Freedom is Good News Part 47

Do we have any obligations to God?  Does He ever ask anything of us?  We have been talking about bringing glory to God by producing fruit – so what do we do?  Let’s start in Psalm 24:  “The earth is the LORD’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it; for He founded it upon the waters.  Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?  Who may stand in His holy place?” 

If the world and everything else belongs to God, what can we, mere mortals, do for Him?  I find it interesting that the Psalmist then asks the double question of who may ascend God’s hill and who will stand in His holy place.  David, (who wrote this Psalm) was a man after God’s own heart, and he gives us a clue as to what we might do; draw near to God!!  And how, we might ask, do we accomplish that?  Verse 4 says, “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear falsely.”  (I think we may be on to something here!)  Verse 5: “He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Savior.  Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob.”

How do you seek God’s face?  This phrase is an idiomatic expression that means we desire to stand in the presence of God.  And how would one do this?  Why, by “ascending the hill of the LORD and standing in His holy place”!  The word “seek” in Hebrew literally means “to beat a path”.  You don’t beat a path by going somewhere just once.  You must go back to the destination over and over again.  Seeking God is something that must be done every day.

I remember my earthly father would say that he was the richest man in the world when at a family reunion he would gather his children and grandchildren to him.  How much more would our heavenly Father, perfect in every way, desire to have His children close to Him?  So, to get back to our original thought of how to bring glory to God, we answered by saying we should seek His face; i.e. draw near to Him.

Jesus, in Matthew 6:33, tells us this: “Seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness and all these things (material goods) will be given to you as well.”  Some time ago Sally and I had planned a trip to see the Joslyn Castle in Omaha.  In preparing our adventure we had to do three things:  we had to ask where the Castle was (39th and Davenport), then we had to seek it (get in our car and check out the map – yes an ink and paper map), finally after pulling in the lot and walking up to the door, we had to knock upon those massive doors.  Yes we had to “ask, seek and knock”.  OK, so you are ahead of me on this one.  Those are the three things Jesus tells us to do in chapter seven.  “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

Let’s explore these three tasks next time.