Seeking God’s Face (Biblical Patterns for Holiness) - Psalm 13

How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? 2How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me? 3Consider and hear me, O Lord my God; Enlighten my eyes, Lest I sleep the sleep of death; 4Lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed against him”; Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved. 5But I have trusted in Your mercy; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.6I will sing to the Lord, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

This Psalm was probably written during the time David was running from King Saul. David became God’s choice for King of Israel after Saul’s disobedience. Therefore, God no longer desired him to be king. The days of both of these men were numbered. Saul would lose the throne and David would ascend to it.

God was preparing David for what would be His will for him. It was God’s plan for David to rule as Israel’s king and he did so for 40 years.

In light of this, we should note that the work of the Holy Spirit has always been active in the affairs of God’s people. The Old Testament presents His work from an outward approach. We can read of several occasions of God’s Spirit coming upon and equipping people for His purposes such as; in the cases of Samson, David and many others. The New Testament reveals what God had done partially from the outside, He began to do completely from the inside. In John 14:16-17, Jesus spoke of what His ministry would eventually produce in believers. I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

In David’s Psalm we find principles and behaviors that aroused his spirit, making him ready for God’s coming will. We can use David’s words as a pattern to prepare our hearts for the inward work of holiness God wants to bring to us. Paul tells us that it is God’s desire that Christians be holy unto Him 1st Thess. 4:3 says - For this is the will of God, your sanctification. So if God wants us to be holy people, can we facilitate His desires? God wanted David to be king and David cooperated by seeking God’s face in the particular ways our text outlines. So should we seek God’s face for the purpose of being holy people unto Him? As we begin, consider

The Value of Being Spiritually Anxious. Verses 1-2
How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? The New Testament teaches against an anxious or worrisome mind and to trust God in everything. In Luke 12:29 Jesus says, “do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.” Paul says in Phil. 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
Verses 1-2 present an anxiousness that actually pleased God and will please Him now when it is found in us. David wanted God to help him live above the situations that seemed to keep him at a distance from God. At times David felt as if God was not smiling upon or blessing him.

Every Christian, regardless of maturity, sometimes wonders where God is or why He doesn’t help. David’s situation was more complex however, he was longing for a relationship with God that gave him a peace and assurance that God’s complete approval was upon him.

David asked what anyone who launches a life of holiness must ask, “How long must I take counsel in my soul or trust my own advice?” In seeking a relationship with God that He wants, we will inevitably conclude that our resources to do it are insufficient. Some want to live as God desires but want to use their own ability to do so. They counsel with themselves.

An often quoted scripture is actually very difficult to live except when we come to a self-abandonment to personal ability and self-will. We write Proverbs 3:5-6 in a Bible or devotional we give to new converts. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. How utterly impossible and frustrating to do unless, we literally become anxious to allow God to do a work in us that allows us to completely trust upon Him!

David would soon be king but God knew he would be a better one by developing a holy anxiousness for His favor that eliminated a self reliance to please God. None of us are called to be kings or queens; however, we are called to live pure and holy lives before God. We cannot do so by ambition but only by God’s continued work. A first step to allowing this is to develop an anxiousness to please Him that God recognizes. Our second value in pursuing personal holiness is found in David’s

Language of Intercession Verse 3
Consider and hear me, O Lord my God; Enlighten my eyes, Lest I sleep the sleep of death;

A factor in allowing God’s work of holiness includes willingness for His evaluation of anything needed to establish His will for us and in us. When David said, “Consider and hear me. . .” He was probably unaware that it was for the purpose of being a king. The true context of his request had more to do with what he was experiencing then; like the relentless pursuit of Saul. God allowed Saul’s pursuit to bring David to a place of saying, “Consider my state and needs O God.” God allows circumstances in our lives that cause us to say to God, “Examine and evaluate me.”

If a developer buys a tract of land he will no doubt, later on, give it a closer review to see its assets and liabilities. He wants to increase its value and so he needs to know what improvements are needed.

God too is a great developer and invests in things others may not value because He sees it’s potential. Isaiah describes what God wants to do in the heart of the one who comes to Him as he described what God wanted to do in Israel saying, He wants to console those who mourn… to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness.

David also requested God to enlighten his eyes. What a wonderful thought for the Christian, O Lord open my spiritual eyes to things that please You. To the new Christians in the church of Ephesus Paul wrote, For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.

If we want purity and holiness unto God then we must be willing to allow Him to consider our condition and then bring His improvements to us. We need to allow the process He brings to find out what is acceptable to Him. Just like a developer doesn’t buy land just to let is sit unimproved, God doesn’t expect that we will refuse Him the opportunity to enhance our lives with His purifying and improving power. If we are saved people God has seen value in us; although we most probably came to Him at our lowest state. Why now should we not allow Him to completely transform us into something all together pleasing to Him?

The eyes of our understanding must be enlightened to know what God really wants to do in our lives. Again Paul says to the Ephesian Christians, “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe.”

To be people who are seeking God’s face for the purpose of holiness we
are to be anxious for it to happen. We are to desire his intercession in our lives and we will do well in this effort when we

Realize The Power Found in Confession Verses 5-6
But I have trusted in Your mercy; My heart shall rejoice in Your salva-tion. I will sing to the Lord, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

In this petition, David reminds God that he has trusted Him historically and that he is resolved to trust Him presently. If we have trusted God’s mercy in the past, we can condition ourselves to trust Him now.

The power of confession is found in that it opens doors for our faith to pass and enter into rooms of growth.

If I have trusted the Lord’s mercy for salvation I then have cause to rejoice. I also have a reason to expect God’s continuation of work in me just as Phil. 1:6 says, be confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. People who confess the work of Christ should also be people who exuberate a confidence that salvation is not only instantaneous, but also procedural. What God has done for me in an instant is the foundation for what He wants to do for me in the days to come.

Does God want to forgive my sins? Yes, but why? Because of His mercy? Yes, but only because He is merciful. Could it be that God is merciful and also, at the same time, possesses the spirit of a divine and Godly opportunist that has wonderful plans to enhance, equip, invigorate, purify and set in process a work that creates a beautiful resemblance of Himself in all He works? Could it possibly be that God has plans for me to be like Him in the way I think, the way I act, and react, in the things that bring me pleasure, and in the things I cherish?

In my initial confession of Christ I am potentially equipped for the fullness of His future ambitions and plans for me. Wow! Because I have come to Christ and found Him to be my Savior I can come to Him again and again and find and realize His unveiling ambitions for me. I can say like Paul, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me; including realizing and attaining His plans for me.

2 Peter 1:3-5 helps us understand what can be ours when we realize the potential of His grace and our growth in it. His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

We have a security of spiritual maturation and growth when we cherish what we have confessed and believe that it will lead us into all righteousness.

Conclusion
So from David’s Psalm we have a pattern for pursuing and obtaining Biblical Holiness. We must never forget that it is God alone who can perfect our hearts to the level of His approval. We can no more live a holy and righteous life before God without His work than we can die for our own sins. It is the work of God that makes all things possible in the realm of the Spirit.

We can however, entertain and facilitate this work by the truths of this Psalm.

First, to seek the face of God in a pursuit of Him making us holy people we must become spiritually anxious for Him to do this work We must earnestly desire more and more of Him and His work.

Second, to seek the face of God in a pursuit of Him making us holy people we must develop a heart language of intercession. We must communicate to Him our great desire and need for Him to intercede and invest Himself in us.

Third, to seek the face of God in a pursuit of Him making us holy people we must realize the process can already be in the making. If we are saved we can be is the process of being holy.