13 “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29
A popular cliché pops up among believers this time of year. It is a clever reminder of the passage above. Simply, it states, “Wise men still seek him.” It is true – wise men do and should seek for God with the intent of finding him. And it is true – wise men do and should seek him with all their hearts. But the passage above does not say we must rely on wisdom in our seeking or finding. There is no suggestion of having to lean on intellect or to muster some internal strength to go about seeking God. Jeremiah says to find God we must engage our heart, put it to work, not searching for God, for he is always here, but seeking him and there is a difference.
When a person searches for something or a person or a place, it means that you’ve been separated from whatever it is and you’re not sure where it is. So, you set about searching for it in hopes of finding it. It or they are lost to you and you desperately want to find them. Often, we become frantic while we search, fearing that time may run out and what we’ve lost they may be lost forever.
Seeking is different. Seeking may be defined as a desire to know, obtain or achieve something. It’s desire and achievement fulfilled through commitment and effort. Seeking requires focus and an intention to integrate what we obtain into the fabric of life. God says that those who have a desire to know him and love him will indeed have to use their heart to find him. This is more than just locating God for what ever reason a person may have. Seeking God means that at the heart of your being you desire him, more than anything want to know him and, in some measure, obtain him for your life. This is the kind of seeking that he welcomes and delights in and encourages in us. Seeking God doesn’t mean that he is hiding. It means that he is available in plain sight, but we must want him. He is not there just for observation, he is there for a relationship that begins in our seeking him. Once we do, his overwhelming presence leads, directs and guides our effort. Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Mt.7:7) Everything God has to give us, which is chiefly himself through faith in Jesus, comes by asking, seeking, knocking. Because we seek, he is eager to give to us and we, in turn, learn how to give to others – the greatest gift being to help others seek him. Yes, wise men do still seek him. How wise are you?
