Prayer: Seeking the Face of God

A fairly common phrase we hear among Christians - or at least many of the
"evangelical" variety - is that we need to seek the face of God. The phrase
is usually used as a euphemism for prayer and, often, the kind of prayer in
which the will of God is being sought.

But I have to wonder and ask two questions: Why are we seeking God's face?
And are we, in reality, seeking the face of God?

Seeking the face of God? Have we stopped to consider what this means? It
should be fairly obvious that this is a quest of tremendous magnitude. Have
we "researched" this kind of quest to see if there is anything about which
we ought to be aware if we undertake this pursuit? There is some historical
precedent we ought to consider.

Moses wanted to see God's face. In fact, Moses told that to God himself.
Perhaps it was a brazen request, or perhaps it was just the humble cry of a
"thirsty heart." Regardless, God responded to Moses with these words that
we have recorded in Exodus 33:20, "You cannot see my face, for no one may
see me and live."

There are two points that are important for us to note. First of all, there
are very serious consequences to seeing the face of God. Is this the kind
of consequence a person is willing to confront if one does, indeed, see
God's face? Is it a good idea to trade one's life for even a glimpse of
God's face? Is death what we're willing to embrace in the act of seeing the
face of God?

Maybe that is precisely the point. Better to see the face of God and die
than to live and never see God's face.

God revealed his glory to Moses. But in making himself known to Moses in
that way, God says, "When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in
the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will
remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen."

Is it possible that the glory of God is his holiness - that we being sinful
beings - simply cannot withstand the sight of such holiness? I have often
speculated what would have happened to Moses if he had been able to "sneek a
peek." Would he have exploded because of the massive "download" he was
trying to assimilate? Or would his heart of just stopped being overwhelmed
by the grandeur and magnificence of glory emanating from the face of God?
Or maybe he would have been so struck with the power of God's glory that he
would have been so transformed in his nature that no one would have
recognized him as the man who went up to the mountain to meet with God?

Obviously that last bit is all speculation - but I'm not sure it's worthless
speculation. God has made it clear - to see his face is to die. A friend
of mine has often said, "Be careful what you ask for. You just might get
it."

The other thing I note, though, is God's genuine care for Moses. God does
not want Moses to die. Whether or not dying is a bad thing or a good thing,
God apparently saw Moses' death (whatever that might mean) as not being the
right thing - at least not at that moment. It doesn't seem likely that
Moses understood what it is he was asking for until God told him of the
consequence. Surely he understood Moses' heart because he didn't say,
"Sure, Moe. Just watch what happens!" Nor did he say, "Ooo, Moses, I don't
think that's a good idea. How about we just settle for my showing you how
to get water from rocks."

It seems rather obvious (at least to me) that God wants not just what is
good for us but what is best for us. God doesn't chastise Moses for his
request. He seems to say something like, "Look, this is a good thing you
want, but right now it would be harmful to you. Let's work this in a way
that you get something of what you want but in a way that is most helpful to
you right now."

So here's my last question. Are we doing what we really think we're doing
when we say we're "seeing the face of God"? Hopefully we're finding that
prayer is not as much a matter of our seeking the face of God as it is God
getting hold of the heart of man.

Jim
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The best work one can do is to glorify God.