May 17, 2022 – Reflections on “Seek the Lord!”
“Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near;
let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” Isaiah 55:6-7.
The word, Seek, takes me back to playing ‘Hide and Go Seek’. One thing I learned from Mom is that God never takes His Eyes off us. He loves us very much. There is no Hide and Seek with God.
We are visible to Him from so many places. The lofty mountains, His might in ocean tides, His Light dawns with the sunrise each morning, the rain clouds, and the sound of thunder describes God’s voice. The refreshing drink of water reminds us of how His Word refreshes not just our body, but our spirit as well.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:33-34.
The first song I learned to sing gives the answer to Who our Lord God is. He is Love, From childhood, I sang this ‘Jesus Loves Me’. I sang it again in my quavering 88-year-old voice to my husband while he suffered from dementia. That is when I realized how great His Love is to die on the cross to give me a pathway to Him.
Four years later, I continue to seek, and continue to find His Great Love giving me the Joy of Living, not being anxious about tomorrow but content to be His.
Yesterday, I learned there are six million cone cells to function in daylight and seeing color plus 125 million rod cells to detect light in the eyeball. How intricate the eyeball is that helps us see each day. Our God is amazing. And then I read, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” Isaiah 55:8-9.
Why would we want to seek the Lord? First answer is from Psalm 139:14, I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
Take a deep breath as you read this verse. Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. Genesis 2:7. Did you enjoy the deep breath of God’s air? Now you realize where the gift of breath comes from and you know the value of seeking and finding an understanding of how much God loves each one of us. The moment a baby draws its first breath, he is enjoying the life-blessing of God. And before birth? For You formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. Ecclesiastes 3:11.
God has given us the free gift of salvation. Any gift given, needs to be unwrapped and treasured. This is the gift – “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because He has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. John 3:16-18.
The question is – do we believe? It is By Faith; we are made whole in God. Chapter 11 of Hebrews is the roll call of who continues to teach us to live ‘by Faith!’, beginning with Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Moses, too, for by faith he left Egypt with the Children of Israel and led them across the dry bed of the Red Sea to escape Egyptian slavery.
God had a plan to save the family of Jacob from famine, by Joseph being taken captive and taken away. And then there is Raham, the prostitute, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jepthah, King David, and Samuel and the prophets. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised. Hebrews 11:39.
We go through many phases of life from birth. When we begin searching and finding ourselves preparing for life through education, we go through phases. When we begin to search for what we are to do, God begins to teach us how to wait for him and listen. Is this sitting in a recliner and watching television? No, it is reading His Word and learning. If you will fear the Lord and serve Him and obey His voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reign over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well. I Samuel 12:14.
God created us with a yearning for eternity and a longing to be His. The world entices us through our eyes, our hearing, and ability to use our brain to forget the Creator, we belong to.
The Holy Spirit teaches us. The Word teaches us. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
Where does this love begin within us? Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Colossians 3:20.
And being made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 5:9-10.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. I John 5:1-2.