Godly Seeking

Psalm 34:4-6 “I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.”

Seeking the Lord is a familiar theme throughout the prayers and songs of the Psalms, and the phrase “seek the LORD” appears 26 times in the Old Testament. Always, with no exceptions, both the term and the phrase imply an intense focus, a singular purpose to find the Lord.

Deuteronomy 4:29 “But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Please note the other action terms: the one who seeks also “looked” and “cried” while seeking. Both of the additional concepts imply a conscious awareness of the biblical reason for our prayer.

Psalm 119:18 “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.”

Psalm 145:18 “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.”

Psalm 119:9-10 “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!”

Isaiah 55:6-7 “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”

If we are to find the Lord, we must seek Him with the intensity and singularity of purpose represented in these passages.