Psalm 27:8 (Readiness)
“You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, LORD, do I seek’” (Psalm 27:8).
If the Lord spoke to you today, could you hear Him amongst the busyness of your life? Could you recognize His voice and willingly obey His commands?
For many people, the Lord’s voice is a distant echo. Lack of quality time reading Scripture and talking to Him in prayer have severely fractured our relationship. For others of us, our spiritual disciplines are inconsistent and erratic, resembling a relationship built more on personal convenience than a survival necessity.
No matter where we fall in the relationship spectrum with God, one thing is clear: The Lord expects our full allegiance and obedience to His command. The real question is whether we are fully prepared to go where the Lord may lead us rather than scrambling to figure out which resources we need for the journey ahead.
“The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty” (Proverbs 21:5).
CALL & RESPONSE:
In Psalm 27:8, we see a call and response scenario whereby God gave David a command and he immediately responded without hesitation. Notice that he did not question the Lord nor wait until the instruction he had been given “felt right.” David simply listened and obeyed, and the Lord blessed his heart’s devotion.
David’s example magnifies the need for urgency in our own journey of faith. It also conveys the posture God expects from us as we go about our daily lives. It does not matter who we are, where we come from, or what we have in our possessions. Nothing pertaining to our cultural identity matters to God. Instead, all He cares about is our faithfulness and surrender to His supreme authority.
“The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him” (Nahum 1:7).
The challenge is that what if we do not know Him very well? What if we have been living our lives with blinders on, assuming that we know the Lord personally when nothing could be further from the truth?
What is so unique about faith is that it cannot be faked. When push comes to shove and the pressures of life begin to constrict our psyche, what’s locked up inside of us will eventually come bursting forth. In those moments, our spiritual maturity (or lack thereof) will be on full display. As a result, we will either hold fast to Christ in the face of adversity, resolute in our trust of His sovereignty, or wallow in a pit of despair and hopelessness.
“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).
PREPAREDNESS:
For David, his faith could not be shaken. Despite the trials he faced, his trust in the Lord never wavered. His ears were so in tune with the Spirit that at the moment God spoke to him, David responded.
It was not just a happenstance encounter either. David trained his heart and mind to listen for the Lord’s voice so he would not miss out on what God had in store for him. In turn, he knew when the Lord directed his path because he had regular, consistent fellowship with God and knew his Savior’s character personally.
“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15).
Just like a song sung over and over again, David had familiarity with the Lord’s voice, and we should as well. If we read Scripture daily and take time to pray for wisdom, discernment, and understanding, our hearts will begin to align with God. There will be no confusion in our relationship together but solidarity, because we are one in spirit if we are born-again.
What an incredible blessing to be united with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection! The intimacy we share with our heavenly Father is built upon a foundation of stone, not sand. He will never leave nor forsake us no matter how far we drift away from His presence. He simply invites us into fellowship so we may know Him more intimately.
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30).
APPLICATION:
I am humbled by the love of my Savior who bled and died for me. However, I am equally appalled by how easily I can drift off course when my eyes are not fixed squarely on Jesus.
When Peter jumped out of the boat and began walking on water towards Jesus, he was not concerned with wind and waves swirling around him. The Lord told him to come, and Peter came. It was only when Peter lost sight of Jesus on the horizon that he succumbed to fear and began to sank.
“And Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’ He said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, ‘Lord, save me’” (Matthew 14:28–30).
Similarly, when we come to faith in Christ alone for salvation, our eyes are opened and we see the chasm that exists between heaven and hell. Our senses are heightened toward the impact of sin in our lives because our hearts are hungry to know more of the Lord—to walk in His ways all the days of our lives.
However, something tends to happen along the way which brings our faith to a screeching halt. Busyness overwhelms our schedules and the time we once reserved for the Lord gets replaced with other events and extracurricular activities. In turn, our relationship with God begins to wane and His voice becomes faint the further we drift away from Bible study and prayer.
It is a common story for many Christians, but the remedy is not difficult to grasp if we humble ourselves and return home. The Lord is never so far removed from us that He is unable to meet our needs in our darkest hour. Rather, He leans closer towards us and reminds us that we are safe and secure in His arms.
“When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:17–18).
BOTTOM-LINE:
When we stop and reflect upon what it means to ready our hearts for the Lord’s return, it all comes down to preparation and the time we invest aligning our personal will with His omniscient sovereignty.
Jesus said, “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks” (Luke 12:35–36). If we long to enter heaven with Christ one day, we must take our faith decision seriously and invest the time necessary to know Him more intimately.
No self-proclaimed Christian desires to stand before the Lord on judgment day and hear, “I never knew you. Depart from me” (Matthew 7:23). Instead, we long for Jesus to say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant” (Luke 19:17). Nevertheless, the more we drift away from our spiritual disciplines, the harder it becomes to recognize the Lord’s voice and obey His commands.
In the end, God is not expecting us to spend time with Him simply to check off a legalistic box. Rather, He desires a relationship with us which begins and ends with trusting His will for our lives and surrendering our personal will for His own, no matter the cost!
“God guides, not by a visible sign, but by swaying the judgment. To wait before Him, weighing candidly in the scales every consideration for or against a proposed course, and in readiness to see which way the preponderance lies, is a frame of mind and heart in which one is fitted to be guided; and God touches the scales and makes the balance to sway as He will. But our hands must be off the scales, otherwise we need expect no interposition of His in our favor.”
