Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - TO SEEK

TO SEEK

One of the universal characteristics of humans is that we are always seeking after something. Many people seek power, prestige, or presence. Some seek knowledge, education, position; others wealth, influence, riches or some combination of the above. Still others seek to enhance talents of some sort or other - singing, music, woodworking, sports or some other activity in which they excel. Whatever it may be, we all seek something, and we are willing to spend years training to obtain that which we have been seeking.

However, it may well be that the most important aspect of life we don’t seek nearly as often as we should because “…There is none who seeks after God” (Romans 3:11). Why is it that we will spend so much energy in seeking that which seems to satisfy our earthly needs but very little when it comes to the eternal? It seems that God spends time in seeking us rather than the other way around. Even in Genesis, God was there in the garden trying to seek out Adam.

“And they head the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God…Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?’”

(Genesis 3:8-9)

Even back in Genesis, God was doing the seeking and this was emphasized even further when Jesus said: “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). If God is doing all the seeking, does that mean we should just sit back and wait for Him to find us?

No; not at all. The problem lies in the fact that: “…Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;” (1Corinthians 1:22) and “they did not seek it by faith, but, as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone” (Romans 9:32). As a result “…I [God] was found by those who did not seek Me…” (Romans 10:20).

Those who seek God by signs or by wisdom will never find Him or be found by Him. For as it says: “…without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). See, we are told to: “Seek me [the Lord] and live” (Amos 5:4) and to “…seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” (Matthew 6:33). Most of the time, however, people merely “…seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:21).

So if God is seeking us and we should be seeking Him, how come it seems that we so infrequently meet each other? Is it because we spend too much time seeking signs and wisdom rather than just having faith? Or is it because we tend to hide, as did Adam, whenever we think God might be approaching? As God has said: “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20).

In Deuteronomy 4, the Lord warned the Hebrew people about idolatry and acting corruptly and doing evil “[f]or the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God”(4:24). But He also said that even in an idolatrous nation if “…you will seek the Lord your God...you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and all your soul” (4:29).

God is seeking us, and at the same time we should also be seeking Him by faith. If we are truly doing that then we will find Him, outside the door, waiting for us to open it for Him.  it is something that more of us should really think about doing.