Monday, June 18, 2007

 

The One Who Seeks My Face




By Ramone - June 14, 2007

The other night as I should have been going to bed, I started talking with God for awhile. During that time I opened up to the Psalms and read 24:6 --
"Such is the generation that seeks him, who seeks your face, O God of Jacob."
I remembered and noted in my Bible what I'd learned from Haroldo Camacho about how in Hebrew this passage is actually in the singular and that "generation" is actually "lifetime". Thus a more literal reading would be:
"Such is the lifetime of the one that seeks him, who seeks your face, O God of Jacob."
 The whole Psalm, then, in context, is talking about Christ as our King who won the victory, ascended the hill of the Lord, and for whom we lift up our gates to welcome in with praises for saving us while we were in a besieged city.

This night, however, God had something different planned for me. I noticed an NIV footnote about the part "seeks your face, O God of Jacob". The Syric and Septuagint read this way, and so do two Hebrew manuscripts, I think. But all other Hebrew manuscripts read "...face, O Jacob"! Thus it would read:
"Such is the lifetime of the one that seeks him, who seeks your face, O Jacob."
Whoa! Suddenly He showed me that He is seeking MY face!

In recent years many hungry-for-God Christians have begun to "seek His face". They're looking for Him, not for religion, not for tradition, not for style, programs or services. They want God. They're after Him and will not be satisfied with anything less than Him Himself!

Sometimes I get distracted and forget that I am one of them. I am made to seek His face, I am made to pursue Him and to be caught by Him. But when there's too much of me, too much talking or doing stuff outside of His presence, eventually I wear down and He brings me back to who I really am and what I really want to do... like this picture.

So yes! Seek His face! Not just what His hands can give you, but look for Him Himself, look into His eyes, and look through His eyes at the world, know the beating of His heart, be moved with the things that move Him, be grieved with the griefs of His heart, and bless with the blessings of His heart. Seek His face!

But this night! This night He rocked me! I wrote the following...

You tell me to seek Your face, Lord. But tonight You told me that You spend Your lifetime (and mine) seeking MY face!! Thank You, Lord. You want us to lovingly seek Your face, tenderly & intimately. But You, You seek OUR faces! You lovingly & tenderly want & wait for us to turn to You and face You! Thank You! You long for our intimacy!

Like my son & wife longing for my presence, my face! I never thought of You much in baby Timothy -- recently he just gets so happy when he sees me! Lord, break my pride and my agenda of what I want to do, even to do for You, and still me to hear Your call, to feel You lovingly touching my face to turn it to Yours... You want me to face You. You want to see my face! You're seeking my face!
"My dove in the clefts of the rock,
in the hiding places on the mountainside,
show Me your face,
let Me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet,
and your face is lovely." (Song 2:14)
Like Exodus 33 -- the cleft of the rock... it's the way it had to be, us in the cleft, protected from Your glory. But now in Christ...!! Now in Christ, hallelu Yah! Now the veil has been rent in Him, and the way to the Holy of Holies -- Your face! -- is open! And You beg us to come in! You want us to see Your face -- the glory of You in Christ's face!

Like a Bridegroom tenderly removing His bride's veil are You to us... "Show Me your face, let me hear your voice." "As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you." (Isa.62:5)

Thank You, Lord! Thank You for seeking our faces! And thank You for calling us and stirring us to seek Your face.

"Your face, Lord, I will seek!"
The picture came on the night of the 14th. Earlier that night as I waited for the train, He brought all this back to my mind and reminded me of how that morning I had been bothered by something and my wife, Yoko, knew something was wrong...
Like Yoko, You (God) know, and You want me to look at You and share, let it out so You can give me love in Your eyes and in Your words. I often don't look because I think I can figure it out, handle it, that I have to, or because I'm proud and I just want to do this. Sometimes I don't want to let it go.

But Your love (and hers!) always sets me free! You seek my face -- when I'm down or bothered by something or troubled or hurting. You gently wait for me and lovingly urge me to look at You in the face, because then I will share, then I will be free and I will see Your love -- losing myself in Your eyes -- and will hear Your loving words.

Thank You, Lord, always.

# posted by Ramone @ 11:11 AM
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