May 10, 2022 | Seek
I think it’s rather ironic that we, people who were created to be in fellowship with the one true God, work so hard to abandon Him. We’ll go out of our way and wait an hour in line for a seat at a new restaurant, but we’ll find any excuse we can to miss church. Examples like this show us that our priorities have become out of touch with rational behavior. Instead of seeking God, we attempt to hide from Him.
God made it clear to us in Proverbs 8:17, “I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.” To those who take the time to look for God He promises not to hide Himself. He longs for His children to come to Him in faith and He will not forsake those who seek for Him in return.
This world and its enticements have become a roadblock for many. Instead of seeking God with all our mind, body, soul, and strength, we find it much, much easier to seek out worldly solutions by which we might maintain more control. Though the world let’s us down continually, we persist on picking the road that we perceive requires less effort.
God gives us righteous advice when he says, “Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His presence continually!” (1 Chronicles 16:11). He says this not to inflate His own ego but because He is the source of truth we ultimately seek. While we look for truth in every worldly corner, it stands ready for our reception in the person of Christ. His promise is clear, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).
Jesus said in Matthew 7:7-8, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and the one who knocks it will be opened.” This is a promise, but there is a requirement, faith.
When things don’t happen the way we would have liked them to happen, we think that God isn’t listening to us. When our greatest wishes aren’t granted, we think He doesn’t care. Is it because he’s aloof? Does He like to see us suffer? Or is there something greater in mind. Only faith will show us.
Sometimes when we think God isn’t listening, He is working still. He doesn’t focus so much on our current condition as He does on the bigger picture. In the moment we seek Him out to heal our suffering or overcome a hardship, but He looks to how that suffering and hardship will help us to become something greater in His eyes.
That’s not to say that He ignores our momentary afflictions, it is to say that sometimes we grow in righteous ways through those afflictions, and no one knows that better than God. Sometimes the thorn in the skin can teach us valuable lessons about ourselves and about our relationship with the Savior.
We still reach out to Him in our suffering and he often provides us the relief we seek. But, whether we get immediate relief or not, he asks us to continue seeking after Him at all times. Isaiah says in 55:6-7, “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”
We are to “..seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). These things include everlasting life where trouble and sorrow are no more. These things are anything that can strengthen our faith and relationship with our Creator. These things are the things that encourage and prepare us for better things to come. When we seek God with all our mind, soul, body and strength, we can expect the greatest things in return.
God hears every prayer and he stands in the open to anyone who seeks after Him. He won’t force Himself upon you but neither will He hide from you if you truly search for Him. Let your faith always rest in God and seek Him where He might be found because, “without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6)
Our God is a God of relationship and he created us so that He might be in fellowship with us. Because of this He longs for you to seek him. Let faith show you where He might be found. Please pray with me:
Heavenly Father, help us to seek after you in both good times and bad and give us the patience to know that you hear every prayer and consider every request. Amen.
