And
ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your
captivity.
Jeremiah
29:13-14
There’s
a song sung by Hezekiah Walking entitled “99 and ½”… The lyrics go as
follows, “Lord I'm running trying to make 100 because 99 and a half won't
do…” The words sung in this song apply to our lives as Christians in that
we must be totally under the authority of the living God… There are so many
people who have been praying and seeking answers from the Lord; however the
prayers have gone unanswered and the things that have been sought haven’t been
found simply because their search didn’t involve all of their heart… We must
come to the realization that we exist because Jesus sought our deliverance with
His whole heart… So many of us are wondering why we can’t overcome, why we
are in the same circumstances or why we have not advanced and the answer lies
within you… You will never be promoted if you only show up to work once a
week, you will never be trusted if you only tell the truth every blue moon and
you will not be exalted by the Lord if you only serve Him Sunday mornings… Have
you ever found yourself wondering why it seem that there are times in your life
when God is not there? The Israelites pondered this very question while they
were in captivity under the Babylonian kingdom… Jeremiah informs us today of
the answer as to why we find ourselves in “hopeless” situations and feel
as if our prayers have fallen on deaf ears… We feel at times as if God is
not present not because He has abandoned us but because we have gone astray…
The answer to the question of bondage, captivity and trials lie within you… The
Lord is always present; however, the only way for you to feel His presences is
when you are totally focused on His will… This passage says, “And ye shall
seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart…” God
shines light on the strongholds that we have been oppressed by in the form of
sin… We haven’t heard from the Lord because we haven’t sought Him
wholeheartedly… You can unlock the door to your future; however, you must seek
the keys with everything you have… Seeking the Lord isn’t enough, in order
to find Him you must apply and surrender every part of you… Notice that is
says and ye shall seek me and find me when… A lot o f us have
sought God in times of trouble, we have sought God when our finances seemed
inadequate and we have sought God when storms come raging at our doorstep… We,
(just like the Israelites) have turned to the Lord as our last hope instead of
focusing on Him and His will everyday of our lives… Seeking God isn’t
limited to a need basis; one of the other reasons that we are unable to find
God in our times of despair is because we don’t give Him honor when He has
shown up and/or delivered us from the hand of the enemy… The Israelites are
in captivity right now simply because they neglected God in all the blessings
that He had already bestowed upon them… You should be seeking God in times of
abundance and in times of scarcity, you should be focused on God in times of
exaltation and when you are down… David said, “His praise shall continually
be in my mouth…” We have to learn to seek God regardless of what is going
on… The next step in seeking Him requires that we leave all our prayers at His
throne… So often we seek God about things, but then begin to develop our own
plan of attack or strategy to come out… This approach not only will create a
bigger obstacle, but removes the seeking portion of your faith and damages your
relationship with the Lord… God is waiting for you to turn to Him, He is
waiting for you to have enough faith to stop trying things on your own and
trust Him and His sovereignty… It is only in your struggles that your faith is
shown; it is only when the weight of the storm is pressed upon you that you can
see where you are as a true child of God… When things get a little hot and
heavy, when things get a little dicey, when situations become a little uneasy,
this is the time when God sees what you are made of and how much you truly
trust Him… He says that “I will be found of you…” God will show up, you
will find the answer you have searched for, but you must seek Him continually…
Not only will God show up, not only will He hear your cry, not only will He be
found when you have completely turned to Him, but the passage states at the end
of the 14th scripture that, “I will turn away your captivity…”
God isn’t a God of incompletion… He will not do a half-service to your request…
We must understand that, because He will not accept a half-service from us… Seek
God (wholeheartedly, trust God, turn your life over to God) and He will show up
and deliver on His promises…
BE BLESSED!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment