Seek God’s Face

Psalm 27:1, 7-14

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me!
“Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!” Your face, Lord, do I seek. Do not hide your face from me.

Do not turn your servant away in anger, you who have been my help.
Do not cast me off; do not forsake me, O God of my salvation!

If my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up.
Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.

Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me,
and they are breathing out violence.
I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

Anchorage, Alaska; Portland, Oregon; Buffalo, New York; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Cleveland, Ohio; Seattle, Washington.

Do you know the common thread between these cities? They are the top six gloomiest cities in the US according to move.org. As someone who lives in Cleveland, Ohio, I can say without a doubt that when 203 out of 365—that’s 55%—of the days of the year are cloudy, every glimpse of the sun matters, especially between the months of November-April. When the sun emerges after days upon days of clouds, I can feel myself come awake like a solar powered toy. My steps are lighter, my head is clearer, and my smile is brighter. When I step outside on sunny days, especially after too many days of gloom, I instinctively turn my face to the sun, close my eyes, breathe deeply, and give thanks.

Have you ever thought about your heart having cloudy days? Perhaps you haven’t ever framed it using those words, but I’m guessing you know what I’m talking about. Those days or seasons when God’s presence feels obscured, when you can’t make it through the haze to feel God with you. And lest you think I, or other spiritual leaders, don’t have these times—we do. There’s a reason Frederick Buechner says, “Faith is better understood as a verb than as a noun, as a process than as a possession. It is on-again-off-again rather than once-and-for-all.” It’s because there are times when we can’t feel our faith—the clouds are too thick—so we must do our faith.

Old Testament professor Beth Tanner notes, “What this [psalm] does is encourages us to keep praying when the way is dark. The confident center is that God will not abandon us even if those closest to us do. The psalms teach us that it is not only God’s responsibility to find us, sometimes we must also fight to stay in this relationship with God.”

We find ourselves halfway through Lent, and forty days is both a short time and a long time. Here in the messy middle of the season we’ve lost the vigor of our Ash Wednesday commitment, but we don’t yet have our second wind to push through the final days. There’s a reason it’s called the messy middle—it’s a place of resistance and fatigue, discomfort and uncertainty. In other words, it’s cloudy.

Like the psalmist whose heart tells them to seek the face of the Lord, so too must we continue to seek God’s face. We will wait for the Lord on the days when our hearts are cloudy, and trust that the clouds will pass. It means trudging through our Lenten disciplines when all we want to do is give up. But don’t forget, dear ones, that Sundays are feast days. They are not counted in the forty days of Lent. Use this day to find rest, to shore yourself up, to take strength for the facing of the coming days.

And perhaps in that time of rest, you’ll feel just how far you’ve come. You’ll feel and see the way your Lenten discipline has worked within you, changing your heart and mind to be closer to that of Christ. Amen.

prayer

O God, source of all light, our hearts says to seek your face, even when the clouds obscure you. You, who are ever faithful, remain with us,
even when we can’t sense your presence. Be with us this day, we pray, renew our commitment to walking in your ways, strengthen us as we journey onward, journeying ever closer to the cross trusting in your goodness and grace to sustain us through the days ahead. In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

Daily Lenten meditations each have a companion morning prayer video offered by the same clergy.  View the YouTube playlist to find this meditation’s companion video, or to watch others.