Seek and Find

“Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near”.  Isaiah 55:6

What do people seek for?  I am not talking about seeking for your car keys, glasses, or remote control.  I am talking about seeking for that which people do not have.  Many times they seek in the wrong places which may bring that for which they searched diligently, but may be only a temporary fulfilment to their desire.  To lose an item of value causes a person to search high and low until the item is found.  In Luke 15:8-9 we have the account of the woman who lost one of her ten pieces of silver.  She lit a candle, swept her house, and sought diligently until she found it at which time she called her neighbors to rejoice with her.  I remember a few years ago when I lost my wedding ring and searched diligently for it.  I found it six months later when I wasn’t even looking for it.  I was overjoyed to find it.  The ring wasn’t just a band of gold, it represented a commitment that my husband and I had made to one another many years ago.

What can be more valuable than a right relationship with our Creator?  Isaiah tells us to search diligently for the Lord while He may be found and to call upon Him while He is near.  This implies that the Lord won’t always be where He can be found or where He can hear when called upon.  In Genesis 6:3, “the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man…”  It is very unwise for a man or woman to presume that he or she can seek the Lord and call upon Him at some future date.  II Corinthians 6:26 states: “…behold, now is the day of salvation”.  Why do folks want to put off following the Lord when He provides the best life that one can live?  I suppose some have the mistaken idea that they can live as they please and then before they die, they will “straighten up and fly right”.  But how can anyone know that the opportunity to repent and believe will be available to them in the future?  Jesus made it clear in John 6:44 that no one can come to Him unless God the Father, who sent Jesus, draws him or her.  God draws or invites people to come to Christ through the Holy Spirit.  He tugs upon a person’s heart and shows him or her the need to repent and follow Christ.  I am of the belief that God sends the Holy Spirit at least one time to every individual because God is longsuffering and not willing that anyone should perish (II Peter 3:9).  I also know that many folks get more than one opportunity because I did.  But that is not a given.

We are now living in the age of God’s grace, but, it won’t be the age of grace forever.  One day, God will remove His grace and replace it with wrath and judgment.  Therefore, we are urged to seek the Lord now.  In Matthew 7:7-8, Jesus makes us a promise: “Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.  For everyone that asks receives; he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks, it shall be opened”.  God’s grace is available to us when we turn from our sinful ways and cast ourselves upon God’s mercy.  There is no question about our guilt, but Jesus has already paid the price for our acquittal.  I wish I could describe to you how it feels to be completely forgiven and justified in the sight of God, but that is something that each one has to experience for himself or herself.