Seek the Lord (1 Chronicles 16:10–11)
Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice! Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!
– 1 Chronicles 16:10–11
Oh, I love these two verses and the repetition of “seek” three times in these two verses. So, “Glory in his holy name”. This is a picture of just, oh, praise the Holy Name of God and glory in it. Like this is your delight, just looking upon God and his holiness. And then it says, “Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice”.
1 Chronicles 16:10–11 highlights the blessings of God’s presence.
So there is joy that is found in seeking the Lord. Just picture Psalm 16. “In your presence there is fullness of joy, at your right hand are pleasures forevermore”… Fullness of joy everlasting pleasure. So yes, we seek the Lord.
If we want joy in our lives, then it’s found in seeking the Lord. And then verse 11, “Seek the Lord and his strength”. Oh, he’s a fountain of strength for weary souls for us in our weakness, and we are all weak. “Seek the Lord and his strength”. And then one more time, seek his presence continually, exclamation point. What a way to live today. What a way to live tomorrow. Just seeking his presence continually from the moment you wake up in the morning, seek his presence. As you’re going throughout your day, seek his presence.
Just look to him, eyes fixed on him. As you lay your head down on your pillow at night, seek his presence continually, all the time, knowing there’s strength in his presence, and there’s joy in his presence and a million other things. But that’s what 1 Chronicles 16:10–11 focuses on. And so let’s just pray straight according to this Word.
1 Chronicles 16:10–11 reminds us to seek god continually.
Oh God, we glory in your Name. Your Name is unlike any other name. Your Name is greater than every other name. You are the Holy One, the Mighty One. You’re the Lord Yahweh, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You are Savior. You are the Good Shepherd. The Great Shepherd. You are the Righteous Redeemer, the Refuge, the Strength of all who look to you and trust in you. You’re the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.
God, you’re the Bread of Life. You’re our Creator, our Deliverer, our everlasting Father; you are God. We glory in your Name, and we seek you. God, we seek you, trusting that in your presence there’s fullness of joy, at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. We want to experience the fullness of joy and the pleasures that are found in seeking you.
So God, help us to seek you, your Word, your presence continually. 1 Chronicles 16:11. God, help us to seek your presence all day long today, to look to you at all times, to think about you all throughout the day, not to compartmentalize you, but to walk with you. And God, we pray for your strength. We are weary in so many different ways. We are weak in every way. God, we pray for your strength today. We pray for your strength, for your joy that flows from your presence as we glory in your Name. And God, we pray that you’d help us to lead others to seek you and experience your joy and your strength and your salvation, to lead others to glory in your Name, other people around us today.
Prayer for the Aheria People
We pray this just as 1 Chronicles 16 says later, for your glory to spread among all the nations, among the Aheria people of India. For 200,000 Aheria people. God, we want them to glory in your Holy Name. Please cause your salvation to spread to them. We pray that they might seek you, and rejoice, and find strength and salvation in your presence forever. God, we pray all this according to your Word, which we love. In 1 Chronicles 16:10–11. In Jesus’ name, amen. Men.
