“With my soul I have desired You in the night, Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early; For when Your judgments are in the earth, The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” 

Isaiah 26:9

Wanting to be closer to God is something that all of us should long. Like a person who has not eaten in a while groans for a good meal, we too should deeply desire to feast on the presence of God. We must desire the divine. But what does that mean? What brings on this type of hunger? What causes us to desire God?

In Exodus 20, God commands the people to love Him. Why would he have to ask them to love Him? Wouldn’t it be natural that they would love Him enough that nothing could sway their love? Obviously not, because only 12 chapters later they couldn’t wait 40 days for the Lord before their love grew fickle and they were off making a golden calf to worship.

Also in Mark 12 we see Jesus reinforce the idea that we are not to love anyone beside the Lord. He cannot be compared to anyone or anything. He is the only one that can redeem us, forgive us, remove our guilt, bring us true joy and we are to love this God with all our heart, mind and strength.

By desiring God in the night and by seeking Him early, is meant that the desire to seek him was unremitted and constant. Our troubles must never turn us from God; and in the darkest, longest night of affliction, with our souls must we desire him; and this we must wait and pray to him for.

To seek the Lord means seeking His presence in other words seeking His face. If you pay close attention to someone’s face you can see a lot of things, in their eyes you can see if they are at peace or not, in their countenance you can see if they are happy, sad, mad, scared, or indifferent. You can tell what they think about you.

The great obstacle to seeking the Lord is pride. “In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him” (Psalm 10:4). Therefore, humility is essential to seeking the Lord. The great promise to those who seek the Lord is that he will be found. “If you seek him, he will be found by you” (1 Chronicles 28:9). And when he is found, there is great reward. “Whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). God himself is our greatest reward. And when we have him, we have everything. Therefore, “Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually.”

Today, when plans are shattered, do our minds dwell on the circumstances or on the Lord? During frustrating delay, can we still trust the loving heart of God? When we put our problems in God’s hands, He puts His peace in our hearts.

Garment of Praise

Monthly Insights for Spiritual Growth, Encouragement and Personal Victory.

Oluyemisi Onanuga

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version of the Bible.

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