Wednesday, April 24: “Earnestly Seeking Favor”

Psalm 119: 58, 60: “I sought Your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to Your word. I hastened and did not delay to keep Your commandments.”

Modern psychological thought considers the desire to please another or the seeking of favor from another as a mental dysfunction; certainly the earnest seeking of such favor is frowned upon. That’s a humanistic viewpoint. From God’s perspective, the earnest desire to please Him and seek His favor is a sign of spiritual health. Seeking His favor is not the same as seeking a blessing, nor is it to be implied that the Lord never gives sunny days to the unjust. But the same Jesus Who said that God sends rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5: 45) also said to ask, seek, and knock–continually (Matthew 7: 7).