When Should We Seek God?
Of course, we have access to God anytime of the day, but hear what the psalms say: “My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD…” (Ps. 5:3). “Evening and morning and at noon I will pray and cry aloud…” (Ps. 55:17a). “…Early will I seek You…” (Ps. 63:1). Many Christians struggle to keep a regular prayer time, but observant Jewish people have practiced daily prayer times since Moses’s day.
During the second century AD, after the Second Temple was destroyed, there was a debate between two rabbis as to whether the Jewish people should pray two times a day or three. Traditionally, it was believed that Abraham introduced morning prayer, Isaac afternoon prayer, and Jacob evening prayer. (Some Scriptures that might give clues to this are Genesis 19:27, 24:63, and 32:1–13.) However, synagogue prayer was based on the morning and “evening” (late afternoon) sacrifices (Exod. 29:38–39). Considering the Psalm 55 passage above and the fact that Daniel 6:10 tells us that he prayed three times a day, it was decided that they would pray three times a day.
Paul’s admonition is for Christians to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17), always being in an attitude of prayer. However, based on these Old Testament Scriptures and especially on the fact that―during tabernacle and Temple times―God designed regular, daily worship, we could conclude that His desire is that we seek Him regularly, more than once a day. That takes discipline, but if we desire His company, it should not be a duty, but a joy.
Where Do We Seek God?
The desert—We can seek God anywhere, but where did David especially find him? Psalm 63:1 says, “…my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.” Why is it that so many accounts in the Bible happen in the desert or wilderness?
It was in the desert, where Hagar met God (Gen.16:7); where God trained Moses to be a shepherd for 40 years, and Moses first met God in a burning bush (Exod. 3:1–2); where God made Himself known to Israel over and over for 40 years; where He trained David to be king; where Elijah hid from King Ahab and was fed by the ravens (1 Kings 17), where he fled from Jezebel and God met him on the same mountain as Moses (1 Kings 19); where John the Baptist lived and ministered (Matt.3:1); where Yeshua (Jesus) was tested before He began His ministry (Matt. 4:1); and where God most likely revealed an understanding of the New Covenant to Paul (Gal.1:17).
Do you want to be a great man or woman of God? Then, don’t resist the desert seasons in your life. Unfortunately, it often takes a drought in our lives before we get serious about seeking God. Hosea tells us, “…In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me” (5:15b).
The sanctuary―“So I have looked for You in the sanctuary…” (Ps. 63:2a). “One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me…” (Ps. 27:4–5). Moses and Joshua sought Him there too. David’s desire was not just to meet with God twice a day during the times of sacrifice, but to dwell there. As believers in Yeshua, that is possible; this is what He meant when He encouraged us to abide in Him (John 14:1–11).
Though I have experienced many great worship times with just the Lord and myself in the privacy of my home, or even in my car on a drive home, we are admonished to not forsake ”…the assembling of ourselves together…” (Heb.10:25a). Yeshua said, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them" (Matt.18:20).
David loved the place where God dwelt, and we know the tabernacle and Temple were just earthly replicas of God’s throne room in heaven (Heb. 8:5). The worship we will experience in heaven will be so much more than anything we can experience on earth, but in heaven, it won’t be private worship, but corporate. We will be a part of “…a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb…” (Rev. 7:9).
God desires that we seek Him as a people, not just as an individual. I think the Jewish people are much better at this than we are. When they confess their sins on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), their prescribed prayers use “we.” They confess and pray as a nation often. This is, no doubt, because God set them aside as a nation. They are following the examples of intercessors like Nehemiah (1:7). In Basic Judaism, Milton Steinberg explains, “Man is not himself only, he is a participant in his community. Hence it is not enough that he shall address God in his solitariness; he must turn to Him in his other aspect as well.” God wants us to seek Him in community and as a community, together, as a body.
By Charleeda Sprinkle
Assistant Editor
All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version unless otherwise noted.
© 2010
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Bibliography
Brown, Rebecca, and Daniel Yoder. Standing on the Rock: The Powers of God’s Covenants. Clinton, AR: Harvest Warriors
Publishing, 2002.
Chappell, Clovis G. Sermons from the Psalms, 1931. http://www.abcog.org/psa042.htm.
Kolatch, Alfred. The Jewish Book of Why. NYC: Jonathan David Publishers, Inc., 1995.
Murray, Andrew. The Believer’s New Covenant. Bethany House Publishers, 1984.
Steinberg, Milton. Basic Judaism. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Co, 1975.
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