March 31, 2009
Wrong Places
The radio in the restaurant was set to a "golden oldies" station. They played
mostly the old" stuff from the 70's and
80's.
I heard a few lines of a song from back in that era, "I was looking for love in
all the wrong places. Looking for love in too many faces." The lyrics got me
thinking.
The song was referring to earthly romance, but I was thinking of a different
kind of love. I was thinking of God’s gracious love for us.
We seek to fill the void in our hearts with all kinds of things. We look in all
the wrong places. We look to fame; fortune; money; power; drugs; alcohol; status
and more. The list of idols is as long as the list of people in the world.
People try religious ritual and works of righteousness. None of it satisfies.
We're looking in all the wrong places.
Sometimes, like the song says, we look to all the wrong faces. We often try to
fill that need through promiscuity and fantasy. Or we expect our spouses or
children to fill the void. There is a true love relationship with our spouse and
children, but they cannot fill the need for God. We truly look in all the wrong
faces.
Sometimes we even look to God, but even then we miss the boat. We look for all
the things He can do for us. We want all the benefits of a cosmic genie God or a
God who will get us out of a self created bind.
We need to look for His face not at His hands to see if He comes bearing gifts
for us. There's only one face to look to that will fill our need for
supernatural love.
1 Chronicles 16:9-11 NIV
Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his
holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. Look to the LORD
and his strength; seek his face always.
Psalm 27:8 NIV
My heart says of you, "Seek his face!"
Your face, LORD, I will seek.
Psalm 105:3-4 NIV
Glory in his holy name; let the hearts
of those who seek the LORD rejoice. Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his
face always.
We need to seek the face of the Holy One of Israel, God. To Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. Nothing else will do. No other face can fill that void. He created us
with a longing for Him in our very being.
Until next time, for all you need, for all you want and for all you hope to
find, seek His face.
Be blessed,
Darrel Mason