Tuesday, March 5, 2013

How to Receive God's Best Blessings, part 3

When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.  2 Chronicles 7:13-14

Seeking the face of God is the third of the four conditions God gives in this passage as one prerequisite to His best blessings.  Consider that seeking means to search out, to dig as for gold, hunt, go after with full enthusiasm and gusto, learn about, inquire of, look for, investigate, desire, require.  God reminds us that He may be found when we search for Him with our entire being – spirit, soul, and body. 

Sometimes, we may expect God to answer in certain ways, to be in certain places, to be found by praying a certain way or in a certain position, to respond as He has previously done only to not find Him.  So now, what are we to do?  Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on inquiring, keep on knocking, keep on searching.  Elijah, when at a time that he was running to save his life, was told by the Lord that He was about to pass by.  When the Lord wasn't in the great and powerful wind, Elijah kept standing.  When the Lord wasn't in the earthquake, Elijah kept standing.  Even when the Lord wasn't in the fire, as might be expected, Elijah kept standing.  When the Lord saw that Elijah would not be moved, the Lord appeared as a gentle whisper.  (See 1 Kings 19:11-13.)

On occasions, we might be like Elijah.  We're in trouble and need a word from the Lord. Our wait seems too long.  Our ears hear nothing.  Our eyes see nothing.  We're on the edge of the cliff about to fall off at any second.  What are we to do?  Seek His Face!!!

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