God Loves… Himself

Psalm 27:4 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.

Exodus 33:18 Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory”

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

2 Chr 7:14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

2 Chronicles 12:14 He did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the LORD.

The seeking of God’s face means a seeking of His presence. This is rather stunning when one thinks about it, but the Scriptures treats this very seriously. When the Scripture speaks of God turning His face from a person or a nation, those people are under a great judgment. But when God turns His fact to a person or a nation or is said to smile upon a person, there are great blessings. But this points to a great sin of the heart and how it is always wants to seek God for things rather than for the presence of God and to enjoy God. We can see our hearts and how they desire and long for things or even to be righteous by our own works rather than to seek His presence.

We can examine out hearts by the desire of David (from Psalm 27:4). Is our greatest desire (one thing I have asked from the LORD) to dwell in the house of the LORD (be in His holy presence) and to behold His beauty? We can look at our hearts in terms of private worship, being at church, or perhaps Bible studies. The point, as is most likely clear, has to do with what we really desire in the depths of our souls as we do our Bible studies and prayer in private? Why do we attend a local church? Why do we want to be with others in Bible studies? If we don’t desire to be in His presence and to behold His beauty, then what is the desire(s) of our hearts?

It may be the case that we will try to work up these things in the soul in our own strength and power, but when we do we may work up some excitement in the flesh. However, true desires and the true presence of God cannot come to us other than by grace and grace alone. The Lord will not come and dwell in us except by grace and the Lord will not manifest Himself and His beauty other than by grace. We must examine our hearts to see if we really desire His presence and if we really desire to see the beauty of His holiness, but we must also examine ourselves to be sure those desires come from grace and in fact that we seek those things by grace alone. God will not give Himself to those who seek Him for self-centered purposes and to those who seek Him by works, even if those ways are the external things that should be done. We cannot seek Him by the means of grace (as they are called) if we are using them as works to get something from God.

The heart is so deceptive in this manner and way. It will take anything that the Lord gives as a way or means of grace and turn them to be works for grace. The difference is in how broken the heart is from self, pride, and works as a way to seek God. Part of that difference is the chief desire of the heart. The unbroken heart that is lifted up and blinded by pride may deceive itself into thinking that it is using the means of grace and looking to God for grace. But the broken heart will see that while it longs and desires for grace, it will see the unsanctified part of it looking and longing for other things and that it has desires to get grace by its works. The broken heart sees its own sin and longs to be cleansed from this sin and cries out to God against itself that it may have purified desires and purified was of seeking. The broken heart knows that God is glorified by His grace and not by the works of the flesh which include the best of works that man can do. The broken heart sees the grace of God as more beautiful than self-sufficiency and works and so longs to do all it does by the grace of God so that all the glory will be His. We must seek the Lord for one thing and in one way for Himself.

Psalm 27:4 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.

Exodus 33:18 Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory”

Deuteronomy 4:29 “But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.

2 Chr 7:14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

2 Chronicles 12:14 He did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the LORD.

We go on living basic lives seeking comfort and pleasure and thinking that “church” should help us in that. We go on studying our Bibles and having time of prayer, yet we don’t really seek God in our studies or our prayers. Our efforts, in appears to me, is to get God to do things for us. Our focus is on ourselves and our lives rather than on God and His glory. Rather than our lives being a seeking after what Moses prayed for, “show me Your glory,” our lives are a constant prayer of show me what stuff I can obtain and what creature comforts I may have.

This may sound like a cold and calloused judgment upon the modern “Church” and the things that have to do with that, and indeed it may be, but where is God in the modern “Church”? Is God being sought for who He is and out of love for Him and His glory or do we want Him in order to obtain things or perhaps comfort? Where are the panting hearts crying out for God to show His glory? Where are the panting hearts who come to a meeting of a local church that they may find God? Where are the panting hearts who long for His presence just because they long to behold Him in His glory beauty?

It seems to be the case that despite a renewal in interest in orthodox creeds, there has not been a renewal in the seeking of the presence of God in the churches. The interest in having orthodox creeds seems to go alone with various views of Sacramentalism, iron-fisted eldership, and too much of a focus on liturgy. It seems as if people believe that as long as a church has an orthodox creed, the sacraments, and a basic morality that is all that is needed. But one can have all of those things and not have the living God. Jonathan Edwards said that there is nothing that the believer can do that the unbeliever cannot do except have true love. Whether or not that is absolutely true, it does have a powerful point. An unbeliever can be a faithful member of a “church” and not be converted. An unbeliever can be a relatively faithful minister (in a sense) and still be unconverted. An unbeliever can come to “church”, sing the orthodox songs, pray orthodox prayers, listen to orthodox sermons, give orthodox tithes and still march to hell past an orthodox pulpit. Where is the living God in our “churches” today?

We are told in the Scriptures (one of them being above) that we can only seek and find God if we search for Him with all of our hearts and souls. Is this really being done today? It seems that we are so satisfied with our busy and comfortable lives that we don’t need God (we think) and so settle for an orthodox and comfortable church. As has been noted before in other contexts, we cannot read the Bible in truth without it insulting us. True preaching will poke and prod until we see what vile miscreants we are and how badly we must have grace to save our wicked souls. We cannot truly seek God and find God when we are casual about what we do at “church” or anywhere else. If we are not truly seeking God with our whole hearts and souls (not perfectly), we are seeking something else as our chief love and end. If we are “doing church” (so to speak) in a casual manner and going through the rituals (even if orthodox) yet our desire is not for God, then our worship is as hateful to God as the rituals of the Old Testament Israelites were to Him when their hearts were not involved in their external rituals. Do we really want to see the glory of God or will we be satisfied with a moral and economic reformation of sorts without Him in reality?

Psalm 27:4 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.

Exodus 33:18 Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory”

Deuteronomy 4:29 “But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.

2 Chr 7:14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

2 Chronicles 12:14 He did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the LORD.

One of the great dangers in seeking the face of God is that if God does come to a church, things may not be so orderly and controlled. Even more dangerous, in the thinking of certain leaders, is that God will take over. When God takes over a church, people may want to really pray rather than pray according to what is acceptable and a certain timetable. When God comes people may groan in agony when they pray and they may actually raise their voice. When God comes people may seek Him with intensity rather than with an orderly monotone of voice.

The problem with modern church of way of “doing church” is that we want people to be comfortable and for God to be in our control, follow our prescribed plans, and do what we think He should do. But this is not what happened in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and in the history of God’s working in history. When God comes down and visits His people, things change. People are no longer comfortable but instead they are in awe and perhaps sheer terror. In the modern Church everything is orderly (including God), which is not the same thing as disorderly. But it appears that with the use of the bulletin and the sacraments God is under our control and does what we want and when we want it. Does God really have room to come in and order things as He pleases? Of course God can make room as He pleases, but the point is that we don’t plan for anything to happen but what we want to happen. We don’t expect God to come to our churches because we don’t really want Him to come. We are fine with how things are and can go on with our busy lives as we please thinking we are in His service.

Our bulletins tell us what to do and when to do it. We have a prescribed limit of time to get things done and so we set out to fulfill the dictates of the bulletin rather than seek God, though of course there are many excuses for that type of thing. Do we at least set apart some time in order to seek the face/presence of the living God? We can say that we are seeking God in all we do, but is that the truth of the matter? Do we really want God to come to our “services” and to change our hearts to do His will and to love what He loves rather than for us to go on doing what we think He should want? What if God changed our beloved traditions? What if the presence of God brought real life to our meetings and our hunger and thirst for Him spilled out into all of life and we could not longer find time to do all the things our busy and very important social schedules dictate to us? What if our hunger for God became so great and we desired His holy presence so much that television and sports began to look silly to us and a (gasp) waste of time? What if our so-called heroes became godly men in history rather than athletes and actors?

When seeking the face of God all of our external niceness (or most) may fade away and will be seen as utter silliness in the light of true love and holiness. When seeking the face of God our stringent timetables of wanting to limit the time at church so we can get to things we like more will be seen as idolatry. When seeking the face of God the things of the world that we so value and say we do them in order to have a bridge to the world will be seen as becoming like the world. When seeking the face of God our traditions may seem to be less valuable than little trinkets for children. When seeking the face of God we may discover how silly it is to sing songs we like and our affections to be moved by the songs rather than by God Himself. When seeking the face of God our present activities at “church” may be seen as so trivial as to be mockery toward God. Why is it that we will not seek God? It is because we don’t really want the real God. We want to retain control and “worship” a nice, comfortable god. The real problem with that is that the real God does not fit that description. So we want something other than God.

Psalm 27:4 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.

Exodus 33:18 Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory”

Deuteronomy 4:29 “But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.

2 Chr 7:14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

2 Chronicles 12:14 He did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the LORD.

One of the things that is so remarkable about the “worship” or church “services” of the modern day is just how focused on human beings the people are and how God is said to be focused on human beings as well. The Church (and so churches) is to be focused on what God is focused on rather than thinking that God should be focused on what fallen men are in fact focused on. It is quite true that fallen man wants to be comfortable in his fallen nature and wants to think that God feels sorry for him and longs for man to change his mind and commune with Him and do things for God. But instead of that, God is perfectly holy and as such must always have love for Himself and His own glory as His own priority in all things. While some form of justification by grace alone may be taught, that does not mean it is a biblical grace that is taught. The truth that God’s great love is Himself in His triune nature, teaches us about the nature of grace. God’s being set apart from all other things to do all that He does for His own glory also teaches and instructs us about the nature of grace.

When a local church becomes focused and centered upon a God who is focused and centered upon Himself, it is only then that the church will begin to understand something of reverence that is needed for true worship. It seems that many react to the lack of reverence and the presence of profane things in worship by retreating to ritual and/or liturgy. But the Scriptures do not teach that either, but instead the Scriptures teach us to seek God in reverence knowing that all spiritual things come to us by grace. God has not obligated Himself to grant worship to people who use liturgy and say that they are using the means of grace any more than He is obligated to listen to the modern nonsense and childishness (worldliness) in what goes under the name “worship” so often.

David understood something of this when he knew that he must seek these things, but it does not say that he thought he could just waltz into the house of the Lord and behold His beauty. The seeing the beauty of the Lord is a spiritual blessing and comes to the people of God by grace alone. The opening of the eyes to see the beauty of the Lord is a spiritual blessing and can only come to the children of God by grace alone. The believer is to seek the Lord for a sight and a taste of the beauty of God that the believer may be in His holy presence and know that God is God. It is only the humble that receive grace from God and so it is only the humble who will truly seek God for grace in order to behold His beauty.

Humility is necessary for prayer and humility is necessary for study of the Bible (in truth). Humility is necessary for worship and humility is necessary for all spiritual acts and deeds. This idea seems to be missing, but surely it can be seen that a so-called reverence that comes from the flesh and forms of music are contrived. There is no worship apart from reverence and awe and there is no worship that is apart from spirit and truth. This is in line with the basic thought that God and God alone can give us hearts to seek Him and to worship Him and so all that we need to please God must come from God. We can only truly seek the face of God if we love God and want to behold Him in His beauty just because of who He is. We can only seek the face of God if God has worked humility in our hearts. We can only seek the face of God if He gives us grace to do so. We can only seek the face of God if He draws us to Himself. The very act of coming into the presence of God is far beyond the power and ability of a human being. We must seek this by grace or we will not seek it in truth at all.

Psalm 27:4 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.

Exodus 33:18 Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory”

Deuteronomy 4:29 “But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.

2 Chr 7:14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

2 Chronicles 12:14 He did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the LORD.

If attending a local church would result in hearts that ached for the glory and beauty of God and then the beauty and glory of God appeared in His immediate and felt presence, there may be fewer people attending church and yet there would be more anticipation for those who did gather. If only God would raise up more ministers who ached and longed for the glory of God in their closets as they sought His face, because surely that would be connected with the times that the church gathered God would be sought in the singing, prayer, and preaching. We should long for the time when the meetings of God’s people sounded like Moses as he cried out and prayed for God to show him His glory. Do we really, really want God to come into our meetings? Would we prefer to go by the bulletin and slog through the order or do we want God to come down and for people to earnestly seek Him?

While the above paragraph may sound charismatic to some, I would argue that it is plain and simple what the Bible teaches. We see throughout the Old Testament that the men of God and the true people of God longed and ached in their hearts for the presence of God. We see this in the New Testament as well, though after one gets into the epistles it is different. If the Church is the very body of Christ and Christ is the Head of the Church, then we can see how the Gospel of the glory of God which is the Gospel of Christ is a way of seeking the glory and presence of God in the Church (and churches). The Gospel is the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Christ, so surely we should be able to see how the Gospel is a proclamation of the reign and rule of God through Christ and we are to seek Him and His glory.

The resurrection of Christ declares that He is Lord and He Himself said (before He ascended) in the Great Commission that He would be with His people. The Gospel is a declaration of the risen Lord and as risen why are we not seeking Him and His glory rather than seeking to build buildings and use watered down and distorted messages to get people to pray a prayer to save them rather than proclaim this risen Lord who alone saves? Why are the churches (professing) so man-centered and humanistic rather than centered upon the God of all glory in the risen Savior? We have had an emphasis, and still do in practice, a focus on seeker-sensitive services. Why are we not focused on God-sensitive services? Why don’t we seek the living God to come down and manifest Himself in His presence and glory as the church meets? What else would a true church want if it loves God above all else and loves all things for His sake?

When a local church (professing, or even a true one) does not seek the presence and glory of God in it, then that is a body that is not connected with the head. The Head of the Church will only give the body desires after what is truly good and truly holy and truly best, so the Head of the Church will only give the body desires to see Himself and the glory of the Father as found in Him (Christ). It does not matter whether a professing church says that all of its activity is for the glory of God or not, if it is not truly seeking the immediate and felt presence of God it is an idolatrous group. I say it is an idolatrous group because we are to do all we do out of love for God and if we love God we will seek Him first and in all we do. When a professing church does not seek the presence and glory of God in reality, in all seriousness, that shows that the desires of those people are not coming from Christ the Head of the true Church. The people of God will receive desires for God from God. When a group of people are not truly seeking the glory of God, that shows that they may not be the people of God or He has turned them over to a severe judgment. The true people of God, with Christ as their Head, will seek God as their first love.

Psalm 27:4 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.

Deuteronomy 4:29 “But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.

2 Chr 7:14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

2 Chronicles 12:14 He did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the LORD.

Scripture uses the phrase “God’s face” and “face of the Lord” and so on to refer to the presence of God. While it is true that God is everywhere and so in some sense is presence in all places at all times, it is also true that He can remove the favor of His immediate and felt presence as judgment on a people as well as give His presence (only by grace) to those He has worked in to seek His face. In the Old Testament when God is said to turn His face from His people He was turning them over to their enemies and He removed His protection from them. On the other hand, however, when God’s face was turned to His people He blessed them and protected them. It is vital to note that the presence of God comes as grace, yet He can and will turn from people when they refuse to seek Him.

It should also be stated very clearly that the only people who seek God seek Him because He gives them grace to seek Him. It is not that people are rewarded for being good or for being religious, but a true seeking of God only happens when a broken and contrite heart is given to a sinner and that sinner seeks God for grace in order to truly seek Him and to have God turn His face toward that sinner and come to the sinner in an immediate and felt sense of His presence. There is an utter terror in the presence of God at times, yet there is also the joy and delight of being in the presence of One so glorious and so beautiful.

The living God cannot be sought on the basis of religious, morality, or works. When people are so blinded as to think that the presence of God will come to them on the basis of something other than grace, those people are not seeking the presence of the true God. This should be seen with a great deal of clarity when we see that the face of God is seen and/or revealed in Christ. Note this from II Corinthians 4:6 where it says “For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” The glory of God is seen in the face of Christ. We behold the glory of God in and through Christ. There is no having Christ or beholding the glory of God in Christ other than by grace and grace alone. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble, which should be all the evidence we need. The presence of God is by grace and He will not give His presence to the proud, but only to the humble. The proud will work in the strength of self, but the humble work in the strength of grace to and for His glory.

Many people seem to want God for some other reason than just to love Him and live for His glory. It seems as if in the modern day people want God to give them health, wealth, and eternal security and they want those things with a life of ease. But David, to the contrary, longed to know God in order to be in His presence and simply to behold His beauty. When was the last time you or anyone you knew took time to go and seek God just in order to behold Him in His beauty? When was the last time you were in a conversation or overheard a conversation about how beautiful and desirable God is? There was a song many years ago (a bad one) that spoke of looking for love in all the wrong places. Could it be that people are looking for God in all the wrong places and in all the wrong ways?

When was the last time you went to a church service and your desire in going was simply to be in the presence of God and to behold Him in His glory? Could it be that our so-called services are hated by God when people sing for themselves and praise God only for what He has given them? Could it be that the vast number of people in the modern day attend a professing church in order to obtain a worldly object rather than to seek the living and true God? Could it be that we are far more like the Pharisees than true worshippers of the living God? Maybe, just maybe we must learn to seek the face of God in order to see His beauty in order to worship at all.