“…if we sought the Lord – that is, if we intentionally took our time, being, and efforts to meditate and essentially enjoy Christ and His finished work, our thoughts and plans would be established through clarification, guidance, and revelation.”
Let me add that ‘seeking the Lord’ encompasses any and all activities that our forefathers have prescribed to us – prayer alone or as a congregation, listening to ministers, sharing in fellowship, Bible study, listening and singing along to / composing and producing worship music; What is truly essential in seeking the Lord is the intention, and the desire to enjoy Christ and His finished work. With that said, you can seek the Lord while you drive, while you work out, while you’re at your job or school, etc.
Now here’s the thing. I could have chosen to stop there but instead we decided to push a little further; That is, in our seeking to learn, do not be surprised if you are reminded that before we even had any intentions to establish our ways, well, it was Christ who did it first: Yes, while we were yet sinners, it was Christ who fully delivered on His intentions, and through His finished work, not only are our ways established in the light of timeless eternity – No, much more than this, He HIMSELF is our Way, and even MORE than this, He is our Truth, and He is our Life.
I believe that’s where we ended.
Now, this Sunday, we look at another aspect to seeking – that is, we seek to adore.
Something personal – In a relationship, think on behalf of your partner. In, say, her mind, she may be giving everything; what would it mean to her if you openly show her that you’re okay just so you know that you’re loved by her?
Now as I was thinking about this, I thought there is another need for us to seek the Lord – that is, so that we would see Him. So we would appreciate Him, and we would consequently appreciate just how much He loves us.
To this end, I have been led to Psalm 84 this week. We’ll go through the verses and we’ll make some stops along the way.
How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!
My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.
Let’s make things clear here – Wherever we are physically and mentally, we enjoy God, because God is with us. However, I am led to believe through the first verse, that when we intend to seek the Lord, we would naturally appreciate His presence (‘How lovely is your dwelling place‘), and His being (‘O LORD of hosts‘).
The verses continue, and we see in the Psalmist’ exhortation what it could mean for us at times when we say that we intend to seek the Lord – much so, that our souls would not be satisfied; No, the Psalmist says his soul would go as far as FAINT ‘ for the courts of the LORD’; from one point of view as if to say that he seeks as far as to long and to faint to enjoy God’s presence.
Or maybe I’m just overanalyzing things. When we seek the Lord with intention, we do appreciate His presence, but we also see how we fare without Him – apart from Him we long for Him, we faint; But in His presence we lavish in His loveliness, we find joy, and we find comfort for all our longing.
Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah
We see that all may find a home in His presence! God forbid that we tell anyone that they do not deserve to be in His presence – see, even the sparrow and the swallow find a home in Him! And see here: the Psalmist goes even further: Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah
Now I’m told that every ‘Selah’ would have the reader stop and do some pondering – and in this case, I would venture to say that those who dwell in the house of the Lord; Or, indeed, those who are in the presence of the Lord are blessed – and oh, I could just hear everyone screaming ‘Amen!’ as I share that – but did you catch it? Those who are in the presence of the Lord are ever singing His praise! It’s as if to say that when we are in His presence, we praise!
Once we used to praise the Lord with the mindset that dictates, in Tagalog, ‘na bababa ang presensya ng Panginoon’; But see here, what is this saying? It’s quite the opposite! Because we are in the presence of the Lord, we are ever singing His praise!
Once we thought we needed to praise in order for us to be in His presence. And we’d go as far as to say that we needed to check our hearts before we even thought about leading the congregation in singing, lest we pass along an evil spirit. But here, we are reminded that Christ paid such a great price, and in His ascension He guaranteed that the ONLY Spirit that dwells in us in the Holy Spirit, constantly convicting us of our righteousness and our right-standing with God!
When we’re told to, say, pray for the food at a birthday or wedding celebration, some of us would go as far as to say, before anything else: ‘Let us ‘enter’ the presence of the Lord’. But again I say, because we are in the presence of the Lord, we are ever singing His praise!
Sorry, that just came up in writing. This is really good!
Let me stop here for now to take a break. I will try to conclude in the next post following this series. Till then, God bless you!
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
Leave a comment