In a world filled with distractions and noise, finding the time and space to seek the Lord can be challenging. But in Seek the Lord When No One is Watching, you’ll discover the transformative power of seeking Him always, regardless of external circumstances. Through practical guidance and spiritual wisdom, this message offers a roadmap for deepening one's relationship with God and living a life that is aligned with His will. Learn more with Seek the Lord When No One is Watching.
Trevor Lund is the founder of Live LIGHT Academy at https://livelight.ca and the Content Creator at https://revtrev.com Subscribe and set notifications on https://revtrev.com/tv for past videos and live casts and https://revtrev.com/radio to subscribe to his podcast wherever you listen.
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How to seek the Lord when no one is watching
In the past two messages we’ve looked at the lessons from the life of King Asa and his son King Jehoshaphat and we’ve drawn lessons for ourselves on how we need to seek the Lord.
We’ve learned that seeking the Lord can be an event but it’s much more than an event. It’s a lifestyle where we acknowledge Jesus is Lord. We’ve also learned how to seek the Lord when we don’t know what to do.
But what if only seek God to impress someone we’re impressed with?
Does it matter, as long as we seek him?
That’s a great question. We’ll be exploring that today.
Does this really matter?
You know that motives matter.
“But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”” Jeremiah 17:10 NLT
But I’ve learned it’s tough to judge people’s motives….
Story of pre-marriage counselling and my doubts on his sincerity. God showed up.
I had felt it before…
Story of fasting and praying for salvations
He bore fruit in keeping with repentance…
The guy who was getting married did the same. What I told the brides father…
So it’s not up to me to judge your motives…
The Story on seek the Lord when no one is watching
Today we’re jumping to a story that happened 107 years after the reign of Jehoshaphat.
Why there was two Kingdoms? They were united under Saul, David and Solomon, then Solomon’s son Rehoboam answered the northern 10 tribes poorly and they separated and created the Kingdom of Israel, while Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to house of David and became the Kingdom of Judah.
In the 209 year history of the northern kingdom of Israel there were 19 kings and 7 of them were murdered, one committed suicide before he could be killed. There was a 42% chance you’d be murdered or almost killed if you were a king of Israel. There is no mention of any king of Israel dying of old age or in peace. One might have. History was written mainly from the ones in the south.
In the southern kingdom of Judah, where the line of David ruled for all but 8 years in its 347 year history starting with Rehoboam, they had 20 kings and 4 were murdered. 3 of those in rather quick succession.
Today we’re going to quickly tell the story of those three kings because it sets up what happens to King Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26.
Can we pray?
2 Chronicles 26 we see Uzziah was 16 years old when he was made king. He was that young because his father, Amaziah, had been murdered.
We aren’t told why he was murdered, only that from the time he turned away from seeking the Lord, people conspired against him. It might have been that he challenged and lost to King Jehoash of Israel who broke down Jerusalem’s wall took the treasure and hostages. It could be that it was because Amaziah killed the officials who killed his Father. He didn’t kill their children, to obey the law. And we’ll see that people’s children find a way to seek vengeance if they feel wronged.
Joash
Amaziah (Uzziah’s father) was 25 years old when he became King. He was young because his father Joash had been killed because he killed the son of the priest who had rescued him when he was a baby. The priest’s name was Jehoidia and he had arranged for Joash to be saved when Joash’s grandmother was killing off the Davidic line.
Joash’s grandmother was Athaliah. She was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. She married the son of Jehoshaphat, Jehoram and they did evil things in Judah. He killed all his brothers and they worshipped Baal and God had raiders come and nations revolt and gave Jehoram a disease and in the second year of that disease his bowels burst out and he died in great pain.
Ahaziah
Ahaziah, (Athaliah and Jehorm’s youngest son) was made king when he was 22. His older brothers had all been killed raiders. And his mother encouraged him to do wrong. He made an alliance with the house of Ahab. He was with his cousin when Jehu started executing judgement against the house of Ahab in the northern Kingdom of Israel.
Jehu killed Ahaziah. Athaliah heard the news that her son was dead and her family was being all executed and wanted to secure her place. So she started killing everyone in David’s line.
But Joash was one year old and the sister of the wife of Jehoidia stole him and his nurse away and he was raised in the temple for six years.
Jehoidia
When Joash was 7, Jehoidia showed his strength and a rebellion against Athaliah occurred and she was killed. Joash was made king and all the years that Jehoidia was alive Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.
The good news was Jehoidia lived 130 years.
The bad news was once Jehoidia died, Joash listened to the advice of officials and abandoned the temple and worship at the Asherah poles and idols resumed.
Jehoidia’s son was Zechariah…not the one who wrote the book; that’s Zachariah and he lived during the Babylonian exile. Not the Zechariah we’ll see in a couple generations. You’ll see why in a second.
Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood before the people and said, “This is what God says: Why do you disobey the Lord’s commands and keep yourselves from prospering? You have abandoned the Lord, and now he has abandoned you!” 2 Chronicles 24:20
And Joash didn’t like that, so he had him stoned.
And Joash’s officials didn’t like that, so they killed him. They set him up, they’re going to take him down.
Amaziah
Then Amaziah (Joash’s son and Uzziah’s dad), became King and killed the officials who killed his father and didn’t kill their children and when he stopped seeking God - other people killed him.
Four kings from David’s line were killed. Three of them happened within the reach of the lifetime of the daughter of Jezebel.
And that brings us to Uzziah. He reigned from 767-740 BC… He died 260 years before the Greek Classical Period.
Did you catch that?
Today, Canada is 156 years old and the US is 247 years old. Uzziah started to reign almost 300 years before Athens defeated Persia at the Battle of Salamis. This was before Socrates and Aristotle and everything we considered classical. That’s how ancient these stories are.
Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother was Jecoliah from Jerusalem. He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, just as his father, Amaziah, had done. Uzziah sought God during the days of Zechariah, who taught him to fear God. And as long as the king sought guidance from the Lord, God gave him success. 2 Chronicles 26:3-5
Joash (Uzziah’s grandfather) had Jehoidia.
Joash did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight throughout the lifetime of Jehoiada the priest. 2 Chronicles 24:2
Uzziah had Zechariah.
Uzziah sought God during the days of Zechariah, who taught him to fear God. And as long as the king sought guidance from the Lord, God gave him success. 2 Chronicles 26:5
They sought God…and maybe it was to impress someone they were impressed with.
You can’t seek God to impress anyone.
That can’t be your motive. “I don’t do that?”
How many husbands come to church because of their wives? How many kids go through the motions because of their parents? What I’m trying to say is motives matter and God has no grandchildren.
Yes, the believing spouse can sanctify the unbelieving spouse (1 Corinthians 7:14-16). And yes, parents are told to bring up their children in the way the should go.
By saying that motives matter I’m not giving an invitation for the unbelieving spouse to remain unbelieving. And it’s not an invitation for kids to go through the motions.
Motives matters is a challenge and invitation to have a real empowering relationship with the creator of the universe. Understand He is seeking for you to seek Him and find Him and seek Him and live.
I can’t judge your motives but today we’re going to learn that motives matter. We give account to God for our actions and lack of action. We will give account for every idle word we speak. We can only stand in front of God because of His grace that empowers us to do what we can’t do with His grace.
Uzziah didn’t realize that.
As long a Zechariah was alive he sought the Lord and God gave him success.
He re-subjugated the Philistines. He built towers. He built cisterns. He had a well trained army. He had machines of war. Uzziah died 380 years before Alexander the Great was born. He had machines of war that could shoot arrows and hurl large stones.
It was amazing.
But as he became powerful, it led to pride and a haughty spirit led to his downfall.
He thought he was all that, and entered the temple of God to do things only priests could do. And they tried to stop him, but he got angry and swung the censor around. And as he was swinging the priests saw leprosy break out on him.
And until he died he had to live in isolation. And he was buried in a field, not with his ancestors. And the last words on his life were “He had leprosy.”
As long a Zechariah was alive Uzziah sought the Lord and God gave him success.
Throughout the lifetime of Jehoiada the priest, Joash did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight.
Do you think these two kings sought God for the right reason?
Or were they trying to impress someone they were impressed with? Or impress someone they thought they had to satisfy?
We get benefits when we seek the Lord.
17 Reasons to Seek The Lord
- You will more fully understand justice. Proverbs 28:5
- You will find wisdom and discernment. Proverbs 2:3-6
- You don’t need to worry about everything everyone worries about. Matthew 6:31-33
- You will do what’s right. Zephaniah 2:3
- You will repent of what you do wrong. Isaiah 55:6-7
- You will be rewarded. Hebrews 11:6
- You will be delivered from your fears. Psalm 34:4
- You will be strengthened. 2 Chronicles 16:9
- You will be provided. Matthew 7:7-11
- You will be filled with joy. 1 Chronicles 16:10, Psalm 119:2
- You will be filled with hope. Lamentation 3:21-25
- You will live! Amos 5:4
- You will never be alone. Psalm 9:10
- You will lack no good thing. Psalm 34:10
- You will be satisfied. Psalm 63:1-5
- You will be led to righteousness. Hosea 10:12
- You will find God. 1 Chronicles 28; Deuteronomy 4:29; Acts 17:27
These are great reasons to seek the Lord but while we get rewards for seeking Him—and we should expect the rewards—we don’t seek Him because of the rewards.
What are we to seek the Lord for?
That’s a great question. I’ve found
7 things in scripture that we are to seek the Lord for
1. His Kingdom and His Righteousness
Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Matthew 13:44-46 “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!
2. His Salvation and Eternal Life
Acts 17:27 His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us.
3. His will to be done
Daniel 9:2-3 During the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, learned from reading the word of the Lord, as revealed to Jeremiah the prophet, that Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years. Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
4. His Wisdom and understanding
Proverbs 2:3-5 Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding. Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures. Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord, and you will gain knowledge of God.
5. His Guidance and Direction
Proverbs 3:6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
6. His Strength and His Presence
Psalm 105:4 Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!
7. His Peace (Deliverance from Fears)
Psalm 34:4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
Psalm 56:3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
But ultimately what are we seeking?
When we seek His Kingdom and His Righteousness, His salvation and and Eternal life, His will to be done, His wisdom and understanding, His Guidance and direction His strength, and His peace - what are we seeking?
It’s a metaphor that’s common in scripture.
We are seeking His face
His Face is understood to represent His Intimate Presence
Psalm 105:4 Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always
Psalm 27:8 My heart said, “Seek His face.” Your face, O LORD, I will seek
Psalm 27:4 One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.
You were created to walk with God in the garden in the cool of the day. One day you’ll be with him in paradise. Today you are meant to seek His face always, you’re meant to seek him and find him when you seek him with all of your heart, and you’re meant to seek him and live!
Uzziah couldn’t go before the Lord. He couldn’t do what only priests were allowed to do. That was on that side of the cross. Today, you and I can come boldly before the throne of grace.
How do we do that? We seek the Lord when no one is watching.
How do we seek the Lord when no one is watching?
That’s another great question. And I have tool to remind you of tools we’ve already have at our disposal.
Seek Him and Live! Tool
LIVE
L - Let Him be Lord
I - Ignite AWE with your whole heart
V - Value His Presence
E - Examine your motives
L - Let Him be Lord
LORDSHIP
L - Let him direct your steps
O - Obey what he says
R - Repent whenever He tells you
D - Do good
S - Serve and worship Him with your whole heart and willing mind
H - Humbly walk with God
I - Intake the very word of God
P - Pray to God always and never give up
In my heart have I set apart Christ as Lord?
I - Ignite AWE with your whole heart
15 minutes a day for child-like wonder
A - Agree to stay curious
Decision
W - Work what works for you
Action
E - Enjoy what’s simple and intentional
Emotion
Will I make space for Awe?
V - VALUE His Presence
Moses valued His presence and said, “If Your presence does not go with us, don’t make us go up from here. How will it be known that I and Your people have found favour in Your sight unless You go with us?”
You and I need to value His presence in our lives.
V - Verify God is always with you Psalm 47:1-3
Practice His presence
A - Agree to treat hardship as discipline Hebrews 12:7
Don’t give God credit for the works of the one who comes to steal, kill and destroy. Know he’s working all things out for the good.
L - Learn to Lament Habakkuk 3:17-18
Lay out the problem - you can’t ignore it - but exchange your problem for His peace.
U - Understand that miracles happen in the moment Romans 12:1
It’s your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—that you place before God as an offering.
E - Enjoy times of intentional and spontaneous worship Psalm 27:4
When we value his presence worship bubbles up.
Do I value His presence?
E - Examine your motives
Am I seeking God with the right motive tool
Am I seeking God to impress someone I’m impressed with? 2 Chronicles 24:2
Am I seeking the presence of the Blesser or do I simply want the blessing? Amos 5:4
Am I going through the motions or am I seeking Him with my whole heart? Isaiah 58:3-6
If you are not seeking the Lord always and with your whole heart you need to confess that and repent.
Hosea 10:12 Sow with a view to righteousness, Reap in accordance with kindness; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord Until He comes to rain righteousness on you.
Challenge
Will you seek His face always?
Will you seek Him and find Him?
Will you seek Him and live?
LIVE
L - Let Him be Lord
I - Ignite AWE with your whole heart
V - Value His Presence
E - Examine your motives