Itching for Intimacy?

POSTED Friday, September 7, 2007: In a quiet time this week I came across this verse from 1 Chronicles 16:11 "Seek the Lord and His strength, seek His face continually". The Hebrew word for the first application of the word seek used is "daresh" (dah-raash) (Strongs 1875). It means to resort to, frequent, seek with application.

I have to admit, I have a very bizarre way of remembering things. All I could visualize was a little old Italian guy (think Sopranos) sitting on a park bench with his buddies, with a bad case of poison ivy, and he's scratching and complaining in his best New York accent, "Da rash, da rash!" Have you ever had a rash, or a bug bite, that continually screams for your attention? You know how day and night you're fighting the urge to scratch it, and when you do... ahhh, the relief! One definition of itch is "to have a persistent, restless craving."

So maybe God, in His sense of humor, is using this wonderful Hebrew word to relay that same kind of 24/7 attention -- only directed towards building an intimate relationship with Him. He wants us to seek His face continually -- with the same kind of non-stop, can't get it out of my mind intensity and fervor. But not only to seek Him, but to seek Him with application. Not to just let His words tickle our ears and make us feel good, but to apply it in our lives in that same 24/7 way.

Today may you have a persistent, restless craving to seek God's face and strength.

Daresh!