March 30/Fifth Thursday of Lent
Seek the LORD and his strength; Search for his presence continually. ~ Ps 105.4
It’s the “continually” that causes difficulties, isn’t it? We might manage to engage occasionally, perhaps seeking the LORD and his strength on Sundays when we go to church, or even a few times a week when we scratch out a few minutes for quiet prayer. But continually? Surely that is not a reasonable expectation for God to have of busy people like us. Indeed, as we go through each day and encounter challenging students, difficult clients, recalcitrant patients, unhelpful colleagues, demanding spouses — not to mention the pitiless flood of meetings, emails, phone calls, errands, and family obligations — it is easy to lose the connection to God and tell ourselves we’ll pick it back up later, when things have settled down. The psalmist is having none of it: his use of two different but oft-paired verbs for “seek,” baqash and darash (the latter slightly more intense, meaning “to seek with care,”) underscores the importance of our truly making the effort to look for the LORD (an emphasis lost in most English translations). It is the process, not the outcome, that signifies, or as the 20th-century Trappist monk and writer Thomas Merton wrote, “I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.” In today’s first reading, Abraham also bears witness to the need to seek God continually. Through all the unexpected happenings in his life — the uprooting from Ur, the terrifying vision of God with its promise of countless descendants, the uneasy sojourn in Egypt, the late-life birth of a son — he continued to seek the LORD by keeping his covenant. It is that steady fidelity, the daily effort we make, that will, we pray, please the Lord.
Eternal God, Grant me the steadfastness and fidelity to seek your presence continually this day, in spite of all that would get in my way. Amen.
To hear the PCEA St. Andrew’s Youth Choir (Nairobi, Kenya) sing “Seek Ye First,” click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XjRYtMHthw
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/033023.cfm
