I Will Seek You in the Morning

Posted On July 18, 2021

“O God, You are my God;
Early will I seek You;
My soul thirsts for You . . . .”

Psalm 63:1 NKJV

“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”

Mark 1:35 ESV

Jesus often took time out from His busy schedule to seek solitude and pray. He asked for strength and guidance and poured out all His concerns to His Father. If we are doing the same, then we must be doing something right. As we follow Jesus’ example, seeking quiet time with God, we become more like Christ. As we spend time with our heavenly Father, we gain wisdom, strength, peace, and joy. He begins to work in us and transform our lives. We become filled with praise and thanksgiving for all He is and for all He’s done.

The more time we spend with God, the more we begin to crave His presence. We can’t imagine not seeking Him out every morning. Not doing so makes us feel off, like something’s missing from our lives. There is a reason we feel this way: We were created to worship God. God designed us to be in communion with Him because being with us makes Him happy. He is our Father, and He loves spending time with His children! As we receive His love and joy, we are filled with it and it spills over — it radiates to everyone we meet. It also radiates back to it’s source, and this makes God smile!

“You were planned for God’s pleasure. The moment you were born into the world, God was there as an unseen witness, smiling at your birth. He wanted you alive, and your arrival gave him great pleasure. God did not need to create you, but he chose to create you for his own enjoyment. You exist for his benefit, his glory, his purpose, and his delight.”

Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Jeremiah 29:13 NIV

God wants us to be in communion with Him, not just for His benefit, but also for ours. As I’ve learned to seek God every day, He has blessed me in amazing ways. As I go through my daily readings from various sources, He weaves everything together to speak to me about what is on my mind. Sometimes a reference to something I read weeks or months ago takes on fresh meaning or reminds me of a truth I need to hear. Sometimes He comforts me. Sometimes He corrects me. Sometimes He completely blows my mind!

Here is a recent example. Lately, I have been sensing God leading me to reach out to a friend and share my faith. As I have prayed about this, asking God to use me to help my friend, He has encouraged me to be bold and share my story. It seems like this is supposed to happen soon, so I started mentally preparing, figuring out what I should say, praying for God to give me the right words, and asking God to work in my friend’s life. Now I should mention that personally sitting down with someone and sharing my faith is not something I have ever really done. The thought of it makes me very uncomfortable and feels a little bit impossible. How do I bring it up? What do I say? How will I be received? Will I sound crazy if I start talking about God speaking to me? Despite my fears, I have been trusting God on this and relying on my faith that He can do the impossible. I have been seeking His guidance every day and doing my best to interpret His instructions. On the day I planned to reach out, here is what happened . . .

One of my readings that day was from Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado. It said, “Let us wait forwardly, but let us wait. . . . allow the Holy Spirit to interrupt our plans and lead us to worship so that we might see Jesus.” Okay, I thought, so You don’t want me to reach out? The next reading I had came from a Bible app I have on my phone. It was based on Mark 9:23 and encouraged me to believe in the impossible: It said if I trust Christ, I will see a miracle. My final reading for that day included Luke 11:28, which says, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.” So, hear and obey what God is saying . . . He is saying to wait and to trust Him. Okay. I wrote in my journal, “It sounds like You are telling me not to send the text. I admit I’m still a little confused, but I trust You and I will obey You. You told me to have faith and You will show me a miracle. You have promised to do the impossible!” I didn’t send the text. God stopped me from moving forward with my plans that day.

The rest of the day, despite God interrupting my plans, I was on a spiritual high. Sure, I was a little confused since up until then He seemed to be encouraging me to move forward. But hearing Him speak so clearly was really cool, and on top of that He promised to show me a miracle! Maybe He would arrange the perfect circumstances to make my friend receptive to my words. Maybe I would receive a text out of the blue from my friend asking about my faith. All kinds of scenarios started popping into my head. I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next.

But after a few days, when nothing out of the ordinary happened, the excitement wore off and I started feeling discouraged. My thoughts started spinning in all kinds of directions. Why did God get me all excited about this and then tell me to wait? Maybe I was wrong about how I had interpreted everything leading up to that day. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to reach out at all. Maybe I don’t really know how to hear His voice. I shouldn’t get my hopes up about anything because that always seems to lead to disappointment. Who knows how long He’s going to leave me hanging, wondering what’s going on. I guess He doesn’t really care about my feelings. And on and on. I was letting all kinds of doubts and negative thoughts creep in. I started second-guessing everything. Most of all, I began to doubt that God really cared how I felt as long as I obeyed Him.

I basically resigned myself to the fact that nothing may happen anytime soon. In fact, nothing may happen at all. I may have been wrong. I decided to just focus on my normal, everyday life and stop looking for miracles. Maybe God would call me to help my friend, maybe not. Oh well . . . I had to admit, I was feeling down. I had been so excited just a few days before, and then I wasn’t. I had lost my joy. Well, God decided that was not okay, and He gave me a literal wake-up call: I woke up one morning with the Scripture reference James 1:7 on my mind. He has spoken to me this way before, so the first thing I did was look it up. Here it is in the NIV: “That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” Um . . . I figured I better read the preceding verse: “But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind” (James 1:6 NIV). Yikes! That’s exactly what was going on. I was full of doubts.

One of my readings that day was based on Hebrews 11:1-6 which is all about having faith: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6 NIV). When I read the notes in my Life Application Study Bible for this passage, it said: “Do you remember how you felt when you were very young and your birthday approached? You were excited and anxious. You knew you would certainly receive gifts and other special treats. But some things would be a surprise. Birthdays combine assurance and anticipation, and so does faith!” Another one of my readings that day was based on 2 Corinthians 10:5, which tells us to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (NIV). The lesson was full of encouragement to keep believing in God’s promises and to keep doing what God has called me to do, not to let any negative thoughts distract me. It assured me that God wants to lead me to the miraculous things He was waiting for me. Whoa! My final reading that day was Mark 4:30-32, which talks about the Kingdom of God being like a mustard seed. The notes in my Life Application Study Bible for this verse included this statement: “Your faith, no matter how small, can join with that of others to accomplish great things.” Wow!

So God wanted me to keep faith in His promise to show me a miracle, that He would still use my faith to help my friend. Okay, message received. I will keep believing. I spent most of the day going through all of these readings, making notes in my journal, and praying. I even noticed while I was out walking that evening that music was coming from somewhere, and the lyrics to one of the songs I heard encouraged me to keep believing in this promise. It was cool, and it did help me to stop doubting that I was on the right track, but I still kept wondering what God was wanting me to do. After all, He had told me to wait, and I was waiting. So why was He giving me all of this encouragement if I wasn’t really supposed to do anything? Well, He answered that question, too.

The next day, one of my readings mentioned asking God to show you if you have any wrong ideas about Him. Another of my readings was based on Proverbs 12:25, which says, “Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up” (NIV). Then it hit me what God was doing: He was correcting the wrong idea I had that He doesn’t care about my feelings. Of course He cares! God didn’t want me to do anthing. He was just trying to cheer me up. My loving heavenly Father was sad that I had lost my excitement about the surprises He has in store for me, and He was trying to make me feel better. He was trying to give me back my joy. And you know what? He did!

“Pay close attention to what you hear. The closer you listen, the more understanding you will be given — and you will receive even more.”

Mark 4:24 NLT

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Matthew 6:33 KJV

This is just one example of how God has worked in my life. And if I hadn’t been actively seeking Him, I would have missed it. I still don’t know yet how God will use me to work in my friend’s life, but God has used this waiting time to remind me of His love and to teach me an important truth about His character: God cares! He really does. He wants to speak to each one of us. He longs to comfort us and guide us through anything we may be facing. But He can’t help if we don’t let Him. Our heavenly Father craves our presence. He wants us to run to Him every day with open arms, ready to receive His love and His care. He wants us to believe that He wants the best for us. He wants us to trust Him with all that we are. And He wants to show us the miracles He has in store for us. I think that’s pretty cool!

“Bringing enjoyment to God, living for his pleasure, is the first purpose of your life. When you fully understand this truth, you will never again have a problem with feeling insignificant. It proves your worth. If you are that important to God, and he considers you valuable enough to keep with him for eternity, what greater significance could you have? You are a child of God, and you bring pleasure to God like nothing else he has ever created. . . . Bringing pleasure to God is called ‘worship.'”

Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life

When we really let it sink in how much God loves us and cares for us, it fills us with so much thanksgiving and joy that we can’t help but praise Him! A song that often comes to mind when I am overwhelmed with awe and gratitude for God is “Step By Step” by Rich Mullins. I also love “Seek Ye First” by Karen Lafferty. I recently put together a medley for church of these two songs. Since it fits our discussion this week, I have included a video of it below that my daughter Rebekah and I recorded. We are not professional musicians, but I hope the words will speak to you as they have to us. And don’t be shy about singing along! Worship, especially through song, allows our spirit to touch the Spirit of our Creator. And this contact has the power to transform us.

“We go to worship in praise and thank God for what he has done, is doing, and will do.”

Robert Webber, My Time with God

“So let us never stop offering to God our praise through Jesus. Let us talk openly about our faith in him. Then our words will be like an offering to God.”

Hebrews 13:15 NIRV

This week’s Scripture passages are all about seeking and praising God. He is the source of our wisdom, our strength, and our help. Seek Him in the morning, learn to walk in His ways, and praise Him forever. May God bless you, my friends!

“Child, I know all about the situation that is worrying you right now. I knew about it before you did. . . . Do you know why you are having difficulty believing right now? Because you have only looked at the situation in the artificial light of the earth kingdom. Earth kingdom’s light only shows up the need. Bring it to Me. Spend time with Me in your true kingdom. Look at it in the Eternal Light. I will blot out the need and illumine only the supply. Come!”

Jennifer Kennedy Dean, He Restores My Soul

References:

• Chronological Life Application Study Bible, New Living Translation. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2012.
• Dean, Jennifer Kennedy. He Restores My Soul: A Forty-Day Journey Toward Personal Renewal. B&H Publishing Group, 1999.
• Lucado, Max. Grace for the Moment: Inspirational Thoughts for Each Day of the Year. J. Countryman, 2000.
• Sorenson, Amanda, and Stephen Sorenson, editors. My Time with God: 15 Minute Devotions for the Entire Year, New Century Version. Thomas Nelson Bibles, 1991.
• Warren, Rick. The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? Zondervan, 2002.

Images:

• Dock at Sunrise featured image by sabri ismail from Pixabay
• Rowboats image by Quang Nguyen vinh from Pixabay
• Bible and Coffee image by StockSnap from Pixabay
• Ocean Waves image by Kanenori from Pixabay
• Woman Reaching to Sky image by Daniel Reche from Pixabay
• Boat at Sunrise image by Quang Le from Pixabay