in and follow Jesus, the Spirit of God comes to live in us and gives us a desire to seek God. Questions about Seeking God • Why should we seek God? Isn’t he always with us? The answer is yes and no, • God is omnipresent. He’s everywhere all the time. He’s always near everything and everyone. There’s no place we can go that God is not present. (Psalm 139:7-12) • God is always present with his children. “I [Jesus] am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt 28:20 CSB). “I [God] will never leave you or abandon you.” (Heb 13:5 CSB). • But God’s presence is not always manifest to us. We don’t always perceive and experience God’s presence. Even after we come to faith in Christ, there are times when we become neglectful of God and give him no or little thought, times when we don’t trust in him, when we don’t perceive him as the great and beautiful and glorious God he is. • During these times, his face, the brightness of his personal character, is hidden behind the curtain of our worldly desires. This condition of not perceiving and experiencing God’s presence is always poised to overtake us. That’s why we’re told to seek God’s presence, to seek God’s face, continually. God calls us to enjoy continual consciousness of his supreme greatness, beauty, and worth. • This consciousness happens through seeking. Continual seeking. But what does this mean practically? How does one seek God? Case Study: King Asa (2 Chron 14-16) • Asa reigned as king of Judah from 912-871 BC. • How did Asa seek God? • He repented of sinful practices (2 Chron 14:2-6). • To move toward a place or person requires that you turn away from whatever is currently occupying your attention. • To seek God requires turning away from sin and worldly distractions. You can’t seek God and seek something else at the same time. • Like King Josiah, King Asa sought God by turning away from sin and turning to God. • Asa removed the foreign altars that had, yet again, proliferated Judah. He commanded his subjects to seek God, to worship Yahweh rather than the false gods of the nations around them. • Like Asa, if you and I wish to seek God, we must start by turning away from any practice that doesn’t jive with God’s Word. Only when we turn our attention away from worldly sinful practices can we give God our attention and actively seek him. • The Bible calls this turning away from sin and to God repentance. • Repentance is not just something we do when we give Christ control of our lives and believe in his death and resurrection and are made right with God. We are called to repent throughout our life. • Jesus said to the Christians at Ephesus who had lost their first love, repent! (Rev 2:5) • Jesus exhorted the believers at Pergamum who were tolerating false doctrine and engaging in immoral practices to repent! (Rev 2:16) • Christ called Christians at Laodicea who had become passive and lethargic in following to repent! (Rev 3:19) • As Christians we are to experience continuous conversion - a lifelong process of ongoing repentance, faith, and obedience, that leads to piety, holiness, and being renewed in the image of Christ. Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness—without it no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14 CSB). • Growing in holiness requires repentance. • Repentance should be a regular spiritual discipline on par with prayer, Bible reading, worship, silence, solitude, fasting, and service. • Repentance and faith are foundational spiritual practices without which none of the other practices will gain traction or foster much spiritual fruit. • God is calling you and me to invite the Holy Spirit to search our hearts and to show us any wickedness, any rebellion, any evil that lurks there. He is calling us to seek him through repenting of sin, just as Asa did. • Asa sought God through humility and prayer • A massive foreign army from Ethiopia led by Zerah the Cushite, an Ethiopian, stood poised on the edge of Asa’s territory to attack Judah (2 Chron 14:9-10). • Asa and his army were totally outgunned and outmanned. • What was Asa’s response in the midst of a crisis of epic proportions? 2 Chron 14:11) • Asa humbled himself and cried out to the Lord. He prayed. • Asa asked God for his help and confessed his complete reliance upon God. • Asa proclaimed his dependence upon God. • Throughout the Bible, we’re commanded to humble ourselves before God. • The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: “I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts (Is 57:5 NLT). • “But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word” (Isa 66:2 ESV). • Humble yourselves before the Lord (James 4:11 CSB). • It’s our own responsibility to humble ourselves, and not something we should passively wait for. It’s a command we must obey. • One of the tools God has given us to humble ourselves is evident in King Asa’s life: prayer. Asa prayed. He said, “God, I need you.” • “Prayerlessness is our declaration of independence from God.” (Daniel Henderson, international prayer mentor) • When you and I pray, we demonstrate our dependence upon and trust in God. We are saying that we can’t do it on our own. We need help. • Asa demonstrated humility through prayer. • What was God’s response to Asa’s humility and prayer? (2 Chron 14:12-14) • God totally routed the enemy. • The power of God was released; Asa and his troops experienced a great victory despite seemingly insurmountable odds. • How does God response when we humble ourselves? • But [God] gives grace to the humble (James 4:6b CSB). • Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you (James 4:10 CSB). • Because King Josiah humbled himself before the Lord, he was spared God’s judgment. (see 2 Kings 22:18-20) • The angel Gabriel tells Daniel that because he humbled himself before God, his prayer has been heard and answered. (See Dan 10:12) • Although there is no indication of Asa fasting in this passage, there are many occasions recorded in Scripture where individuals did fast when seeking God in prayer (e.g. 1 Sam 7:6; 2 Sam 12:16; Ezraa 8:23; Ne 1:4; Acts 13:3). Fasting is another biblical tool God has given us to seek Him. • Are you seeking God by humbling yourself, by admitting your need for God in every arena of your life? Are you demonstrating that humility in seeking God through prayer? • Or, like so many affluent Christians in the West, are you duped by having convinced yourself that you’re depending on God when, in reality, you’re depending on your own ingenuity, intelligence, money, and resourcefulness? • Like Asa, God is calling you and me to seek him through humility and prayer. Asa Meets Azariah, the Prophet (Third Reality about Seeking God) • When returning from battle, Asa met by a prophet named Azariah. (2 Chron 15:1-4, 7) • Why would Azariah give King Asa a message from God like this on the heels of his victory over the Ethiopians? • Asa had been a stellar spiritual leader. • Asa had sought the Lord through humility and prayer, asking for God’s help. • The answer is the third reality we learn about seeking God from Asa’s life: We must seek God continually. Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually! (1 Chron 16:11 CSB) • It’s not enough to seek God once, or for a season, or for a few years. We must seek God continually for our entire lifetime. Our human hearts are prone to wander from God. We are prone to start seeking other things. • If we seek God, we will find him (2 Chron 15:2) Asa’s Response • Initially, King Asa responded by continuing to seek God (2 Chron 15:8-19) • Asa engaged in a second purge of any remaining idols in the land. • He deposed his grandmother, Maacah, from her position as queen mother because of her idolatry. • Asa led all the people in worship and held a massive, lavish celebration where he and the people renewed their covenant to seek God. • People from other Israelite tribes decided to move to Judah because they could see that God was with Asa. (2 Chron 15:9) • Just because you sought God yesterday doesn’t mean that you will seek him today. You and I must make choices every day whether to seek God, or to seek other things. • Asa did not continue to seek God. He started well, ran well, but he didn’t finish well. • When facing a new security crisis, Asa failed to seek God by humbling himself and praying • He made an alliance with Ben-Hadad, the king of Aram, and bribed his way to get help by gifting-Ben Hadad with silver and gold furnishings from the Temple. • Ben-Hadad attacked Israel from the north and this left the southern flank open. • King Asa was able to attack and neutralize the military threat from Israel. • When Asa returned from battle, he was met by another prophet of the Lord, Hanani. (2 Chron 16:7-9) • How did Asa respond to the message from God delivered by Hanani? (2 Chron 16:10) Asa’s End • Asa did not continue to seek God. • He chose to seek safety and security from another source. • When confronted about forsaking God, Asa did not respond with humility and repentance. • He responded with in anger, locked the prophet in prison, and took out his anger on his own people (2 Chron 16:10). • Unfortunately, Asa turned away from God for the remainder of his life. (2 Chron 16:12) • We shouldn’t take from this verse that it’s wrong to seek a physician’s help when we’re ill. • The issue was that Asa was trusting in the doctors rather than in God. In his bitterness, he was unwilling to seek the Lord, even in his severe sickness. • God tells us in his Word that he is Jehovah Rophe, the Lord our healer (Ex 15:26). • While God sometimes uses physicians as instruments of healing in our bodies, we’re always to recognize that God is our healer. • We are to seek God about everything in our lives, including illness. • What was Asa’s downfall? • He failed to keep seeking God. He ran out of spiritual steam. The result was that he moved out from under God’s mantle of blessing. • His life that started with a heart that earnestly sought God ended in anger and bitterness without the blessing of God. Application • Are you continuing to earnestly seek God? Or have you given in to the belief that you can follow Christ casually, that you can coast or even take a spiritual break for a while. • As Pastor Grant reminded us two weeks ago from the preaching of Charles Spurgeon, there is no standing still in religion. We’re either moving toward God or away from him. • We see from the life of Asa that to seek God we must turn away from sin, choose humility and a life of prayer, and we must continually seek God’s face. • Are you turning away from sin? Are you cultivating a humble spirit of dependence upon God? Are you evidencing that humility through heartfelt prayer? Are you seeking God continually? • If so, the Spirit of God is calling to you today, just as he called to Asa through Azariah, “Keep seeking. Don’t turn away. If you seek me, you will find me!” • If not, the Spirit of God calls to you, too. He is saying, “You will not find success, fulfillment, or life from any source, or sources, other than me. Humble yourself, turn your face toward me, and seek me earnestly.” • How will you respond?