(By Rachel Joyce)
From ancient times God has proclaimed, “It is time to seek the Lord” (Hosea 10:12). Over and over, God sent prophets to His people to direct their hearts to Him. Moses told the Israelites, “Seek the LORD your God and you will find Him, if you search after Him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deu 4:29). When David’s kingdom was established, he sang a song of thankfulness to God and commanded the people, “Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His presence continually!” (1 Ch 16:11). Years later, Isaiah warned the people not to delay in going after their God, “Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near” (Isa 55:6). The prophet Amos declared that pursuing God was the way of life (Amo 5:4). Hosea, Zephaniah, Joel, Zechariah, and all the prophets sought to help the people of God desire Him above all things and follow after Him.
In the New Testament, Matthew records others who sought God, “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him’” (Mat 2:1-2). They sought Him because they wanted to worship Him. They traveled an incredible distance to find Him because they valued Him. Do we?
Our Lord Jesus told us to “seek first” His kingdom because we treasure what we seek. What do we treasure? What do we seek? A. W. Tozer said that what we think about in our free time shows who we really are and what we value. We think about what we value. We seek after what/who is important to us. That shapes us. God gives us the choice, but says, “Seek Me” because He knows that He alone has what will meet all our needs and satisfy us completely.
I believe that the promise in Deuteronomy 4:29 is a “seeking” that we need to live out day by day. “If...you will seek the Lord your God, then you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and soul...for God is compassionate. The LORD your God won't fail you.” The definition of this word seek in the original is “to search out (by any method, specifically in worship or prayer), strive after” (Strong’s Concordance). In the New Testament, as well, the word “seek” in the original has the concept of worship in its definition. So ultimately, what we seek after, we worship. Intrinsic to seeking God is worshipping Him.
At times, God reveals our hearts to us and we realize how little we love Him and seek Him, but I believe that we have often gotten it all backward. We lament that our love is feeble and focus on our lack, but fail to see that He wants us to lose ourselves—our sense of inadequacy, our littleness—in the all-surpassing greatness of His love for us. The more we revel in the “enoughness” of His love, the more our inadequacies will fade away and we will be so caught up in His greatness and worthiness, that we can see is Him. And isn’t that the essence of seeking Him? Lord, help us to be so overwhelmed by Your great love and the beauty of who You are that all we see is You.
“You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, LORD, do I seek'” (Psa 27:8).
