to do it actually with the heart. There’s another thought which is interesting, too. The invitation “Seek ye my face” is in the plural. In other words, God desires that everyone of His children respond to Him. Unfor tunately there aren’t many Davids to echo back with the personal pro noun. In other words, he humbly vows, “My heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.” Regardless of what others might do, he was avowing that he would personally and individually seek the Lord. This whole section reminds us of the pre eminent fact that God is willing and does desire to be known. Jeremiah 29:13 declares, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” It was St. Augustine of old who had to admit, “God spake often to me, yet I was ignorant of it.” He was right. God never forgets us, al though we so often do forget Him. “Seek my face,” is the lovely oppor tunity He presents.
Psalmist is declaring, “Have mercy also upon me.” I’m glad he didn’t set the pattern by asking for justice. When we, as God’s children fail, the one thing we need desperately is mer cy. Mercy implies failure. The diffi culty is that too often we don’t com mune with the Lord, agonizing in prayer. We’re more interested, nat urally, in His blessings. The rest of the time we fret and worry. There was a certain businessman who had hit upon quite an ingenious idea. He got himself a little notebook which he carried around with him everywhere he went. He called it his Worry Book. Whenever anything came up which bothered him, caus ing real concern, he would write it down in his Worry Book. Monday was then assigned as his official day to worry. When difficulties came, he would just take out his book and put them down. That was the end of it until Monday morning. This was the specific time designated for worry ing. Mondays could be rather grim anyway, he reasoned, so no use spoil ing the entire week. It was quite a revealing experiment. At the end of the seven days, when Monday rolled around, he discovered that most of all the worries he had placed on the pages of his little notebook had either vanished or had been solved already. (I think I may try that!) How we need to agonize in prayer before the Lord! Notice the gracious invitation of verse 8, “When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.” How do we answer God’s gracious invita tions? He’s calling. He offers, “Seek ye my face.” To be perfectly honest, I’d have to say that I’ve sometimes answered God by saying, “I’m aw fully sorry, but I’m too busy. There's just no time. Not right now. Perhaps later in the day, or maybe I can do it tonight,” It’s one thing to say with your mouth that you want to seek the Lord, and it’s another thing 12
Sunday Afternoon Mus ica ls JAN. 26 "Haven of Rost" Quartet Norman Nelson Dan Friberg and Greg O'Haver "The Lyrics" FEB. 2 Howard and Dorothy Harsh Tha Fullerton Evangelical Free Church Choir directed by Mr.Cliff Anderson FEB. 9 Joyce Landorf Rudy Atwood "The Overtones" The Blola Quartet FEB. 16 "The Spectrum Sounds"
With orchestra and chorus directed by Mr. Al Hawker, First Baptist Church, Reseda, Calif.
FEB. 23
"The Skyline Chorale" Directed byRev. Deric Johnson, Sky line Wesleyan Church, Lemon Grove, Calif. BIOLA COLLEGE 3:00 P.M. Jan./March 1969 13800 Biola Ave., La Mirada, Calif.
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