The Reward of Seeking God
“You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV)
Do you seek after God? God is not elusive to those who seek Him with all their hearts. God told the prophet, Isaiah, “I would not have told the people of Israel to seek Me if I could not be found.” Isaiah 45:19c (NLT)
The promise is not just for Israel. God desires for us to seek Him and promises to be found by all those who seek Him wholeheartedly. The reward for seekers is in finding what they are looking for. What are you looking for in life? Have you found it? Most of us look in the wrong places and for the wrong things to satisfy the longing of our hearts. We seek success instead of significance, happiness rather than joy, and fortune over eternal treasures, leaving us more desperate than before we started our search. That’s because we were created for a deep connection with our Creator – a soul connection. Only when we find the God who created us do we experience peace.
In his own Confessions, St. Augustine declared, “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.”
It’s not like God is playing “Hide-and-go-seek” with us. He wants us to find Him. In fact, it was God who initiated the search and rescue mission for us! In the garden, it was man who was hiding, not God. God came in the cool of the day to be with Adam as He usually did, but Adam was hiding. God asked, “Where are you, Adam?” (Genesis 3:9). In the New Testament, Luke tells us that Jesus came to seek and to save those who were lost. (Luke 19:10)
The cross is the intersection where God’s search for man and man’s search for God find one another. At the cross, we find the God who came to seek us. We see the extent of His love for us, and we experience forgiveness of sins and a restored relationship with the One who created us. Our lives find meaning, joy, and purpose with eternal significance. Have you found what you’ve been looking for? When you seek God with all your heart, you’ll discover He took the initiative in seeking you first!
Another important part of your daily devotional is spending time with God in prayer. The Woodlands Church Prayer Board lists prayer requests submitted by our members and provides a way to send them some encouragement by using a button on the page to let them know that you prayed for them. Whether you use the Prayer Board, or pray from your heart, the goal is to build the habit of incorporating prayer into your quiet time.
Need prayer yourself? Let us know by submitting a prayer request on the Woodlands Church Prayer Board.