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1 Chronicles 16:11 - Seek The Lord, His Presence And Strength Continually.

1 Chronicles 16:11; Seek The Lord, His Presence And Strength 
Continually. 

1 Chr 16:11 (NRSV)  Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his 
presence continually. 

1 Chr 16:11 (CWR)  Seek the Lord and His strength; look to Him 
continually. 

CONTEXT

The Levites Lead the Worship in Jerusalem
The service of the Levites before the ark  (16:4-43)
Psalm of Thanksgiving
David's Psalm of Thanksgiving
David's Song of Thanks  (16:8-36)
David's Song of Praise
David Worships  (15:1-16:43)

CROSS REFERENCES

Psa 105:4 (KJV)  Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face 
evermore. 

Zeph. 2:3 (KJV)  Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, 
which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it 
may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger. 

Isa 30:15 (NIV)  This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One 
of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in 
quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. 

Psalm 67:1 (KJV)  God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and 
cause his face to shine upon us; Selah. 

Deu 6:5 (KJV)  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all 
thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 

Prov 3:5, 6 (KJV)  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and 
lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge 
him, and he shall direct thy paths. 

Heb 12:2 (KJV)  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of 
our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the 
cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the 
throne of God. 

1 Thes. 5:17  Pray without ceasing.

Psa 46:10 (KJV)  Be still, and know that I am God: I will be 
exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. 

Isa 26:3 (KJV)  Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind 
is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. 

Jer 29:13 (KJV)  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye 
shall search for me with all your heart. 

Amos 5:6 (KJV)  Seek the Lord, and ye shall live; lest he break 
out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be 
none to quench it in Bethel. 

COMMENTARY / APPLICATION

Overview
As king of Israel, David established a new capital (11:1-9). 
Notable are David's ability to inspire loyalty (v. 10-12:40), to 
reawaken faith (13:1-14; 15:1-29), to make Israel secure (14:1-17), and 
to lead God's people in worship of the LORD (16:1-43). [The 365-Day 
Devotional Commentary] 

This psalm is a compilation from the Book of Psalms (1 Chr 
16:8-22 from Ps 105:1-15; 1 Chr 16:23-33 from the entirety of Ps 96; 1 
Chr 16:34-36 from Ps 106:1,47-48), forming a new thanksgiving psalm. 
[Disciple SB] 

We have here the thanksgiving psalm which David, by the Spirit, 
composed, and delivered to the chief musician, to be sung upon occasion of 
the public entry the ark made into the tent prepared for it. Some 
think he appointed this hymn to be daily used in the temple service, 
as duly as the day came; whatever other psalms they sung, they must 
not omit this. David had penned many psalms before this, some in the 
time of his trouble by Saul. This was composed before, but was now 
first delivered into the hand of Asaph, for the use of the church. It 
is gathered out of several psalms (from the beginning to v. 23 is 
taken from , etc.; and then v. 23 to v. 34 is the whole 
96th psalm, with little variation; v. 34 is taken from  
and divers others; and then the last two verses are taken from the 
close of Ps. 106), which some think warrants us to do likewise, and 
make up hymns out of David's psalms, a part of one and a part of 
another put together so as may be most proper to express and excite the 
devotion of Christians. (Matthew Henry's Commentary) 

"He blessed the people in the name of the LORD" 1 Chron. 
16:1-43. One of David's most important contributions to the life of 
Israel was his renewed emphasis on worship. This theme, developed 
later, is introduced here with the celebration held when the ark 
entered Jerusalem, and the psalm of thanks David wrote and gave to Asaph 
for use in public services. 
As in all true worship, David's psalm celebrates the LORD, and 
honors Him for His many marvelous qualities. 
If you or I ever feel uncertain about how to come to God in 
prayer, meditation on this or another of David's worship psalms can tune 
our hearts to sing God's praise. [The 365-Day Devotional 
Commentary] 

To seek the Lord is to be the constant, continual activity of 
life, bringing the seeker ever nearer to the perfection of heaven. 
[SDA Commentary] 

Prayer is communicating with the only perfect Being there is. 
[In His Time; Walk With Wisdom]  

As activity increases, and men become successful in doing any 
work for God, there is danger of trusting to human plans and methods. 
There is a tendency to pray less, and to have less faith.  Like the 
disciples, we are in danger of losing sight of our dependence on God, and 
seeking to make a saviour of our activity. We need to look constantly to 
Jesus, realizing that it is His power which does the work. While we are 
to labor earnestly for the salvation of the lost, we must also take 
time for meditation, for prayer, and for the study of the word of 
God. Only the work accomplished with much prayer, and sanctified by 
the merit of Christ, will in the end prove to have been efficient 
for good. 
No other life was ever so crowded with labor and responsibility 
as was that of Jesus; yet how often He was found in prayer. How 
constant was His communion with God. Again and again in the history of 
His earthly life are found records such as these: "Rising up a great 
while before day, He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and 
there prayed." "Great multitudes came together to hear, and to be 
healed by Him of their infirmities. And He withdrew Himself into the 
wilderness, and prayed." "And it came to pass in those days that He went out 
into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." 
[2 Mark 1:35; Luke 5:15, 16; 6:12.] 
In a life wholly devoted to the good of others, the Saviour 
found it necessary to withdraw from the thoroughfares of travel and 
from the throng that followed Him day after day. He must turn aside 
from a life of ceaseless activity and contact with human needs, to 
seek retirement and unbroken communion with His Father. As one with 
us, a sharer in our needs and weaknesses, He was wholly dependent 
upon God, and in the secret place of prayer He sought divine 
strength, that He might go forth braced for duty and trial. DA362,3 

As we make Christ our daily companion we shall feel that the 
powers of an unseen world are all around us; and by looking unto Jesus 
we shall become assimilated to His image. By beholding we become 
changed. The character is softened, refined, and ennobled for the 
heavenly kingdom. The sure result of our intercourse and fellowship with 
our Lord will be to increase piety, purity, and fervor. There will 
be a growing intelligence in prayer. We are receiving a divine 
education, and this is illustrated in a life of diligence and zeal.   
The soul that turns to God for its help, its support, its power, 
by daily, earnest prayer, will have noble aspirations, clear 
perceptions of truth and duty, lofty purposes of action, and a continual 
hungering and thirsting after righteousness. By maintaining a connection 
with God, we shall be enabled to diffuse to others, through our 
association with them, the light, the peace, the serenity, that rule in our 
hearts. The strength acquired in prayer to God, united with persevering 
effort in training the mind in thoughtfulness and care-taking, prepares 
one for daily duties and keeps the spirit in peace under all 
circumstances.   
Religion must begin with emptying and purifying the heart, and 
must be nurtured by daily prayer.  {AG 290} 

Jesus went apart to cure his loneliness.  He needed the silence 
of eternity as a thirsting man in the desert needs water.  And he 
essentially needed the silence of eternity which was interpreted by love.  
For he who was love incarnate had his own needs to love and be 
loved.  His deepest need, and likewise ours, could be met only by God.  
Ultimately no human being, no matter how close or dear, can fully satisfy 
our need for love.  Those who imagine they can end up devouring one 
another. 
Jesus longed for time apart to bask and sunbathe in his Father's 
love, to soak in it and repose in it.  No matter how drained he felt, 
it seems that this deep, silent communion refreshed him more than a 
good night's sleep... 
Human love and friendship indeed enrich our lives and partly 
meet this need - but not entirely, for at the core of our being [is] 
...a lovelonging for God which will only be met by converting our 
loneliness into deep solitude, by fleeing the sweets and cordials that may 
give temporary satisfaction, and finding the real thing in Him. 
Margaret Magdalen [Time with God SB] 

Although it is intensely personal, there is nothing 
self-centered about genuine worship. If believers are to maintain a consistent 
life-style of continuous worship, they need the fellowship and 
encouragement of other believers as they assemble for group worship. 
Individual worship and corporate worship feed each other. So on the one 
hand, I need the fellowship of the saints. On the other hand, the 
community of saints needs me to live a consistent life of worship. 
The source of most of the problems people have in their 
Christian lives relates to two things: either they are not worshiping six 
days a week with their life, or they are not worshiping one day a 
week with the assembly of the saints. We need both. 
If you go to church only when it is convenient, you will never 
be victorious and productive as a Christian. You can't succeed on 
your own; you need to have the spiritual stimulation of fellow 
believers. We live in such an easycome, easy-go, casual, flippant society 
that people don't make consistent, faithful commitments, and then 
they wonder why they fail. The answer is clear. Spiritual success 
requires commitment to others.... 
A pastor went to see a man who didn't attend church very 
faithfully.. The man was sitting before a fire, watching the warm glow of the 
coals. It was a cold winter day, but the coals were red hot, and the 
fire was warm. The pastor pleaded with the man to be more faithful in 
meeting with the people of God, but the man didn't seem to be getting 
the message. 
So the pastor took the tongs beside the fireplace, pulled open 
the screen, and reached in and began to separate all the coals. When 
none of the coals was touching the others, he stood and watched in 
silence. In a matter of moments, they were all cold. "That's what's 
happening in your life," he told the man. "As soon as you isolate yourself 
from God's people, the fire goes out." The man got the message. 
The church is not the brick-and-mortar building in which the 
assembly meets; it is God's people in whom He dwells. In the church - 
among God's people, the true worshipers - we must bring a worshiping 
heart to stimulate others while being stimulated to love and good 
works. As that stimulation affects our souls we do good and share. The 
cycle is complete when we live out the overflow of praise and a 
continual heart of thanksgiving. Then worship is a way of life. For that 
we were redeemed. (From The Ultimate Priority by John MacArthur, 
Jr.) [Inspirational SB] 

As a people and as individuals our success depends, not on 
numbers, on standing, nor on intellectual attainments, but on walking and 
working with Christ.  {HP 328.4}