Psalm 70 - Do not delay

Read: Psalm 70 vs 1-5

When we were children we used to play hide and seek out in the street and around the gardens where I lived. The whole aim of that game is to hide and not be found. 

Psalm 76 begins with a shout to God. ‘Hasten, O God, to save me; come quickly, LORD, to help me.’ David is under threat, there are people looking for Him (vs 2) but it seems that at this moment David can’t actually see where God is. His prayer, his hope, is that those who ‘seek God’ will find Him and in Him come to a place of rejoicing and gladness.

The whole concept of ‘seeking’ is something is rooted deeply in the story of the Old and New Testaments. 

God’s people are defined in the Bible as those who ‘seek God’s will’ (Exodus 18:15). The early book of the Old Testament (known as the ‘Pentateuch’, the first five books) not only establish God’s relationship with His people but they also anticipate that His people would break this relationship. Deuteronomy 4:29 gives hope should this happen, promising that if the people became unfaithful and fell under God’s judgment they should ‘seek’ God from wherever they were and that if they sought Him with all their hearts they would find Him. In the darkest moment of Old Testament history it is this promise that gives hope and a future to God’s exiled people; seek God with all your heart and you will find Him (Jeremiah 29: 13-14).

But back in Psalm 70 David is worn out to the point that He cannot go looking for God, He prays that God will come and find Him (vs 5). The wonderful message of the gospel is that in Jesus this prayer has been answered. In Luke 19:10 Jesus described His mission to the world in this way: ‘The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.’ (Luke 19:10).

In His compassion and mercy Jesus reveals a God who doesn’t just want to be found by those who seek Him, but who delights to be found by those who weren’t even seeking Him at all (Isaiah 65:1, Romans 10:20). This blows wide open any restrictions or limits in our minds as to who can be found by Jesus. We don’t find Him. He finds us. What an amazing truth that right here, right now, Jesus is not only there to be found by those who seek Him, but He is finding those who at this moment, aren’t even interested in Him.

Prayer: Lord Jesus I can think about people who seem to have no interest in You. In your mercy, in your extravagant grace, please find them. Lord, do not delay. Amen.