Seeking the Lord | How to break through the mundane and activate your relationship (Psalm 8-14)…
Tears were streaming down my face as I sat dejected in my car overlooking the ocean and listening to praise music. I wondered what my next steps were. Deep down, I knew I needed God, but I also knew He had been kept at a distance so I could live my busy life. I was a good person and knew the Bible, but a trial came and I realized I was completely lost; to be blunt, I was not in an active relationship with God. On a positive note, I knew the only thing in the world I needed right then was Him, but I was at a loss on how to accomplish it. Seeking the Lord became my prayer, “Lord, I need You, but I don’t know what I need to do.”
Prayer brings about an undercurrent of peace as the waves of worldly stress threaten to wash over you. Click To TweetHave you sat down and considered your relationship with God? Sometimes, pleading with God in our prayers can be the only hope we are able to cling to: when cancer overtakes, your business is tanking, or your children have walked away from the Lord. Prayer brings about an undercurrent of peace as the waves of worldly stress threaten to wash over you. In Psalms, we are even taught to pray for safety from our enemies and justice for them.
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Where to start…
And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
Psalm 9:10
Acknowledging where you are in your walk is the first step toward Him. Are you eager for a relationship with God? Maybe you just go through the motions? Might it be that you do not really know Him but have heard about Him? Or, perhaps, you are angry with Him. Whatever the case may be, you need to acknowledge your starting point.
Likewise, you need to come to terms with your current state of reality so you can identify your goal.
Now think about the future. If you want, truly want, a committed relationship where you trust and obey God, then make that first step of praying. Pray for the relationship even if you have no clue how to attain it. God will direct your heart.
Keep in mind, your steps toward Him will not move you until you actually take that first step. Having a goal but remaining stagnant is possible, but not when you are seeking the Lord with your whole heart.
What does ‘seeking the Lord’ mean…
Psalms uses the word seek (specifically, the Hebrew word ‘darash’) 15 times as well as in Psalm 9:10. It means:
to tread or frequent;
usually to follow (for pursuit or search);
by implication to seek or ask;
specifically to worship;
–ask, [seek] at all, care for, [seek] diligently, inquire, make inquisition, question, require, search, seek [for/out], [seek] surely.
Strong’s Concordance, (1875 darash)
The word means an action is involved. In a race, your body will not move without you actively moving it toward the end. A relationship is no different, it will not grow without action.
Next steps…
The Psalms bring about great examples of how to approach God. If you are feeling lost, follow the definition of seek.
- Frequently communicate with God.
- Pursue His will, dig in that Word frequently.
- Seek and ask for His will and His favor.
- Worship Him.
Commit to action, then follow through on it.
The Psalmists knew they could approach the throne of God with requests: for God to vindicate them, to enact justice against the wicked, and also to keep them safe from their enemies.
Yet, they also praised God throughout it all by recognizing who He is.
Worship the Lord…
Re-read Psalm 8. Take note of the following, David acknowledges: proper worship, God’s sovereignty, the ultimate power and strength He has over all enemies, that God is the Creator of the universe, man’s place in relation to God, and closes again with proper worship.
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Psalm 8
Many times, when life threatens to overtake us, praying can feel awkward, hard, or you just can’t figure out the words to use. Find some worship songs that share your heart and situation. At your lowest point, when words are too hard to formulate into sentences, you can pray by listening to the words of songs and asking God to hear those speak for you.
Brace Yourself…
Much like the Psalmists, this world brings about trials. When you actively move toward a true relationship with God, brace yourself.
Trials have a way of drawing us near to the one thing we need in this life: Jesus. When the world crumbles around you, take the time to stop, breathe, and recognize that it is one way of God showing you this is all temporary. The world can threaten to completely overwhelm and overtake you, but He is our rock and the only one we can truly rely on for strength.
David pens most of these early Psalms that deal with struggles. As a matter of fact, he went through them and knew them well. His very life was threatened on multiple occasions, sometimes even by his own men. His wife and children were kidnapped, his stuff pillaged. He knew dark days.
But what did he do? He turned to the Lord. Unknowingly at the time, God was using his trials to formulate the very words some of us can read as prayers in our current situations.
There are many Psalms in my Bible with dates and years written next to them because they spoke the very words I needed to pray for our situations.
The foundation for seeking the Lord…
Continuously following the steps above can cement a foundation that is unshakeable. That does not mean life will not rattle you at times. However, it will establish to whom you belong and your default responses when facing trials.
Seeking the Lord will become second nature and your relationship will blossom. God honors those requests.
This new and flourishing relationship will emanate out of you as you share the good news with others. Seeking the Lord with true motives will lead to a right relationship. A relationship that you will want to shout about from the rooftops!
Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice! Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!
Psalm 105:1-4
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Great post! A powerful relationship with the Lord takes constant pursuit.