Talking Dogs

Chapter 2 - Seek His Face

Psalm 27:8 - “My heart says of you, seek his face! Your face, Lord, I will seek.”

Sometimes it amazes me how a Scripture passage I’ve read innumerable times can suddenly spring to life with new meaning. One such occasion was when Ranger, our eleven pound Italian Greyhound, was sitting on my lap as I relaxed on the recliner.

I can’t say where my mind had been at the instant of inspiration. Was I praying or meditating, or were my thoughts far from things divine? Spiritual insight doesn’t always arrive in moments or by means we might expect.

I noticed that familiar endearing little tilt of the head as he looked me directly in the face. I found myself wondering what his purpose was. A second later I warmed to the sublime pleasure of divine inspiration, as the explanation flowed into my stream of thoughts. Ranger was seeking my face!

You see, dogs become students of their human owners. They need to understand their masters in order to better respond to them. Their comprehension of spoken human language is limited to a relative handful of words. Their capacity to understand a creature of far greater intellect is restricted. So they study our movements: facial expressions, hand gestures, and other body language. They can’t possibly know everything we know, but they labor to understand us as best they can, to please us, and to gain our favor. I recognize those limitations in my canine companions, and appreciate their efforts. In fact, those efforts draw more love from me.

That’s a useful parallel for better grasping our relationship with the Lord.
Like dogs, we have limited understanding of our Master. That limitation may cause us to make the mistake God refers to in Psalm 50:21 when He declares: “… you thought I was altogether like you.” He’s not! In Isaiah 55:8,9 we hear Him expand on that difference. “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,’ says the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.’”

He’s infinite. We’re finite. He sees everything. We see “but a poor reflection” (I Corinthians 13:12). So how do we “seek the face” of someone who is so far our superior? God understands our weakness and He’s provided a means for us to get to know Him better in spite of our limitations. In a sense He came down to our level.

The Lord reveals Himself through His Word. That’s where our pursuit begins. Through human instruments such as prophets and apostles He gave us His written Word: the Bible. Then through sending His Son to earth He gave us the Word in flesh: Jesus. So we read the Scriptures, and through them also discover Jesus. There we begin to glimpse the face of God.

How sad that too few professing Christians read and study the Bible on any regular basis. In fact, studies indicate that fewer than one in ten has ever even read the entire book once! Do you want to seek the face of the Lord? Do you want to know Him better? Start by developing a daily habit of reading the Bible. In the verse that opens this chapter, the psalmist’s heart demands he seek the face of God. He responds to that heart cry with a powerful “I will!” If you, too, hear that call, begin your search with the Word of God.

But beyond the Scriptures there are other ways to seek God’s face. Like the devoted canine who carefully considers his human master’s movements, we can learn much from observing how the Lord works. Pay attention to the ways of God as the Holy Spirit moves upon hearts during church services. Learn from His interventions in your life and those of your fellow believers. Behind His works are His ways. Determine to become a student of the Master at every opportunity.

In other places in Scripture we’re encouraged to seek God’s dwelling place (Deuteronomy 12:5), His counsel (I Kings 22:5), and His help (II Chronicles 20:4). Those are all godly pursuits. Yet seeking God’s face extends our quest to a deeper level of intimacy. The “face” speaks of who a person is. It ultimately reveals the depths of one’s character. The person who seeks the face of the Lord reaches past where He is, what He does, and what He says. They’re responding to the human’s deepest yearning for divine encounter.

Here’s where, like the psalmist, we “gaze upon the beauty of the Lord” (Psalm 27:4). This is what the Apostle Paul anticipates in its final form when the “poor reflection” we now view, yields to eternity‘s “face to face” uninhibited knowledge of God (I Corinthians 13:12). Only then will it produce its fullness. Still, in this realm of time, seeking the face of the Lord rewards it practitioners with rich benefits.

Seeking His face does not happen easily in the rush of modern western life. We need to set aside the day’s business for a while. And, as with Ranger, we must abide in the Master’s Presence, focusing on understanding what the expressions of His face may reveal. Maybe this is the spiritual equivalent of what’s commonly referred to in today’s vernacular as “face time.” Whether assembling with our brothers and sisters in the Lord, or spending time alone in our “closet” or “room“ (Matthew 6:6), we encounter God in an intimate way.

Often seeking the face of God involves patience or persistence. Sometimes it even includes pain. That was the case with Jacob in Genesis chapter 32. It was a pivotal moment in his life. He was returning to the land the Lord had promised to him, his father, and his grandfather. He’d sent his family and servants on ahead, and was alone in the darkness. Or so he thought…

In the evening of his supposed solitude he encountered a man… a man who turned out to be God in flesh. For what was likely hours Jacob wrestled with this powerful being. His weary muscles ached from the unrelenting tension. Then came the excruciating pain that tore through his body when “his hip was wrenched“ (verse 25). Yet Jacob refused to give up until he experienced the blessing he desired.

His reward? He gained a changed name and a changed nature. Jacob, “the trickster,” became Israel, “a prince with God.” The man who did things his way began the transformation into the man who did things God’s way. The name Jacob gave that place reveals what had happened on that sacred ground. “Peniel” literally means “the face of God.”

The noblest motivation for every child of God is pleasing Him. In doing so we’ll enjoy His favor. How much do you want to please Him? How intensely do you desire to walk in His favor? How thirsty are you for “face time” with the Lord? Are you willing to set aside one-on-one time with the Master, learning to discern His subtlest expressions? Will you even persevere through pain?

Let’s learn how to seek His face. The highest prize of that discipline will be a deepening experience of His love and truth in our lives… the rich treasure of a growing intimacy with our Heavenly Father!