“Practical Ways to Seek God First”

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

BIBLE READING: 1 Chronicles 28.9; 2 Chronicles 7.14; Lamentations 3.22-25; Psalm 34.4-10; Psalm 27.4-8

How do we seek God first? This week’s readings give us practical direction:

• By humbling ourselves and turning from wickedness (2 Chronicles 7.14). First and foremost, we must be willing to accept God’s holiness and our unworthiness. We must fundamentally change our minds about what is important and what we will allow to direct our lives. We must seek God with our “whole heart and a willing mind” (1 Chronicles 28.9). You are not seeking God if you are unwilling to call out your sin and practice humility.
• By waiting for the LORD (Lamentations 3.25). We often think of seeking in terms of action, and this seems contrary. But waiting on the LORD is an activity of restraint and development. We are stretching our limits by waiting for God’s time. To seek God often requires we experience his consistency despite our lack of control. We must learn to calm our spirits and wait as we seek him.  
• By responding to God’s calling (Psalm 27.8). If you’re playing a game of ‘Marco-Polo’ you wouldn’t run away from the voice of the person. Instead, your next move is determined by what you hear from them. In the bible, this defines obedience. People who sought God listened and obeyed, right away.
• By crying out to God (Psalm 34.6). This is a manifestation of humility as it declares our helplessness and need. Seeking God is a promotion of his ability and our insufficiency. We often fail to cry out to God because we think we’re got it covered. The fact is, “in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17.28). We seek God first when we understand our utter reliance upon his mercy to both protect and sustain us.
• By taking refuge in him (Psalm 34.8). “God is a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46.1), and yet we are not always so quick to involve him. Sure, we run to God when we run out of options, but we must not seek God only as a last resort. Without him, we are destroyed by chaos, uncertainty, and fear. But God “is a shield to those who take refuge in him” (Proverbs 30.5).
• By fearing him over all others (Psalm 34.9). This is yet another act of humility that elevates God in both our hearts and activities. “Our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12.29), characterized by holiness, patience, justice, mercy, love and so many other things. And yet he is accessible although Divine. We have no right to presume or degrade him with apathy or negligence. Instead, we should bring our own “holiness to completion in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7.1).

God has not left us to wonder how to seek him first. But we all know this is complicated because of our selfishness and desires. So, fundamentally we seek God first when we die to self and enthrone him as king. There is nothing more fundamental to seeking God first than putting to death our wants and living as new people who are citizens of HIS kingdom.

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