I know that I have written on the seeking of the LORD and finding Him. Well this morning I have been brought back to that once again. We are to truly seek Him and we will find Him.
“7Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” – Matthew 7:7-8 (ESV)
The title of this passage in my ESV Bible is, “Ask, and It Will Be Given”. Where the passage is about asking for and receiving, I am looking to the first two verses that point to seeking and finding. When we seek we are earnest in our action. We are not just looking or searching, we are on a mission to find. When that is the case in our interactions with the LORD, He will provide.
I was going to add the word “truly” before “seek” in the title, but then I remembered something I had heard recently. When we add an adverb to an action, we tend to seem desperate and unsure. We are calling attention to something that should not need attention brought to it as it should stand on its own. Seek for example means: “to try to find, obtain, or achieve something, usually through purposeful effort or formal request” according to my quick search in Google. The “purposeful effort or formal request” give us what we need to know about seeking. The verb creates its own intention. There is no need for the adverb to escalate. So seeking stands on its own as purposeful and formal.
Seeking the LORD is purposeful and formal. It is not something that we do casually in an attempt to show something to others. We seek deeply and when we do, as Jesus notes in the passage, we will find. When we seek the LORD, we will find Him as He is looking for and waiting for us. David has given the same charge to Solomon to seek the LORD and be found by Him.
“9And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.” – 1 Chronicles 28:9 (ESV)
And see the charge of David, our actions are to be “with a whole heart and with a willing mind”. Not just on the surface and for optics of those around us, but with purpose and formally. We are to “seek” the LORD and He will be found by us.
What does your finding of the LORD look like? Are you casually looking for Him to do big things for you? What if you were to seek Him, with purpose and formally, knowing that He will be found by you?
