by Mr. Francis D'Souza
Introduction
My favorite text in the Old Testament is 2Chronicles 7:14 "if my people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and SEEK MY FACE and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. This verse gives us the three conditions for receiving God’s blessings and also the three rewards.
The call to seek the Lord : Psalm 27:8 Thou hast said “Seek ye My face”.
The word of God reminds us over and over again to seek the Lord. Let us check these scriptures
Deuteronomy 4:29 says "Seek the LORD your God and you will find Him, if you look for Him with all your heart and with all your soul."
"Seek the LORD and his strength and seek his face continually."
1 Chronicles 16:11 "Look to the LORD and His strength; seek His face always."
Psalms 105:4 "Look to the LORD and His strength; seek His face always."
Isaiah 55:6 "Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. "
Matthew 6:33 "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
Statistics
According to one version of the Bible the word “face” appears 401 times in the Bible and over 85% of the times it is found in the Old Testament.. The word “countenance” which is implied for “face” appears 51 times in the Bible.
Functions
A Ticket Inspector always does not have to check physically if we have a valid ticket or not. He just has to look at our face. The face reflects the heart condition. As Proverbs 15:13 ‘A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance’.
Numbers 6:25 - In blessing the people of Israel the Lord gave these words “The Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you”.
Leviticus 20:6 - In expressing His anger on the erring people who were running after spiritist, mediums, astrologers and false ‘gods’ His word says “…I will set my face against that person, and will cut him off from among his people”.
An American company invested billions of dollars in launching the ‘picture phone’ in which you can hear the person and also see him. Thus establishing that the face is very important in establishing and strengthening relationships.
This reminds me about the young girl who was out late night with her boyfriend. Her father told her that this behaviour is unacceptable. The girl sat with her face down full of guilt and remorse till her father asked her to look at his face. What she saw was not a strict, stern face but a loving face full of tears and in an instant she knew everything was alright between them.
In the Old Testament there was a belief that you cannot see the face of God and live and this was based on Exodus 33:18 Moses tells the Lord "I have been an able leader why don't You show Your face". But Lord tells Moses in Exodus 33:20 "You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live". But when Philip asked Jesus show us the Father, Jesus said to him (John 14:8-9) "Lord, show us the Father". Jesus answers : "Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father". Then He further emphasizes by saying "I am in the Father and the Father is in Me" It is indeed a privilege for us in the New Testament that we through Jesus can see God’s face.
Looking at the face of God must have a transforming effect on us as happened in Isaiah’s case Isaiah 6:5.
Our physical appearance will also be transformed as happened to Moses Exodus 34:29 Moses was up in mountain, taking to GOD. after he came back from the presence of the LORD the people couldn't look at the face because his face was shinning with light.. When we come before GOD to seek His face something happens in our lives. Our life is changed and transformed. The moment we see our sinfulness our response is like the prodigal son. I am a sinner. Like Isaiah says, This seeking of God's face must have a transforming effect in ones life. And this is true.
There are certain qualifications to seek the face of GOD. In computer language - WSYIWYG stands for “What You See Is What You Get” and by just replacing the last letter with “B”, it reads WYSIWYB “What You See Is What You Become”. I know a case where a husband and wife not only walk and talk like each other, but also look like each other.
Who can ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in His holy place? - “who will see His face”. He who has clean hands, pure heart, does not bow down to idols (anything that takes the place of God in our life is an idol) and does not swear falsely Psalm 24:3,4. Such is the generation who seeks your face declares the Psalmist in verse 6.
A lot depends on our desire to seek the face of the Lord. In
Psalm 27:4, the Psalmist is expressing his one desire to dwell in the house of the Lord, seek after him and behold his beauty. (Psalm 27:4 'One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek Him in His temple".)
As I see the prayer life of Jesus, Moses and some others, I come to the conclusion that they were ‘face - seekers’. If you are like me, you would be in the following progression heading towards seeking His face. One prays reciting the prayers we have learned from our childhood; i.e. the rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet, grace before and after meals, morning and night prayers, novena prayers, etc. - all good and have great values. Then you feel the need of talking to God in your own words which comes to a point where we run out of vocabulary and language fails us. We then turn to the charism called tongues and we come to a stage where we run out of energy and are ‘limp’ before the Lord - (unable) to say anything more or even think just being in His presence - that is seeking His face.
May be we could take a hint from the farmer’s reply to the priest who asked him the secret of his long, sustaining prayer. “I see him (pointing to the Blessed Sacrament) even as He sees me”.
Amen.