Psalm 119 Heth: God Seeks You

You are my portion, LORD;

I have promised to obey your words.

I have sought your face with all my heart;

be gracious to me according to your promise.

I have considered my ways

and have turned my steps to your statutes.

I will hasten and not delay

to obey your commands.

Though the wicked bind me with ropes,

I will not forget your law.

At midnight I rise to give you thanks

for your righteous laws.

I am a friend to all who fear you,

to all who follow your precepts.

The earth is filled with your love, LORD;

teach me your decrees.

There's a new book out titled, Man Seeks God: My Flirtations With the Divine (Eric Weiner, Twelve, 2011)

In the end, Weiner didn't come away with something entirely new to believe in. Instead, what he found is what he calls an "IKEA God."

"Some assembly required," he says. "[The] idea is that you can cobble together your sort of own personal religion, a sort of mixed tape of God."

What he concluded is that you need a foundation. In his case, that foundation was Judaism and Kabbalah.

"But on top of that foundation, you can add all kinds of things," he says. "So I'm sort of in perpetual seeker mode, but I think that's OK." (npr.org, 12/5/11)

At first glance, this section of Psalm 119 could bear the same title: Man Seeks God.

When David says God is his "portion" he's saying that God is all he needs out of life.

He seeks Him with his whole heart.  He examines his life and lives intentionally for God.  He hurries to learn and live out His commands. No matter the situation, no matter the time of day, he is eager to seek God and honor Him.  He begs to be taught more.

We need to notice, though, that woven into David's story of seeking God, we see the parallel tale that God seeks us.

The very fact that God has entrusted us with His words should reveal that He cares enough to communicate His will to us. As David acknowledges, God has made promises to be gracious toward us - something He is under no compulsion to do. All of those commands and laws and precepts were cataloged for our benefit, and for the purpose of drawing us back into a close relationship with Him.

To many, God is a being of wrath, someone to avoid. Or they see God as a capricious, indifferent or elusive deity.

But God has reached out to us, has made a connection with us "at sundry times and in diverse ways".

The earth is filled with His love. He not only reaches out His hand to grant us the spark life, as pictured in the famous painting. He continues to reach out his hand toward us, eager for us to reach our hands back to him in fellowship.

He seeks you.