pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

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See

Reading: Psalm 17: 1-7 and 15

Verse 15: And I, in righteousness, will see your face.

The psalmist is confident that he will see God.  In his cry for an answer to his prayer there is evidence of a relationship that has been established that leads him to really believe that God will answer.  In a similar way, the psalmist believes that the faithful life he has led will allow him to see God.  In verse fifteen he writes, “And I, in righteousness, will see your face”.

As we live out our lives as Christians, we hope one day to see God face to face as well.  This influences how we live our daily lives.  We seek to be righteous in our living, but we are not always as holy and righteous as we would like to be.  This is one of the reasons that God sent Jesus.  Ultimately, Jesus came to die for our sins.  He also came to be an example.  In Jesus, we see God in the flesh.  We see God’s love embodied in the life and ministry of Jesus.  As we read the Bible and allow it to become part of our living, we begin to see God face to face.

We also have the opportunity to see God in each other.  As we go about our daily lives, there are moments where we can be the words and hands and feet of Jesus to another.  In these moments, they can come face to face with God and His love through us.  And sometimes we are the ones blessed to see the face of God.  Sometimes, when we are giving of ourselves and being a good follower of Jesus Christ, suddenly we see God in the face of the one we are talking with or serving.  We experience what it means when Jesus said, “Whenever you do this for one of the least of these…”

Yes, one day we hope to literally see God face to face.  But until then, may we see God in the Word and in the living out of our faith, as we seek to daily show God’s love to others.


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Seek God’s Face

Reading: Psalm 27: 1 and 4-9

The emotions we find in the Psalm range from great confidence in God as light and salvation to times struggling with enemies and days of trouble.  The psalmist often repeats the practice of seeking, of finding refuge in God, of seeking God’s face.  There is a relationship with God that remains central in his life no matter what life brings, good or bad.

There is hope for us in the example set by the psalmist.  We too will have good days and bad, days of walking closely with God and days where we are distant from our God.  We can go from the high of worship or an especially moving faith discussion to a busyness of our week that somehow steals away our time with God.  We can allow our day to day worries and concerns to capture all of our attention and focus, and suddenly our faith is adrift.

Let us look to the example of the psalmist.  He constantly comes to God, whether rejoicing in who God is or whether seeking God’s protection.  In the Psalm we find honesty and openness – God can and wants to be in a full relationship with us – not a partial or occasional relationship.  Whether bringing our joys or our concerns, God wants to hear them.  Whether offering our praise and thanksgiving or whether struggling with our doubts and fears, God wants to hear them.

In all things and in all ways, may we seek God’s face.  May we each allow God to be our light in the darkness, our comforter in our pain, our protector in our doubts and fears, and our salvation in this life.  Verse eight reads, “Your face, Lord, I will seek”.  May we seek the Lord our God today!