SEEKING GOD: AWAKENING DESIRE

Introduction

Over the past several days I have felt that God has been wanting to teach me something—and has already begun to teach me something—about the principle of seeking Him. I share a portion of it now in the hopes that if it spoke to me, it may speak to you as well... and draw you closer to Him...

Personal Questions for Reflection: Do you seek... God's face... or His hand? His presence or His presents? His will or your own?

How to Seek God

We know we are to seek God... but how are we to seek God? In Jeremiah29:13, God says, “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” And in chapter 119:2, the psalmist confesses, “Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are they who keep His testimonies, and who seek, inquire for and of Him and crave Him with the whole heart” (Amplified). How are we to seek God? We are to seek God with our whole heart. What does that mean? To me it means that we must have an undivided or pure heart (See Ps 86:11, Eze 11:19; Ps 24:3-4, 51:10,Pr 20:9). You see, what we set our hearts upon, reveals what our treasures really are (Mt 6:21). Can we set our hearts both on our own sinful desires and on God? No—the two are fundamentally opposed. Either our sinful desires will crowd God out of our life, or our devotion to God will cleanse and purify our hearts, removing from them our sinful desires. Therefore, the most powerful seeker is the one who seeks with their whole heart, because they will devote all their energy toward one pursuit, instead of dividing their energy among many pursuits. Yes, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Mt 5:8).

What Does it Mean to Seek?

What does it mean to seek God? What does it mean to seek anything? Does it not mean that we have a desire for something that motivates us into action? To seek is to put forth effort in the pursuit of something that we deem worthy. Therefore, there is no such thing as passive seeking. How are we to seek? ...diligently, earnestly, with our whole heart! The more important something is to us, the more willing we will be to lay aside other, less worthy desires, as we press forward in pursuit of that one goal. Consider athletes, who train themselves for competition. They don't have the luxury of much leisure or of eating whatever they might desire. Their desire to succeed in their chosen field is greater than their desire for the momentary pleasures that could keep them from their goal. You may say that you are seeking God, but the question is this: How badly do you want to find Him? How much is God worth to you? Is He worth giving up all else in order to seek and to find Him?

        Consider Paul's thoughts on this matter (Php3:7-14): “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Prayer: Lord, please awaken in me a greater desire to know You. Amen!