Word Count: 500
Seeking the Face of God
In
a recent presidential politics discussion, my husband quoted his favorite
scripture regarding the solution to our nation's problems:
"If
my people, which are called by my name, shall 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" (2 Chronicles
7:14).
He
then posed the question, "What does it mean to seek His Face?"
I
started thinking about the moment of creation of the first man, Adam. In the Genesis account the Hebrew language is
that of God as a potter, squeezing and fashioning from clay that which will be
in His image. Indeed, the name Adam is a
derivation of the word "clay."
While the imagery at the creative moment leads the reader to envision
the first recorded "stooping" of God in becoming intimately involved
with man, it is the touching imagery of the moment when man becomes a living
soul that merits scrutiny relative to God's Face:
"And
the Lord God...breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a
living soul" (Genesis 2:7).
In
my mind this passage is reminiscent of my CPR classes many years ago at USM. Successful resuscitation required a
"face-to-face" encounter. The
rescuer gave of his/her breath to the one in need of rescuing. It was a matter
of life or death. However, unlike my CPR
classes and the breath of humans, God's Breath not only imparted physical life
but, in making Adam a "living soul," mankind was given spiritual life--truly
in God's very image.
Interestingly,
when Adam later sinned, his natural inclination was to turn his back and run
away from God's Face. Yet God, fully
cognizant of Adam's altered state, continued to set His Face toward Adam and
pursue him. God's relentless pursuit of
the fallen Adamic race culminated in the coming of His Face in the Person of
Jesus Christ millennia later. The scriptures declare it to be so: "For God, who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians:
4:6).
Jesus
was and is the revealed Face of God.
Little wonder that after His atoning work upon
With
God's salvation, fallen mankind has been uniquely enabled by Him to behold His
Face and receive His Breath. As in the beginning, it is the touching moment of
"Divine Resuscitation" when we come face-to-face with Christ, without
which none of us can truly seek His Face for ourselves or for our nation. The Good News is that His Face is still
toward us and His Breath is but a prayer away!
Joanne Carraway is a
community columnist. Her new book,
"Windows Into The Third Heaven," is scheduled for release in early
spring through WestBow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson..