What Are You Seeking?

What Are You Seeking?

Meera Short

July 10, 2022

Psalm 14:2 (CSB)

The Lord looks down from heaven on the human race to see if there is one who is wise, one who seeks God.

Psalm 34:10 (CSB)

Young lions lack food and go hungry, but those who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing.

Today I am going to talk about focusing our hearts on the one thing in life that matters the most.

In the course of doing some research on “what are people looking for the most”, I have read so many articles and after sorting through them, I looked for the top things they had in common. The top six things that I found that people were seeking/searching for the most is:

1. Happiness – which is found outside of one’s self and found in others (i.e. a spouse, job, family, title, paycheck, a fancy house, a boat, a beach house, etc). This happiness is all circumstantial.
2. Money – no matter how much you have, it will never be enough. The more you have the more you will have to make to sustain your lifestyle.
3. Freedom – we all want it, but what makes us truly free? The majority of the self-help books we read lead us to think that in order to experience true freedom, we must live with no restraints. Imagine what it would truly be like if we all lived according to these books? Living a life with no restraint.
4. Peace – from noise, chatter, pressure, responsibilities, peace from our own thoughts and from conflicts.
5. Joy – this comes from having the right job, good success, and good fortune.
6. Fulfillment – living up to one’s highest potential. Not forsaking yourself by putting the needs of others above your own.

Let’s just go with the idea that these six things mentioned above represent all of us in this room today. We all desire happiness, money, freedom, peace, joy and fulfillment. These things are not bad things. Do you think God is okay with us having all of these?

If you could say in one word what you want most in life right now, what would it be?

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”

It’s been said that the reality of death has an amazing power to alter our desires. It will show us what is really important and perhaps re-prioritize things in our life. In other words, I would dare say that if we were on our deathbed, some of what we wanted the most right now would become rather insignificant.

Psalm 27:4 (NASB)
One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.

Some Bible scholars indicate that Psalm 27 was written during a season of tumult for David. They say it was written after Absalom rebelled against him. During this season of intense pressure, we see David cry out for one thing.

We can see that David prayed (he asked from the Lord) and then he followed up with an action (seek). David desired to dwell in the house of the Lord. David desired to stay with, to sit down and remain with God. He was seeking intimacy with the Father. He didn’t seek to regain the throne, he wasn’t concerned about his title during this turmoil. He desired “ONE THING,” that he would dwell in the house of the Lord.

What is the one thing that you are seeking in life? Once we choose this one thing, it can affect the entire course of your life. If it’s success in business or pursuing money and notoriety, what will it cost us? In business your employer cares about one thing, the bottom line. In our relationship with God, He cares about our entire success. He wants us to succeed not only with work, He desires for us to succeed in our spiritual walk, our families, our relationships. He cares about every area of our life as a whole.

In the pursuit of our one thing, we have all sinned, fallen short, we have all experienced failure. And when this happens, we get up, we recover, and we move forward. At least this should be our goal.

David recovered after he sinned with Bathsheba.

Psalm 51:12 (NLT)
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.

Acts 13:22 (NLT)
But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, “I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.”

It is worth noting that Saul was seeking to protect his title; he went after David to kill him in order to keep his title as King. We also see that there was something about David that grabbed God’s heart. David desired to please God and to do all of His will.

There is no lifestyle of sin when we desire to please and when we choose to obey God.

1- What does it mean to seek God?

Psalm 27:4 (NASB)
One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.

It means that we will pray – David asked God.

David desired to dwell in the house of the Lord, at this time in Israel’s history, the dwelling place for the Lord was the Tent of Meeting. It was a tent. David didn’t desire the palace, the comfort of his home; he desired to be where the presence of God was.

It means that we go after Him with our whole heart for the rest of our life.

Jer 29:13 (AMPC)
Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

He will not hold Himself back from us when we pursue Him. He told David in Psalm 27:8 to “Seek My face.”

Psalm 34:8 (AMPC)
O taste and see that the Lord [our God] is good! Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who trusts and takes refuge in Him.

He, Himself is the blessing. The good things in life are a byproduct of living our lives hidden in Him.

When we seek and desire intimacy with God we begin to learn to see things from God’s perspective.

David says in Psalm 27:1 AMPC: The Lord is my Light and my Salvation—whom shall I fear or dread? The Lord is the Refuge and Stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?

Light – the OT does not call God light. John 8:12 Jesus is called the light of the world. This is also an illuminating light – Psalm 119:105 – His Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

Salvation – primarily a physical rescue. David is speaking about his physical salvation. John 17:3 NLT And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.

The Christian life is not simply having mental knowledge of God; it is being able to place our trust in God. The words David uses in the psalms makes me believe that he had a deeper understanding and knowledge of God beyond what any other person knew.

Intimacy doesn’t give us a trouble-free life.
Psalm 27:2 (AMPC)
When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

Intimacy does give us peace in the midst of troubles.
Psalm 27:3 (AMPC_
Though a host encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, [even then] in this will I be confident.

David was able to place his hope, his trust, and his confidence in God.

Do we know the Word? Do we know that Christ is truly our light, our salvation and our refuge?

2- What does it look like? – To Behold the Beauty of the Lord

Psalm 27:4 (NASB)
One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.

To behold is to gaze, to admire, to look intently. Beauty in Hebrew has many meanings, such as goodness, character, mercy, justice, the perfection of His being, His attributes.

David’s focus on God, his one thing, pulled His heart into a posture of worship. He wanted fellowship with God. He goes on to declare that God is his shelter, and his hiding place. In verse 6, we see that David can no longer contain just thinking about God’s loveliness; he begins to sing about it and praise God.

When we behold Him, we can’t help but to worship Him. Worshiping God comes from the preciousness of knowing His value and of who He is to me. The way that we worship God declares our understanding of who He is.

Think of Mary at the feet of Jesus. She saw Him and gave Him everything that she had. She made a spectacle of herself in the eyes of the others in that room.

William Temple – “Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of the conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose–all this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable.”

We want to be able to give God our best. The rate of return is far greater than having a false sense of security. We will never be able to truly worship God the way we were made to if we lack the proper understanding of truth as it is declared in the Word.

Romans 12:1 AMPC
I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.

3- How do I do it? – Meditate/Inquire

Psalm 27:4 (NASB)
One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.

David went to ask of the Lord, he went to talk with the Lord, he did not seek the counsel of others when trouble came. He cast his mind on the Lord, considering all the attributes of God. He had no ulterior motives for seeking God. He just made God his One Thing! When we meditate on God’s word, we are meditating on God Himself.

Going back to my opening scriptures:

Psalm 14:2 (CSB)

The Lord looks down from heaven on the human race to see if there is one who is wise, one who seeks God.

Psalm 34:10 (CSB)

Young lions lack food and go hungry, but those who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing.

God desires for us to walk in His wisdom, and He desires to bless us.

What are the good things that we desire ~ happiness, provision, freedom, peace, joy, fulfillment? Having these things the way that a perishing world would give them results in something that is temporary and fleeting. When we have things God’s way, like David, we can declare that He will withhold no good thing from us.

Moving Forward:

Identify your habits – what motivates you? Is it success at work? Money? Friends? Your looks? Title? Recognition?

What’s one spiritual discipline can you begin today? Impact from a new habit is not noticeable immediately; with time you will begin to see the difference it is making in your life.