Seeking God (Part 4 of 4)

Why Should We Seek God?

Remember Hebrews 11:6? “…He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” What are those rewards? In Psalm 63, David says “So I have looked for You…to see Your power and Your glory.” (v. 2) and “because Your lovingkindness is better than life…” (v. 3). Hosea says, “…break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD, till He comes and rains righteousness on you” (10:12). Amos encourages us to “seek the LORD and live…” (5:6). For a believer, our life depends on it.

Satisfaction—In Psalm 63:5, David summed it all up by saying, “My soul shall be satisfied…” The shepherd-king said the same thing in Psalm 23, “…I shall not want.” Rev. Chappell shares a story to illustrate what it’s like to be satisfied with God:

“That was a rather queer and ugly creature that a mother hen hatched along with her brood of normal and respectable chicks. The egg from which it came had been found on the side of a rugged mountain. He seemingly did his best to satisfy himself with the tame, unexciting life of the barnyard. But somehow it did not work. His crooked beak was out of place there, and his great wings seemed utterly useless. So the poor, awkward thing looked on his drab world with lackluster eyes. He did not fit in and was very evidently not at home.

“But one day he heard a wild scream above him. He looked up, and his eyes kindled. He saw a great bird like himself, an eagle. Then he realized what he had been thirsting for all the while. Therefore he spread his burnished brown wings and was away to the freedom of his larger world. He was made for the cloudland and for the crags of the mountains. Therefore he could not be satisfied in the barn yard. No more can we be satisfied with less than God. This is true whether we ever recognize it or not.”

We were
made for the
cloudland
and for the
crags of the
mountains.

Everything We Need—In Yeshua’s Sermon on the Mount, He told us, “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’…But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 6:31, 33). As Christians, we tend to get our seeking priorities out of order. We put our careers and material needs first, thinking we are responsible for them, and then, if we have time, we seek God. Yeshua is saying if we seek Him first, He will provide all we need. He wants us to seek Him for which career we should choose, where He wants us to live, or where He wants us to go to school. If we do, He is sure to take care of all our needs.

How Much of God Do We Want?

Rebecca Brown challenges readers with some hard questions: “How much of God do you want? Do you want just enough to be sure that you will get to heaven when you die, but not enough to inconvenience you or make you uncomfortable?...just how much are you willing for your relationship with God to interfere with your personal private life, goals and dreams? Are you willing for God to do things in your life that you do not want?”

Desiring more of God has a cost. Are we thirsty enough to pay the price? Sadly, Rebecca Brown remarks that “it is the fear of this cost that stops many from progressing.” As Christians, we must be willing to say, as Yeshua did in the Scriptures, “…I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me” (John 5:30b).

God Seeks Us

A relationship like the one that David sought begins with God. It is God who invites us: “…Seek My face…” (Ps. 27:8a). The Scriptures teach us that God is a diligent seeker. Like a loving shepherd, He is not concerned with numbers but will leave the flock to find the one lost and desperate sheep. As it says in the book of Ezekiel: “I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick…” (34:16a).

 

If our hearts lack David’s passion or if we lack the discipline it takes to “progress,” all we have to do is ask God for mercy to help us. His desire is for us. He wants a deeper relationship with us more than we do. This is the same promise that God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah: “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (29:13).

By Charleeda Sprinkle

Assistant Editor

All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

© 2010
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Bibliography
Brown, Rebecca, and Daniel Yoder. Standing on the Rock: The Powers of God’s Covenants. Clinton, AR: Harvest Warriors
Publishing, 2002.
Chappell, Clovis G. Sermons from the Psalms, 1931. http://www.abcog.org/psa042.htm.
Kolatch, Alfred. The Jewish Book of Why. NYC: Jonathan David Publishers, Inc., 1995.
Murray, Andrew. The Believer’s New Covenant. Bethany House Publishers, 1984.
Steinberg, Milton. Basic Judaism. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Co, 1975.