The God Of All Comfort

With technology expanding so rapidly, people-pictures are available to us at all hours of the day – sometimes more than we want them to be!  But have you ever really stared at someone’s face in a picture (particularly at their eyes) and felt like you were seeing a glimpse of Jesus?

My husband and I get a lot of mail from Christian ministries asking for donations, as I’m sure you do too.  And a lot of times included in the correspondence you’ll see a picture of the president of that particular ministry.

Do you ever stare at their eyes?  If so, what do you see?  Do you see light and life there, or something else?  Sometimes you can tell so much from an individual when you really look in their eyes.  It’s been said that eyes are windows to the soul.

Let me explain where I’m going with all this.

Awhile back I was at a prayer meeting, and the focus was on 2 Chronicles 7:14.  The New Living Translation says, “if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.”  [emphasis added]

There are so many wonderful things to focus on in this verse, but what I really want to talk about here is the underlined portion which says “seek my face.”  Whose face?  God’s face!

In the Hebrew language, the word “seek” in this context means to search out, desire, demand or beseech (Strong’s Concordance).  Kind of like looking a person in the eyes.  We need to intently focus on who He is and believe His promises.

After the prayer meeting broke up, I found myself thinking of Moses.  He had such an intently personal relationship with God.  In Exodus 33:12-23, he is asking the Lord to teach him the correct way to lead the people so that he’ll continue to find favor with Him (v. 13).  Moses pleads with God – he beseeches Him to show him His glory!  Moses is pressing in.

And Moses is not afraid to ask these things of his Father, because he knows that he has been chosen by God, and is loved deeply by Him.

I started thinking how weak my faith is sometimes, and found myself wondering if fear was holding me back from being bold like Moses was.  Was I afraid to intensely ask my Father to see Him face-to-face?  Was I afraid of what I’d see if I did?  Was I afraid that maybe I’d witness a little “tsk-tsking” about my past mess-ups instead of His unequivocal true love?

But then I had to check myself.  Those thoughts were not coming from God – they were coming from the enemy (1 Peter 5:8), who was trying to put those false accusations in my head by telling me I’m certainly no Moses – and never will be.  I’m just Linda, the girl who made a lot of stupid mistakes in her life.  Who am I to even think that I could have the same type of relationship with God?

So I rebuked the enemy and immediately strapped on tightly the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18), forcing my mind back to where it needed to be.

The following day I found myself again thinking about really pressing into God – wanting to really see Him, and look into His face.  But how was I to do that?

Then I was reminded of the words of Jesus.  How He said it takes even greater faith to believe in Someone you’ve not seen (John 20:29).  Wow!

We have the Bible, which tells us just what our Lord looks like!  Moses didn’t have that.  We can see Him clearly by reading how He acted, loved and talked with others!

And don’t forget the Holy Spirit.  What would we do without Him to redirect us and get us back on track – especially when we’ve been racing around going all in all sorts of directions at 100 mph!

Don’t be afraid to press-in, my friends.  Don’t let the enemy keep you away from really understanding and knowing who God is.  Crack open your Bible, and start reading.  Pray and ask Him to really reveal Himself to you – seek His face!