Seek the Lord
“Glory in His Holy Name!” 1Chronicles 16:10 says. “Let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!”
This means that our hearts can be made glad by reflecting on who God is.
How do we do this, practically?
The song the priests were singing in 1Chronicles 16 continues with the answers.
Verse 11 says, “Seek the LORD and His strength. Seek His presence continually!”
To seek something means to look for it, to watch for it, be attentive to it. Keep your eyes open.
To seek the LORD assumes that, while we’re doing what we’re doing, God is doing something too, and we can see Him.
To seek the LORD means to watch out for Him so that we can be part of what He is doing.
To seek His strength means to notice in our life where we need His help and ask for it.
To seek His presence continually means that alongside everything we’re doing and thinking and worrying about, we remain aware of His presence.
There is great joy for us with God. But, and here’s the catch, it’s with God.
There’s no joy for us apart from God, or without God. We can’t expect our hearts to rejoice when we’re living without thought of God or regard for Him.
Joy flows to us from God. Joy comes to us in Him. Our lives may be filled with glory when our lives are lived with Him.
That’s it. That’s the whole story of joy.
If we keep this in view, then we’ll seek Him—What’s He up to? We’ll seek His strength—LORD, I need You! We’ll seek Him, in fact, continually.
If we don’t—if we seek Him, say, once or twice a week—then it’s reasonable to assume that we’ll experience a corresponding abundance (sarcasm!) of divine joy.
Like a bucket with a hole in the bottom, our hearts require constant filling with God’s glory and love. A bucket with a hole in the bottom can be filled so full it overflows, despite the hole. Drop the hose in and open the spigot. But it’ll stay mostly dry if it only gets a splash of water every so often.
“My cup overflows,” Psalm 23:5 says.
Well, that’s possible, right?
LORD God, Oh that my heart might filled with all the fullness of God (Eph 3:19). Oh may the cup of my life overflow with Your presence. Oh that my heart might rejoice.
Help me to seek You, to seek Your strength, to seek You continually. Oh help me to see. (Psa 119:18). In Jesus’ Name, Amen
Photo by George Lopez on Unsplash