Everyone is seeking something or someone.  As Americans, we are especially oriented to seeking and searching because that process has been woven into the very fabric of our society and culture through the Declaration of Independence.  Our "unalienable" rights are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  The fact that we must pursue happiness is thought provoking.  You have to seek it, follow after it, track and trail it before you find it.  In America everyone gets to define happiness for themselves.  Some people want to be the best at something, to never stop achieving, to press on and on, deeper, higher, further until they feel they have perfected their dream.  In short, to know no limits, set no boundaries and to be unstoppable until they have achieved their definition of happiness.  For those people, they have set their minds and heart on a goal and will not be deterred.   Everything else must take a back seat.  

 

You must seek God the exact same way!  If you want to know God, He cannot be just one of many things on your agenda.   God made it very clear, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me" Exodus 20:3.  This is the passage Jesus was referring to when He said in Matthew 22:37-38 "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment."   God must be your top priority, your only priority.  "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" Matthew 6:33.   This is where many would be seekers fail, let me explain.

 

The Problem With Seeking

 

It is hard to stay focused through all the twists and turns of life.   There are so many things demanded our time and attention, very good and right things like children, work, the house etc. The problem with seeking God is that it is hard work and it is also easy to put it off.  In other words, we get distracted.  The things of this life do distract us.  Colossians 3:1-2 says "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.  Set you affections on things above, not on things on the earth".   God wants first place, top priority!   This is why Jesus said, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and thieves break through and steal.   But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through and steal.  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" Matthew 6:19-21.  Along with the distractions, there are the difficulties.  One way this is illustrated is comparing seeking God to mining for precious metals or jewels.   Proverbs 2:1-5 says "My son, if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments with thee, so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge and liveth up thy voice for understanding;  If thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasure: then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God."   Yes, seeking God is hard work!   Some may ask, why is that?   Shouldn't it be easy to find God?   Let me explain:

 

The Purpose of Seeking God

 

Why isn't everyone as rich as Bill Gates, Warren Buffet or Donald Trump?  The answer is, most people are not willing to work that hard, stay that focused, sacrifice that much.   Certainly God given intelligence or ability is a factor but mostly its just hard relentless work.   If you want the spiritual wealth of knowing God, you will have to put some effort into it, a great deal of effort.   Typically we would think that the spiritual leaders of the church are men who have sought God and found Him.   First Timothy 5:17 says, "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in word and doctrine."  It the willingness to work hard, stay focused, not being deterred that brings the blessings and rewards of finding God.  Hebrews 11:6 says "But without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."   God rewards hard work, unwavering commitment and dogged steadfastness!  You may want to look at these verses, Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1:1-3 and First Timothy 4:15.  Jesus said, "Labor not for the meat that perisheth but for the meat that endureth unto everlasting life.  If we are willing to do that, then we also have:

 

The Pledge To Seekers

 

The search for God is not hit or miss, trial and error or just a lucky or unlucky guess.  Quite the opposite.  The search for God follows a very exact and distinct path.   "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path" Psalms 119:105.   God promises that every person who seeks Him will find Him!   "And ye shall seek Me and find Me when ye shall search for me with all your heart.  And I will be found of you..." Jeremiah 29:13-14.   Nobody seeks God in vain!   "Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.  For everyone that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened" Matthew 7:7-8.   So, a good question might be, where do you start?   You start by reading the word of God, the Bible.  Let me suggest starting in the Gospel of John.   As you read, a good prayer would be, "Lord open Thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law" Psalm 119:18.   Believe that God hears you and wants to reveal Himself unto you!    "And they that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee: for Thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek Thee" Psalm 9:10.   Faith is the key element in our search for God.   "But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him" Hebrews 11:6.   God is nearer than the air you breath!   As the Apostle Paulwas preaching in Athens Greece, on Mars Hill, he had this advice for those listening, "that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him and find Him though He be not far from every one of us." Acts 17:27.   Just reach out, cry out, God is right there!   There is one last thing I would like to share with you on this subject, that is:

 

The Partner in our Search {seeking}

 

God wants you to find Him more than you want to find Him!   God has been waiting for you to look to Him or for Him, to reach out to Him, to cry out to Him!   God is right here right now!   You see, God has been seeking us while we were seeking Him, otherwise, we wouldn't be seeking Him.   God has and can promise that we will find Him because He has already found us.  Do you realize Jesus came to earth seeking you and me?   "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:10.   God was seeking you before you started seeking Him.   A classic illustration of this is in the Gospel of John, chapter four with the woman at the well.  Jesus had stayed behind at the well knowing that she would soon be there.  He engaged her in a spiritual conversation which revealed the hunger in her heart and the thirst in her soul.  She had been to church, she could talk the talk , but she had never found God.   Jesus explained to her why; "God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him" verse 23.   God has had His eyes on you and brought you to this point to reveal Himself to you and fill your soul with joy and gladness!   An example of this is Hagar, Abraham's run away slave.  She was out in the wilderness, ready to die and God came to her her to reveal Himself in all His glory to her so that she returned to Abraham and Sarah.   She discovered this out there in the wilderness, lost, alone, pregnant with no pace to go and no one who cared, and she said, "Thou God seeth me" Genesis 16:13.   She came to understand that God had been watching her all along.   God was seeking her!

 

God knows right where you are too.  He knows what you have been through and He is holding out his hand to you.  Will you trust Him?   Will you take His hand?  Will you surrender your life to the God who makes no mistakes?  Just simply pray, God, be merciful to me a sinner!  Ask Jesus to save you, that's why He died on Calvary's cross.  As God told Israel of old "Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you" Hosea 10:12.   God is saying the same thing to you right now, it is time to seek the Lord.   Call upon His name right now.  ​​​

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• ​ Written by Greg Simpson 

      

    More help to seek God:

     

     Bible Questions Answered | GotQuestions.org

     

     Bible Search and Study Tools - Blue Letter Bible

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     What does it mean to seek God’s face? | GotQuestions.org

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