Seek Him in the Quiet Place

I have asked one thing from the LORD; it is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the LORD and seeking him in his temple. Psalm 27:4 (CSB)

I’m sure we all have those verses in our Bibles that we have underlined, circled, and highlighted, right?

For me, the above passage is heavily annotated. But the one word that struck me as I re-read this Psalm recently was the word I had circled: seeking.

As I read the circled word again, it jumped out and demanded this question:

Am I seeking God?

I have a fairly regular routine of prayer, journaling and reading that seldom gets interrupted; but this does not necessarily answer the question that rang in my mind. Am I seeking God?

I think of the game Hide and Seek. Did you ever play this as a child? One person closes their eyes and counts while the remaining gang hides in mysterious places. When time's up, the counting person seeks them out of their places of hiding. It requires action to seek something or someone. You have to go — and seek.

Now, I’m not suggesting that God is hiding from us, but I am saying that there is a seeking that needs to take place in our relationship with God.

Let’s break it down. According to Dictionary.com, to seek means “to go in search of, to go in quest of. To try and find or discover by searching or questioning.” Questioning. When was the last time you asked God a question?

For me, the stark reality was that I hadn’t asked God a question in a long time.

The whole concept of asking God questions and talking to Him can sometimes be risky territory. I can’t speak for you, but I have never heard the audible voice of God. So, His responses are often made up of a sense that I have, or a feeling of what He wants to say to me. This, by default, means that what I feel, or sense, is open to interpretation.

Most of the time, however, I only act on or receive what I sense God saying to me when it is a strong sense, one that I cannot shake.

So, my question remains: have you stopped seeking God? Do you still enquire of His heart?

To remedy this issue that had arisen in my time spent reading the Bible I made a pact with myself — and God. At least once a week, I would sit quietly and ask God this simple question: “God, what do You want to say to me today?”

Then, with great effort to restrain myself from simply ploughing on with my devotion time, I sit and wait for His response.

Admittedly, sometimes, I do not get a strong sense of anything. But more often than not, a still small feeling will rise within me and I will get a sense of what the Lord is saying to me that day.

God is a speaking and relational God. He wants to be known. He already knows us, inside out and back to front. But to enquire of the Lord means to deepen the relationship that we have with Him by showing Him that we want to know Him.

Here is a simple prayer that you can pray before you begin this journey:

Father, thank You that You are a speaking and relational God. Lord, I pray that all voices inside my head and heart would hush—the voices of the world around me, the voice of my enemy, even my own voice—and that Your voice would be loudest and clearest.

I long to know You, Lord, to know what You are saying to me and to seek You in the quiet place. Speak now, Lord; Your servant is listening. In Jesus’ name, amen.

May God bless you in your pursuit of Him.

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Scripture is quoted from the Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.