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Seeking God and the Five "W's"

In journalism, the “Five 'W's” help journalists address fundamental questions that should be answered in a story for the benefit of the reader or viewer.  These “Five W’s” are “Who,” “What,” “When,” “Where,” and “Why.”.    

I was recently reading in John 4 about the type of worshippers that God seeks (v23).  While the type of worshippers is a topic for another day, a question came to mind:  if God is seeking worshippers, should worshippers also be seeking God?  To try to answer that, I applied the five “W’s to the phrases “seek the Lord” and “seek Him”:


“That the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name,” says the Lord, who does these things.  (Acts 15:17)

The “who” seems to be both us (mankind) and God (the One we should seek).

 

“Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.” (Dan 9:3)

The “what” seems to be that we turn our face (our focus) toward the one we should seek (God).  We also seek what we need from Him (mercy), we seek it with an appropriate posture (humble pleading accompanied by fasting) and we do it using an appropriate process (prayer).

 

“Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!”  (Isa 55:6)

The “when” seems to be that we should seek the Lord continually!

 

“But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.”  (Deut 4:29)

The “where” seems to be from wherever we are in life and from there we seek Him.

 

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”  (Heb 11:6)

The “why” seems to be that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

 

Perhaps these five “W’s” of seeking the Lord are best modeled by David who was known as a man after God’s heart.  He wrote the following:  “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.”  (Ps 27:4) 

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