Seek God’s Face, Not God’s Hand

      Senator Ted Cruz is a Christian Republican who is running for the Presidency of the United States in the current election. His father, Rafael Cruz, told the story of how Ted decided to join the Presidential race:

My son Ted and his family spent six months in prayer seeking God's will for this decision. [...] It was a Sunday. We were all at his church, First Baptist Church in Houston, including his senior staff. After the church service, we all gathered at the pastor's office. We were on our knees for two hours seeking God's will. At the end of that time, a word came through his wife, Heidi. And the word came, just saying, "Seek God's face, not God's hand." And I'll tell you, it was as if there was a cloud of the Holy Spirit filling that place. Some of us were weeping, and Ted just looked up and said, "Lord, here am I, use me. I surrender to you, whatever you want." And he felt that was a green light to move forward.

      The sentence that Heidi Cruz gave, which they believe to be divinely inspired, is the subject of this post. Before I continue, however, I want to clarify that what I’m going to say is by no means meant to explain what Ted Cruz received from the Lord. I do not know what this sentence means to Ted personally and how it spoke to him. Instead, I will use this post to share what it means to me personally.

      What does “God’s hand” refer to? It refers to His works, His miracles, and His personal workings in the world (“The hand of God”). What is “God’s face”? I believe it is His person, His character. It’s Who He is.

      Seek not for God’s miracles. They should not be our primary focus. Instead, seek His person. Learning more about the character of our Heavenly Father should be our focus. Don’t seek primarily for what God does; seek for Who He is. There are times when God will not give us miracles, but we know that His faithfulness endures.

      This was the problem for many of Jesus’ “followers,” the crowds that gathered around Him everywhere He went. While some of them genuinely wanted to learn from Christ and be His disciples, the majority of the people followed Him mainly because of the great miracles He can perform. They sought for the miraculous signs as proof that Jesus was the Christ. They went after Him because He could give them bread. They wanted to see Him overthrow the oppressive Roman government. The Messiah’s power would be able to give them physical freedom, glory, and wealth as the nation of Israel. Jesus, however, wanted to point out to them that the supernatural manifestation of His Divine power will never satisfy, as man will keep asking for more miracles, and that what they really needed was to know Christ as a person.

      In John 14, Jesus was teaching His disciples, and He said, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”

      Philip requested, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”

      I have a feeling that Philip was asking for an explicit sign or revelation. But Jesus replied by asking how Philip could not see the Father in Christ Himself after being with Him all this time. The very revelation Philip asked for was standing before him. Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

      From what I can draw from this passage, Christ was telling His disciples that they do not need a sign to understand His Divinity. If they had known His person well, with the contribution of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 16:16), they would have comprehended Who He was.

      Does this mean, however, that we should not pay attention to God’s works? Definitely not! Jesus also said that if the people will not believe Him, they should at least believe His works. The miracles of Christ also testify to Who He is and to the authority with which He carried out His ministry.

      The sentence “Seek God’s face, not God’s hand” means something to me because it is what I need to remind myself many times. Especially during this period of time in my life when I’m seeking God’s direction in my life, I often find myself seeking for a sign. Most of my prayers are basically saying, “Show me something, Lord.” Although there is nothing wrong with asking God to give me a sign, something needs fixing if that is my main focus. I need to remind myself that the surest answer I can have comes from knowing God intimately. Signs can be questioned and doubted later, but the reassurance that we have from knowing the character of God is lasting. As the saying goes: Don’t search for the miracle; search for the Miracle-Worker.

      It is natural and human to desire explicit signs and expressions, but we need to constantly remind ourselves not to be like the multitudes who depend on miracles, but to remember that it is much more important to seek the face of God and to understand His character. Also, God often do not give us the miracles we ask for because He wants us to learn to trust Him. Our faith should not be in the works, but in the Person. That is what will get us through in the path of life.

Blessings,

Nathanael Chong