Seeking God: The Privilege and The Responsibility
Today, my devotional quiet time centered on one of the most profound tasks in the spiritual life: seeking God. The scripture that framed this discussion speaks clearly to both the promise and the requirement of this search.
The Clear Promise: Jeremiah 29:12-13
Our focus today comes from Jeremiah 29, specifically verses 12 and 13:
“Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
This passage highlights an indescribable privilege: to find God. Yet, many people never seem to reach the end of that search. Does God play "hide and seek"? The words of Jeremiah suggest the opposite. The finding is contingent on the seeking.
If we look for Him wholeheartedly, we are assured that we will find Him.
The True Nature of Seeking
To seek God wholeheartedly means focusing our entire being, our soul, our inmost part, on this endeavor. Since God is Spirit, He cannot be found physically or grasped with our limited human understanding (our "fleshly brain"). The search must happen in the spirit.
When we focus our entire being on Him, our seeking is guaranteed to end in finding Him.
However, the opposite is also true:
If we search and never find Him, the devotional pointed out a difficult truth: we alone are to blame.
The Danger of Self-Willed Religion
The search that never yields finding often falls into a category described as self-willed religion. This is when a person finds satisfaction merely in the act of "the search," apart from God's revealed will.
It is looking for God all on your own and in your own way.
It operates from an unbroken and unwilling heart that refuses to submit to God's word, commands, and the way He has provided for us to find Him.
God is available to everyone who seeks Him in earnest. He is not in hiding.
God is Not Hiding; He is Revealing
It's tempting to think God is holding back, but as the prophet Isaiah reminds us, "Surely the Lord’s ear is not too dull to hear, nor his arm too short to save." (Isaiah 59:1 - paraphrased)
God is not a secret God. In fact, He came looking for us:
In His Son's crib and life.
At the cross of Golgotha, in His Son's death.
If we haven't found the God who was actively looking for us, it is because we were not seeking Him in earnest or we failed to recognize the means He provided for our finding Him.
Where God is Found: Acts 17:24-25
The Apostle Paul spoke clearly about God's nature in Acts 17:
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.”
Why would a God who is so perfect, whole, and without need, who sacrifices His one and only Son to give us life, breath, and everything else, hide from us? He wouldn't. He has given us the greatest possible means of finding Him through His Son.
The Result of Finding Him
Jeremiah 29:14 offers the powerful conclusion to this earnest seeking:
“I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity..."
When we seek and find God in His Son's life and death, He brings us back from spiritual captivity and into His kingdom of light.
It is our responsibility, our very important task, to seek Him with all our heart. It is God's grace that allows us to find Him and be wrapped in His love.
A Short Prayer:
Father God, thank You for being so giving and so loving. Thank You for giving me life, breath, and everything else. You are the perfect Lord of heaven and earth, and You need nothing from my physical life. Thank You for revealing through Your Word and Spirit the way that I can seek and find You. Thank You that You first found me and wrapped me in Your grace. In Jesus' name, Amen.