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Seek His Face

                 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)


My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek. (Psalm

27:8)

 

          Last night I went to bed expressing heartfelt gratitude for the day. It was a busy day, but I got the things I’d scheduled done and made my way through a significant part of my To-Do list. I don’t think there’s anything wrong about thanking God for a day in which things go right, you get things done, or you find enjoyment. We should be thankful when those things happen.

          The first problem with this is that it’s easy to feel grateful when we get what we want. It’s also easy to start thinking that God is only acting on our behalf when we get what we want, or that things going right is God’s way of telling us that we’re doing what He wants. It’s easy to be thankful when we’re patting ourselves on the back.

          The second problem is that while we may define a “good” day in terms of what we accomplished, God seems to consider it a good day when we act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with Him. He considers it good when we seek His face – not His hand or His benefits. “Not my will, but Thine be done.” It’s about His glory, not ours.

          On days when things don’t get done, or aren’t as we like them, we’re like kids sitting at Grandma’s kitchen table, and dutifully saying, “Thank you for the brussels sprouts, Grandma.” We’re not thankful, and our focus is on the vegetables rather than on Grandma. We miss seeing her love because we’re too busy being greedy, selfish, covetous, or gluttonous.

           Years ago, I experienced something that should have taught me this more deeply than it has. I was at a retreat, and one of the features of the retreat was that people made bookmarks and cards that they strung with a piece of yarn. Others at the retreat put them on like necklaces, while I looked at each one and put it down, wondering what I was going to do with the worthless stuff. At various times, one person or another would ask, “Aren’t you going to put yours on?
          Each time, I think I said something like, “No, I don’t do that sort of thing.” It was silliness to me, and I didn’t want to do silly.

          Then God told me that those silly little things were tokens of the love of the people who gave them to me (whether they knew me or not) and in not putting them on, I was rejecting their gifts and their love. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I pulled them over my head.

          So, if today isn’t a pat myself on the back sort of day and God’s gift to me is brussels sprouts or bookmarks on strings instead of some accomplishment or desired gift, will I be as thankful as I was last night?

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