part 4 of the “7:14” series
For many of the posts that I write, I usually know what they are going to be weeks ahead of time. I usually have a rough idea of what the structure of the post will be. However, this time was different. The one didn’t come to me until last Wednesday when I had a moment that does not come to often with me. But it was there and I did not know why. I found out why after having a conversation with my wife.
I texted her and told her that something was wrong and I felt like there was just a cloud of blah hanging over me and I did not know why. Shortly after I sent the messages she called and talked to me for a little bit. She told me that there is just a lot going on and that it all might be just catching up with you. She started to list some things and then she said it – “you haven’t been to church in a while.” It was then that I realized that even though we were watching church online and listening to the messages in our living room – it wasn’t the same. I realized that I had not set foot in a church for a service since March 15 and that it just took 3 months for that absence to take its toll. This was an expected thing for me because when I was going through my divorce, I watched church services online for a season and volunteered a lot more and that was what I needed during that period of time. So, I was shocked when I felt this way about missing church in-person church services. Then I dawned on me again. When I was going through my divorce I was still going to church and volunteering, but during this pandemic season, I had not been at church at all.
As we ended our phone conversation, she told me when you are done with your meeting take a little break and listen to some Elevation Worship. I had told her that Elevation Worship was a big part of my connection with God while I was going through my divorce. She knew how much it would help me to listen to their music.
So after my work meeting, I looked at my Elevation Worship playlist, and as I felt the prompting of God made a short playlist to listen to.[1] When I got to the song “There Is A Cloud”, which I have listened to many times, I heard the line “for the dry season is over, there is a cloud beginning to swell.” For some reason, that line just spoke to me. I was in a bit a dry season. I was away from church and not getting the connection with God that I needed. (And I know you don’t need to be at church to get that connection. But sometimes you do.) So when I heard these words, it just lifted me right up. I know that there are seasons of drought – dry seasons – in life. But they end. God sends rain and the dry seasons are over.[2] This coming weekend, my church is resuming in-person services. I could not be more excited about that. But I needed to seek God to figure that out.
This is what we need to do as a nation. 2 Chronicles 7:14 God urges us as a nation to “seek my face”. When Peter was walking on the water to meet Jesus, he was fine until the moment he took his eyes off of Jesus. When Peter took his eyes off of Jesus he began to sink fast into the water [3]. We have done the same as a nation. We have taken our eyes off Jesus and we are sinking and sinking fast.
God knows what to do. God knows how to help us. We need to seek Him to know what to do. We need to seek Him to know what He says. As I have said in past posts on this verse, God says “if MY people” meaning He is urging us all to seek His face. But, He is placing a more urgent status on the church.
The whole wide world is in a dry season. This pandemic has locked us all down and kept us at home away from people. For some, kept them away from church and God when they need Him the most. I believe that this is the reality that we as a nation are facing. As a nation, we are farther away from God as we ever have been and this pandemic is not the cause of it – but it has not helped.
We have just stopped seeking the face of God. In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve stopped seeking the face of God when they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and caused a lot of trouble for the world. When they were seeking the face of God everything was going along great. We need God. We need to seek God's face.
How do you see God? Do you listen to a favorite pastor’s messages or podcasts? Do you attend a church service where you can focus on God better? Do you listen to your favorite worship music? Do you dive into your favorite book of the Bible?
Oh, we need to seek God at this time more than ever.
------------------------- [1] “With You (Paradoxology)” Album Paradoxology
“Blessed Assurance” – Album Only King Forever
“There Is A Cloud” – Album There Is A Cloud
“Graves Into Gardens” – Album Graves Into Gardens
“Rattle!” – Album Graves Into Gardens
[2] More on the meaning behind “There Is A Cloud”
“In 1 Kings there's a story about Elijah telling his servant to go look for a raincloud when the country had been in a drought for 3 years. And his servant comes back 6 times saying there's no sign of rain. But finally on the 7th time, he reports that he sees a small cloud rising out over the sea. And it felt like a great message to center our album around – that when we find ourselves in a season of drought, a season of waiting or of wondering when we'll see the harvest from what we've been sowing, we can trust that God is faithful, throughout it all! When God gives us a promise, it's no longer a matter of if, but when. A season of drought doesn't mean the death of a promise, only a delay. Cause what God promises, He'll always do. So this title track for the album is centered around the faithfulness of God.”
– Chris Brown, The Christian Beat
[3] Matthew 14:22-33
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