Original Entry: June 16, 2008
Hume Lake, CA
My heart
says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek. Psalm 27:8
How long,
O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from
me? Psalm 13:1
I have
been looking forward to this moment since our bus and vans pulled away last
August. As youth pastor I have been
taking students to Hume Lake Christian Camps off and on since 1991, but in all
honesty Hume is the place where I come to seek God. Hume is God’s place and this week it is my
place as well. As I pen these words, the
mist slides over the lake and the morning sun showers its beams over the granite
silhouettes of Kings Canyon. I have seen
the landscape dozens of times, but today is new, fresh, and exciting.
No one is
present in the Ponderosa Dining Hall at 6:30 except the college gal setting up
tables. But I am conflicted, I am
pulled. An overwhelming presence draws
me outside to the crisp Sierra Nevada air and the smells of pine, sounds of mallard
ducks, frogs, and wildlife. I am drawn
to something great and I know I will give in to the call. In my heart I can feel the presence of God
stirring in me, “Seek (my) face” he
calls and I know I must answer.
I have
to.
I need to.
I am
desperate to.
I believe
that as C.S. Lewis once penned, “Every man has a God-shaped vacuum.” Men far and wide are drawn to something
great. I believe it is the creator of the universe. I believe that the heart of man is drawn to
the face of God but so many follow a counterfeit trail leading nowhere. The counterfeit path leads to an unfulfilled
life (John10:10). So many paths lead us to the counterfeits of power,
materialism, pride and success, but one obscure trail leads us to the face of
God.
I agree
with the Psalmist when he wrote, “My heart
says of you, ‘Seek his face’” (Psalm
27:8)! What does it mean to seek God’s face? What does His “face” represent? God has given us this target, but what does
it mean? God’s “face” represents His
truth, His character, and His nature.
Maybe I am drawn to this place because God’s “invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been
clearly seen, being understood through what has been made” (Romans 1:20).
That’s
it!
God’s
nature through his amazing creation has been revealed to me in this place. This is the place where God’s work screams at
me. And I will listen. I will seek His face today.
Now.
