“I sought the LORD, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces will never be ashamed. This poor man cried and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.” Psalm 34:4-6

January 6, 2016 quiet time:“I sought the LORD . . .”

What does it mean to seek the LORD? And what is it that you seek when you “seek the LORD”?

You are to seek the LORD Himself, not what the LORD gives or what the LORD is able to do. Here is the command: Seek an eternal relationship with the most amazing and wonderful Person that exists! If you will seek the LORD Himself; if you will seek a relationship with Him and will come to Him on His terms and if you will worship Him as Almighty God, then you will receive not only the richest relationship that a human being can have, with immense joy and love and peace, but you will also receive all the benefits of what the LORD can provide to those who fear Him (which is Old Testament language for “those who love Him”).

BUT if instead you “seek Him” so that you can get from Him His benefits, and if you only call out to the LORD for what He can provide; if you only need the LORD to change your circumstances and give you a “blessed life;” ***

[ASIDE: 1) In Exodus 33:15, Moses says to the LORD that if His presence does not go with the people of Israel, then Moses does not want to leave that place. “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.” Moses was declaring that all the temporal blessings of place and possessions would be utterly meaningless if the LORD’s presence was not there with them. “If You don’t go with us, then I am not leaving this place!” 2) The Bible declares that it is the LORD Himself who gives us all our circumstances. Since that is the case, why should the LORD change your circumstances just to get you out of trouble, when He brought that troubling situation into your life in the first place?]

*** if you are indifferent to the LORD and are not ready to love Him at all times and regardless of circumstances (Matthew 22:37-40), then you will get neither His benefits nor His fellowship. Instead, your sky will be bronze and your land iron, etc. (Deuteronomy 28:23) and there will be no blessings from the LORD.

David “sought the LORD.” What did David mean by this? His soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the LORD (Psalm 84:2). David stretched out his hands to the LORD as a parched land (Psalm 143:6). There was nothing restrained or cool about this seeking. David passionately and unreservedly sought the face of the LORD and he would not be denied. David wanted to know the presence of the LORD, to know the voice of the LORD, to know the strength and the peace and the power and the glory of the LORD. David wanted to be as close to the LORD as a human being could be. “I sought the LORD . . .” The LORD answers those who seek Him with their whole heart. The LORD honors those who call upon Him and who trust in Him.

And what does David seek? David seeks a relationship with the most overwhelming and awesome Person in the universe. David indeed seeks an intimate relationship with the Creator of the universe! It is not what the LORD can give that David seeks. Rather, it is the LORD Himself that David seeks.

Does this passion for knowing the LORD mark your life? The true believer’s life is marked out by a passionate seeking after the LORD of glory Himself. The one who will seek the LORD in order to have a relationship with Him will find that the LORD’s other benefits will also come into their life. Do you seek the LORD passionately? Do you seek Him so that you may know and enjoy Him as your God, and may obey Him as the sovereign LORD?

This is what it means to seek the LORD. Do you seek Him? SDG rmb 1/6/2016