You Will Again Find the LORD

Review my choice of words in the title above. Be aware that it is you that will find the LORD again, and not that He again finds you. If you read my previous study of the word “abandon” you will see that the LORD does not nor will not abandon us. He is there always waiting on us to turn back to Him. And when we do, He is right there ready to pick us up.

“³⁰When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice. ³¹For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.” – Deuteronomy 4:30-31 (ESV)

The LORD will not leave or destroy us even though we turn away from Him. He gave us free will and He knew that we would act and do the way we act and do. He waits patiently for our return to Him. And, when we turn back to Him, He is there with open arms to receive us and love us and comfort us and protect us.

“²⁸And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. ²⁹But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.” – Deuteronomy 4:28-29 (ESV)

We will distance ourselves from the LORD and will worship other gods. We will be servants of those gods and will allow them to bring us into despair. And just when things are at their worst. At our tribulation, we will realize the err in our way and we will seek the LORD and we will find Him there waiting for us. We will search for Him with fervor and with conviction.

I again come to the point of who does the searching, we. It is not the LORD searching to find us, as He never abandoned us. It is we who are doing the seeking. It is we who are again turning to the LORD. It is we who are again finding the LORD.

What are you worshiping? Are you hoping for rescue? What if you realize the err in your worship and turn again to seek and find the LORD, knowing that He never did nor never will abandon you?

We Witness and Experience the Promise of God

God promised to send a savior. And He did. We walked with Him and experienced Him and witnessed Him in this world and not just the promise of Him.

Okay, so you and I did not walk with, experience, and witness Jesus when He came into this world as our savior. But, for just over 30 years He was here in this physical world and our ancestors did. God made a declaration and promise that He would provide and send a savior for the world and He did just that. We have the accounts of Jesus and we have the results of His life and He indeed come that we would be saved.

“36Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

“32This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.” – Acts 2:36 & 32 (ESV)

Peter is reminding us that Jesus was promised to us and He came to walk among us and provide for our salvation from this world. Jesus was the savior promised and He demonstrated the love of God for all the world to see. David new of and spoke of His coming and rejoiced. Peter and the disciples walked daily with Him and continued His work. We know of His coming and walking and can/should speak of the gift of salvation He brought and is available for all.

“25For David says concerning him,

‘”I saw the Lord always before me,

for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;”’”

— Acts 2:25 (ESV)

You see, I may not have me Jesus personally, but I have witnessed Him daily. I have seen His love and compassion and grace and mercy in my life and yours. I know, as David did, that He walks with me wherever I go. He is with me now as I study and write. Jesus is my salvation and I have witness to and experience His glory.

What is your experience with Jesus? Are you aware of His walking with you daily? What if you realized that you do indeed witness and experience His love, compassion, grace, mercy, and glory all the days of your life?

Wait Out the Wicked

Waiting does not seem to be very productive as pertains to getting on with things. Shouldn’t we be taking action to move forward. Shouldn’t we keep on going and not just sit and wait. Well yes, but we should be doing so with purpose of glorifying the LORD and not just taking action to move on. Our action for the LORD is waiting, and our waiting is allowing the LORD to work.

“³⁴Wait for the Lord and keep his way,

and he will exalt you to inherit the land;

you will look on when the wicked are cut off.”

— Psalm 37:34 (ESV)

Our waiting is not just to wait out the wicked, but to wait on the LORD to act on our behalf. He will not allow is children to harmed to the point of eternal damnation. We have been adopted into the family of God and He will ensure that we join Him in glory when the time is right.

“³²The wicked watches for the righteous

and seeks to put him to death.

³³The Lord will not abandon him to his power

or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial.”

— Psalm 37:32-33 (ESV)

The wicked are watching and waiting for us to falter. The wicked are going to pounce when it sees that we are vulnerable to manipulation. The wicked are opportunists. We have to be ready to wait them out for the wicked where they are patient, they are not as patient as the LORD. Once the die is cut and there is loss on their side, the wicked will move on having been cut off by the LORD (see verse 34 above).

You see, the LORD waits for us and does not abandon us in our time of need. It may seem like He is not there when we need Him, but the truth is that He carries us through the challenge and protects us from the wicked. We only have to remain faithful to Him and He will deliver us.

“⁵I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” – John 15:5 (ESV)

We are to wait out the wicked as we are waiting on the LORD. Yes, the wicked has patience and is looking for the opportunity to attack, but the LORD is more and infinitely patient as He waits on us. He protects us and cares for us and loves us more that we can imagine. When we are in the LORD, we will be prosperous in Him and will inherit glory.

What is your patience level? Do you give in when things are not going the way you feel they should and allow the wicked to take hold? What if you were to live knowing that the LORD is infinitely more patient and will win out, all you have to do is continue to wait on Him, wait out the wicked, and inherit glory as the LORD carries you forward?

We May Abandon God, He Does Not Abandon Us

We may feel abandoned by God at times. We turn away from Him and He allows difficulty and challenges and evil to find us. Maybe not at first as we are oblivious to the challenges in our haste to experience all there is in what we are pursuing.

“¹¹And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. ¹²And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. ¹³They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth.” – Judges 2:11-13 (ESV)

We may find happiness in our turning away and lack of discipline. But, we will ultimately find that the happiness in the world goes away and we will be faced with those challenges.

“¹⁴So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. ¹⁵Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.” – Judges 2:14-15 (ESV)

In the above passage, titled “Israel’s Unfaithfulness” in my ESV Bible, the people turned away from God. They were reveling to other gods than the LORD. They were bowing down to them as their god. This did not sit well with the LORD. First off, He had delivered them from Egypt. Secondly, He had given them the Ten Commandments which specifically listed worshiping other gods before Him a big no no. But, we do not listen and insist on doing things on our own and without the LORD.

“³You shall have no other gods before me. ⁴You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁵You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,” – Exodus 20:3-5 (ESV)

And even though we will abandon our LORD and Savior, He will not abandon us. He is right there with us through it all. He stands beside us and He watches and waits for us to return to Him. He even sends us those who will rescue us from our challenges, if we will let them.

“¹⁶Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.” – Judges 2:16 (ESV)

Even as the LORD allowed for the people to be plundered and experience “terrible distress”, He brought forth those who could and would deliver them out of the challenges. He demonstrated His love for them, even as they turned from Him.

What a great testimony for you and me. God, even when we abandon Him, stays with us through it all. He loves us more than we can imagine and wants nothing but the best for us. He wants commune with us. He wants us to join Him in heaven. He protects us even from ourselves. We may abandon Him, but the LORD does not abandon us.

How are you getting along with the LORD? Are you abandoning Him as you chase something in the world and feel as though He has abandoned you? What if you were to open your heart and eyes to the LORD and realize that it is you who did the abandoning and the LORD is right there waiting for you to return to Him as He protects you?