Seeking God
Ps. 63:1-8; Lk 13:1-9[1]
During this season of Lent,
we’re talking about the process of learning to trust in God. Or perhaps it’s better to say we’re learning
to entrust ourselves to God’s loving care.
A central aspect of our faith is the belief that whatever happens to us,
we trust that God is working in our lives for our benefit. Theologians call it
the doctrine of providence. But as
central as this trust is to our faith, it is also one of those points where we
can fall into little more than pious self-interest. [2] As I look at my own faith, suspect I may be
guilty. I look to God primarily when
things are difficult in life, seeking God’s presence to help me when I’m in
trouble, asking God to deliver me from my problems. It seems that I, like many of us, turn the
God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ into a kind of “Jack in
the Box” God whom we call on when we need a favor and whom we ignore when life
is good. We may give lip service to
praising God when things are going our way, but be honest, do we really, really seek God with all our hearts in
those times? I can only speak for
myself, and I’m not so sure I do.
Unfortunately, in those times
we tend to fall into the trap that St. Paul warned the people of Corinth about
when he said “if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall” (1
Cor. 10:12).[3] Or we tend to
be like the people who came to Jesus and asked him about the Galileans who were
slaughtered by Pilate while they were offering their sacrifices in the temple
(Lk. 13:1-2). Jesus’ answer seems harsh:
“Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse
sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you
will all perish as they did” (Lk. 13:3-4).
But perhaps we should consider whether at least some of the people in
the crowd were guilty of the kind of false confidence St. Paul was talking
about. I think Jesus must have sensed
that some of them assumed because they hadn’t endured any such horrible
tragedy, they were in good standing with God.
And we hear St. Paul saying, “if you think you are standing, watch out
that you do not fall.” Jesus puts it
much more bluntly. He calls us to repent
of the false confidence that thinks that if everything is going my way then God
must be blessing me. He reminds us that
we all fall short, and we are all in need of constantly examining our lives to
see where we need to repent before our God.[4] And he also reminds us that God always gives
us one more chance to repent (Lk. 13:8).[5]
How do we do that? How do we repent? The prophet Isaiah invited those who needed
repentance to “Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is
near” (Isa. 55:6).[6] But if you’re like me, the only time you
really, honestly seek God with all your heart is when you’re going through some
kind of difficulty or trouble and you want God to bail you out of it! The
Psalmist points us to a different way of seeking God. He says he “thirsts” after God (Ps. 63:1).[7] "Thirsting" for God is a way of seeking God that is based on
the realization that we constantly need God’s presence in our lives—every day,
in every circumstance, whether things are going our way or not.
In a very real sense, the
only way to seek God genuinely and with all our heart is to know down in the
depths of our soul that we need God in every aspect of our lives. I think in part what this means is that we
recognize that this life is too big for us to manage on our own. It doesn’t take too much experience with life
to learn that we are in many ways powerless over the people, the circumstances,
and the events in our life. There are
just too many complications, too many factors that are beyond our control. We need someone who is much bigger than we
are to guide us and care for us in this life.
We need God to surround us with his “steadfast love” which the Psalmist
says is “better than life” itself (Ps. 63:3).[8]
As we examine our faith during
this season of Lent, I think it’s important for us to realize that one of the requirements
for developing a heart of trust is the realization that we need God in all of
our lives. We cannot look to other
people, or even to ourselves to provide what we need in this life. When we’ve done our best, sometimes life
still sends us failure and loss. And
other people may have good intentions, but if we look to them instead of God,
we’re only setting ourselves up for disappointment. Only God can truly provide what we need in
our lives. That is the most fundamental
reason for making the decision to seek God honestly, with all our heart, every
day—sometimes every hour—and sometimes moment by moment.[9] We seek God as the Psalmist did—thirsting for
him constantly because we know that our very life depends on him.
[1] © 2013
Alan Brehm. A Sermon preached by Rev.
Dr. Alan Brehm on 3/3/2013.
[2] Cf.
James L. Mays, Psalms, 218: “in a
salvation religion there is always the danger for all believers to take the
value of their own lives as the primary reason to trust God.”
[3] Cf. Hans
Conzelmann, 1 Corinthians, 169. He sees the warning as especially applicable
to the people in Corinth who thought they were the “strong” ones, saying that
their “cocksureness” that nothing will happen to them is unrealistic.
[4] Cf. Fred
B. Craddock, Luke, 169: “Life in the
Kingdom is not an elevated game of gaining favors and avoiding losses. Without repentance, all is lost anyway.” cf. R. Alan Culpepper, “The Gospel of Luke,” New Interpreters Bible IX:272, where he
says that the calamities mentioned “should stand as graphic reminders that life
is fragile, and any of us may stand before our Maker without a moment’s
notice.”
[5] Cf.
Jürgen Moltmann, Experiences of God, 4–5,
where he points out as Luther observed that the Christian’s life is always “becoming,”
it’s always in process, and therefore it is “a continual repentance, a
continual new start in a new direction.”
[6] Cf. Paul
D. Hanson, Isaiah 40-66, 177, where
he points out that the only requirement for attendance at the banquet that is
offered is “hunger and thirst.”
[7] Cf.
Mays, Psalms, 173. He comments that as “the body cannot live
without water,” so “the soul cannot survive without God.” Cf. similarly, H. -J. Kraus, Psalms 60–150, 19: “‘Soul’ and ‘body’
are like land that is parched and languishes for moisture in the summer when
there is no rain.”
[8] Cf.
Mays, Psalms, 218: “This verse leads
us in prayer to the point of devotion to God alone that must be the goal of all
true faith.” Cf. also Marvin E. Tate, Psalms 51–100, 129: he describes the
Psalmists’ longing for God as a “great soul-thirst for the living presence of
God”. Cf. also J. Clinton McCann, Jr.,
“The Book of Psalms,” New Interpreters
Bible IV:928.
[9] cf.
Hanson, Isaiah 40-66, 181, where he
points out that in contrast to human pride, the point of the invitation in Isa.
55:1-9 is that “it is all free for those who confess the inadequacy of their
own solutions and therefore desire God’s thoughts and God’s ways.” cf. also
Christopher R. Seitz, “The Book of Isaiah 40-66,” New Interpreters Bible VI:482: “Only repentance and pardon can open
eyes and minds to the ways of God.”
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