Day 11, Year 1 Seeking God’s Work

“With my soul I have desired You in the night, yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early; For when Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” (Isaiah 26:9 NKJV)

According to today’s verse, believers could seek God and pray to Him during the nighttime. Indeed, some could only find peace and quietness to pray in the evening or nighttime. Or we could find somewhere quiet and pray aloud to Him. If you ever feel lonely, developing two-way communication with God through prayer is often a great solution to it. You could transform your loneliness into a wonderful time talking with Jesus. Many of God’s servants have experienced times of loneliness as well. Every one of Jesus Christ’s sheep hears His voice (John 10:27). Speaking to God is praying, but listening to God is the true essence of prayer. Prayers to the Lord are dialogues. If we are only speaking to Him in a one-sided manner, that is not a prayer, but a monologue instead.

The word “desire” in today’s verse is ‘avah in Hebrew. Here, it carries a positive connotation, including “wish, incline, wait longingly.” However, this term also carries negative meanings in other contexts, which means “covet, lust after, be greedy, crave.” In my understanding, all human desires and wishes, positive or negative, could be transformed into longing, seeking, and praying to God. In other words, we could openly express any of our desires to Him, and pray that He would transform those desires according to His will. Today’s scripture highlights the author’s plea for God to manifest His judgments on earth so that many people can learn His righteousness.

When we pray for God to judge people, He often bestows His judgments on us first through His words. Thus, those who prayed to God often first learn about His righteousness. We could also receive God’s righteous words when we pray to Him in the quiet of the night. Of course, God sometimes speaks to people through dreams. We have to discern whether the messages of our dreams are reflections of our psychological needs or status, disturbances from the devil, or righteous messages from God. When we pray for God to manifest His judgments on earth, we are also begging Him to reveal Himself directly or indirectly. It would be easier to seek Him when His righteousness is revealed. We will encounter Him more easily when we pray according to His righteousness. Learning His righteousness also involves learning the principle of sowing and reaping, which will be discussed tomorrow.

Reflection questions: 

1) Are you willing to express your desires and yearnings to God, and allow Him to transform or fulfill them? 

2) Are you willing to receive God’s judgments, and learn His righteousness and justice?