Seeking God - the center of it all

 

The last thing David tells us in Psalm 63 is that when we sincerely seek God, we make Him the center of every area of our lives.

You see, we humans have lots of things that claim our attention. Spouses, children, church, witnessing, work, health, taxes, you know the drill. 

All of these are the spokes of a wheel. Twirling at a dizzying rate, sometimes. 

But God is not a spoke in the wheel.

He is the hub. The center.

The wheel doesn't stay together if the hub is missing. Our Father is not a "sometimes" or a "when we can." He is not optional in the life of a believer. 

He permeates every part of our lives. He should be at the center of every decision we make. He should be the center of every relationship we have. He should be the Lord of every money-management decision that we make. 

There should be no area of our lives, whether it's business, family, education, or anything else, where He is not an integral part. There's no separation of parts of our lives. Sacred or secular, He is at the center of it all.

So, here is David, the king, running for his life with his kingdom in disarray. It would be completely understandable if God were temporarily squeezed out of the picture. The NIV mentions clinging to God.

But the King James puts it this way in verse eight:

My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me. (v 8, KJV)

I don't know about you, but that image in my mind impresses me. David is not only seeking God, but he is running after Him. He's "following hard" after Him.  God was at the center of His life, and no part of David's life was off limits.

How is it with us? Maybe we casually say, "I'm serving Him!" That's great, but that's not what we are studying here. We can even be in full-time ministry and lose sight of seeking God Himself! We can put the work of whatever ministry He has given us, ahead of seeking God. We can neglect making Him the priority of our lives.

Let's pause for a moment and think. Ask yourself if your schedule reflected that seeking God was your number one priority? Sure, I get it. You've been under a lot of pressure. Stress has been crazy. 

Yep. I've been there, too. But pressure is what reveals our true priorities. And when we are under pressure, everything but the essentials gets shoved aside.

David is telling us, "Seeking God is essential!" And if it's not been a priority for us, then we need to join David, on our knees. We need to make God the center of it all.

We'll rise from our time with Him with a new joy in our hearts -- and unexplainable peace in the midst of our stresses.