I’ve recently Just finished reading the book of Jeremiah. If you don’t know Jeremiah he was one of God’s prophets. In the book of Jeremiah one of the verse’s that really stood out for me was from Chapter 29 v 13 where is says:
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
It can seem like such a straight forward verse, but if you start to question the meaning of it, there is so much more to it. If we are truly desiring to know and be close to God, to be in his presence, to understand his will for our lives, I think we need to understand how to find him, would you agree? If so. Lets start with a question:
-Are you seeking him with all your heart???
Again
Are you seeking him with all your heart???
Ok so I think to answer the question we need to understand what seeking with all our heart means. Most of us would understand that if we said someone was ‘putting their heart and soul into something’, that they were doing whatever it was to the best of their ability and with alot or all of their effort. So to seek God with all our heart would mean to put all of our ability and all of our effort into it. The dictionary says sincere effort. So the verse could read:
You will seek me and find me, when you put all of your ability and all of your effort into finding Me.
If we dig more into this question it will possibly make us look at how we do this with our abilities, talents, time, finance etc. Lets look at Time, if we live in today’s world we will probably hear multiple times a day how busy our co-workers are, how busy our friends are. Someone on the TV, social media etc will suggest we do something or buy something to save us time in our busy lives. You may go to church on Sunday and get told something like “I know everyone is busy, But” In short, the world is telling us we’re so busy every where we look. Most of us believe it and say it about ourselves! But what are we busy doing with all our time. If most of us were to sit down and look at where our time is spent we would realise that we fill our time, but do we have to? If to find God we need to put time into it, what do we give up? One or Two hours of TV every night? Facebook Scrolling, Gym, Kids’ after school clubs, work, the list is endless. We can all choose to seek him with all our heart if we choose, but that choice will impact our lives, I’m not saying we should all quit our jobs, sack off the Gym, friends etc and bury our heads in a bible, or become a monk, but it should be thought and prayed about. As we seek God about how and what seeking him looks like for us, all things should be on the table. If knowing him is the most important thing, all things have to be on the table!
I stepped away from the computer to have my breakfast and as I told God that I wanted to find him and asked how I should do that, I believe he said “seek me in the sky and trees, in the grass and flowers. Study your hands, the book you’re reading the food you’re eating. Feel the texture of the first thing within reach or marvel at the coloured pens the kids are using”. I think what God was saying to me was, don’t get too religious or rigid in your thinking. I am in all things and you can seek me in them all! However as with the verse: Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial (1 Cor 6 v 12). If we are unable to seek him in the things we are doing, or they are pulling us away from him then we really need to seriously think about them.
I’m going to wrap up here before I really start rambling, but finally know this. I don’t have all the answers but I am trying to keep my focus on Him more and more and its not always easy if I’m honest. What I do know though is that when I go to him in prayer, when I worship him, when I read the bible or study it with others it is so much easier. Funny that in James 4v8 it says “come near to God and he will come near to you” Who said the bible wasn’t relevant for today, Haha.
Ask the hard questions, its important.
Thanks