Seeking God
In the Bible, there are many verses about seeking God. Seek is an action word which means: to search, go after, discover, ask for, obtain, or go to. Keep that in mind as I share some verses.
Isaiah 55:6 says seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
Deuteronomy 4:29 says But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.
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 (Hebrews 11:6).
All of these verses mention seeking God. To seek God, you must first have the desire, I'd even go the extra step and say burning desire. Maybe that's where you are right now. You don't have a desire, or your desire isn't big enough, because if it truly was, you'd already be seeking Him. Now once you have the desire, you will pursue God, or whatever it is you want. All of you have felt this desire before. It is what compels you to seek something. That something could be for a pair of shoes, a person, food, education, a job, or something else. We've all done what we had to do to get that thing we wanted.
Think of one thing you wanted so badly, and what you did to get it. I've heard many stories about people standing in line for hours to get the newest IPhone; think about all the Black Friday stories you hear! It doesn't even have to be to that extreme. We can take it down a notch. What about food? My husband has gone to the grocery store in the middle of the night after watching a video on YouTube, just so that he could eat the dish he was watching. I've gone to 4-5 stores to get an item that I wanted. We're more than willing to go out of our way if we really want it; however, if you don't desire it, you will not seek it. You won't every see me searching high or low for radishes, but you will find me making stops for ice cream or chocolate. I may even become crabby if I don't get any.
Why can't we be this way when we seek God. What will we do to get a hold of Him? What will we sacrifice? How much time and energy will be devote? To what length will we go to be in the presence of almighty God? I believe the answer to that question will determine how much you desire God. What can we cut out of lives or sacrifice so that we can have time to find God? Can we give up an hour of Facebook, or wake up 30 minutes earlier? Can we turn off the TV or give up a hobby? Isn't God more important than all of that? God will not force you to seek Him. It is not for His benefit that we get to know Him. He is the God of the Universe, He doesn't need anything from us. We need God more than we will ever know or understand. With that being said, let's set everything else aside, and seek Him.
Let us pray.
Father God,
Forgive us. Forgive us for wanting everything else, but you. Forgive us for putting things above you, and in Your place. You ought to have priority in our lives, but we get so distracted by our emotions and merely stuff. We have so many things competing for our attention and love, but in all this, it is You who loved us first. Help us. Lord, if we don't have the desire, I pray that you will give us the desire, a burning desire. We will not pursue anything that we don't want. We need your help Lord. You are so patient with us and long suffering while we jump from thing to thing. And I believe Lord, that many of us do have the desire, but it's a displaced desire that we try to fill with other things. Help the readers to understand that the void or emptiness longs to be filled by You, our loving Father. May this message speak to all of us and in this season, I pray that we will seek you with our whole strength, heart, mind and soul. Your Word above says that you will be found by those who seek you. We thank you Father and give you praise. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Prayerfully,
Pam
