“And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.” Daniel 9:3
Dear Ones:
People who do not seek God are those who do not believe He truly exists, or that He will answer. In other words, their concepts of God are erroneous, and they have not dealt with these issues in their hearts. Specifically, they are not resolute in their pursuit of the truth, and that which pertains to knowing God. At the very basic level of understanding, and coming to grips with spiritual reality, they do not believe that one can “set” himself to seek and personally find God. And yet, all the testimony of creation, the objective revelation of God in the Scriptures, and the very real “Life” of Christ manifested in His church, declare every day that God is real, and can be known.
Daniel was among the exiles which were taken captive to Babylon after Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem. It is true that he had friends and acquaintances which were of like mind, and had faith in God. The terrible experience of the deportation did not turn them from God. On the contrary, they realized that God was their only hope, and eternal Rock, not to mention, their salvation. So, we find Daniel, after many years in Babylon, seeking God, and finding Him. His experience of knowing God increasingly began because he “set himself” to seek God, decisively choosing to worship God, rather than the king’s idols. God honored his faith, revealed Himself to him, and blessed him, so that, his usefulness in Babylon spanned several empires. Here was a man who believed God existed, and that He could be found, if sought. Thus, he planted his feet, set his heart to seek God, and he found Him.
David, like Daniel, came to know the Lord by seeking Him. His seeking was characterized by the same criteria as that of Daniel. He wrote: “I have SET the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” (Ps. 16:8) David was resolute in his seeking of God, believing that he existed, and certain that he could be found, and known. Thus, he sets himself with quiet and certain resolve to seek God, knowing the blessing of His presence, “…He is at my right hand,” and the benefit of inner strength, “…I shall not be moved.”
Habakkuk was a prophet of God, who loved Israel, and knew God in a very special way. No doubt he had known the Lord for some years before he wrote his book. Seeing the coming judgment of God upon the people of Israel because of their idolatry, and feeling acutely the approaching suffering of the people, he seeks the Lord for His word, and a knowledge of His way in the circumstance. He writes: “I will stand upon my watch, and SET ME upon the tower, and will watch to see what He will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.” (2:1) Again, we see in this prophet that which we have seen in Daniel and David, an earnest, and resolved determination to seek God and to find Him. The terminology in the passage is similar in that he “sets” himself, commits himself in a very specific and whole-hearted manner, to seek God and to hear His word to his heart. Here is a man also who believes that God exists, and that He WILL answer. Habakkuk confirms this by writing: “And the Lord answered me…” (2:2)
Perhaps nowhere in Scripture is this matter of seeking and finding God put into more simple language than by the Lord Jesus’ words: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” (Mathew 7:7) For the person who will truly takes these words to heart, and will set himself to seek God according to them, comes the promise: “For EVERYONE that asks receives; and he that seeks finds, and to him that knocks, it shall be opened.” (V.8)
Dear Father, Give us grace to set ourselves to seek and find you today, according to Your word. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad