Seeking Him
“Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD. Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually.” 1 Chronicles 6:10-11
Ever walked down a pathway so often, for so long, you’ve worn down what’s under your feet? Looked down at a carpet you’ve walked on for so many years you realize it’s threadbare where your feet have traveled with such familiarity and persistence, longevity and diligence? Studied the markings, scratches, wear and grooves on a wood floor you and your loved ones have walked upon so much the wood seems to bear your family’s history? Walked down a pathway in the woods so many times what once seemed like nothing more than twigs, brush, stones, dirt, weeds, etc. has now become the perfect pathway to your best loved destination, so well-worn it’s now easy on your feet and easy to distinguish from all the other trails? Considered all the pathways through your lifetime you’ve trampled down with such endurance that it’s as though the very footprints of your feet – and your heart – have left the legacy of your life thus far on the ground you’ve walked upon?
How many of us have such well-worn pathways to the Lord? How many of us seek the Lord’s face with such passion, persistence, and endurance, with such love and fortitude, such vehemence and devotedness, that the pathway to Him is more worn than the pathways we take to get to the people and stuff of this world? I was surprised to find in 1 Chronicles 6:10-11, the word “seek” comes from two different Hebrew words. When we are told to seek God and His strength, the Hebrew word dârash translated into seek also means tread, frequent, follow, worship, and inquire, per the concordance. It also means to rub, beat, tread, trample, with the feet, and to frequent, per the Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon. The word seek used with the heart rejoicing from seeking God and seeking God continually comes from bâqash, defined in part as “by implication, to strive after:—ask, beg, beseech, desire, enquire, get, make inquisition, procure, (make) request, require, seek (for),” per the concordance. We were created and are called to seek the Lord’s face continually. The Hebrew word translated into face also means presence.
God created us to love and serve Him with all our hearts, to be in relationship with Him, to trample down the pathway to His feet to be in His presence with passion and commitment, so much so the pathway to Him is more tread and trampled upon, more worn, than any other pathway we take in our lifetime. Seeking God is a way of life, of the heart, a way of our very breath, a manifestation of our devotedness to living to love and glorify Him above all else.
How well-worn is your pathway to God?