“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Seeking the face of God is an intriguing concept. Why are we called to seek His face? 

In simple terms, seeking God’s face is a call for us to get close enough to Him that we recognize Him intimately in every aspect of our lives. 

Henry Blackaby in his book Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God, shares four avenues through which God reveals himself to us through the Holy Spirit: The Bible, Prayer, Circumstances and the Church. We can find examples of the church experiencing God through these avenues throughout the book of Acts.

But, there is this one passage of scripture about the face of God that is puzzling. It is the story of Moses asking God to show him His glory in Exodus 33.

“Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

So many passages in scripture tell us to seek the face of God. But here, God tells Moses, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Why seek his face if we are going to die? Perhaps that is exactly what we need. The closer we get to God and the more intimate our relationship becomes with Him, the more our old self dies and the more Christ-like we become. We die to our old self and become a new creature. Romans 6:3-7