”10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
Jeremiah 29:10-13New International Version (NIV)
K ate Middleton was just 19-years-old in 2001 when she first met Prince William. They were both students at St. Andrews University. Unfortunately, the pressures of the media and a long distance relationship caused them to split up in 2007. However, they decided to get back together later in the same year. Prince William eventually proposed in 2010 and in 2011, millions all across the world watched their wedding ceremony on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.
Are you seeking to restore the lost “spark” in your relationship with God? Are you in a bad situation or circumstance that seems not to be coming to an end?
If you answered yes to either of the questions above, then you are the one I want to encourage. The Bible tells me that the Israelites – God’s own – were in this exact position. They were captives in a foreign land. And God revealed how they could find Him.
How to Seek and Find God
The Bible records that if you seek Him with your “whole heart”, you will find Him. In this case, seeking God means (1) seeking His presence, (2) seeking fellowship and intimacy with Him, (3) seeking His thoughts and His ways of doing things, and (4) seeking His guidance for your life.
But does this mean that we are left to ourselves to seek the Lord? Does it mean that our action of seeking Him is what makes Him to be found? Or simply, does it mean that God only acts after our seeking?
No! The condition was that they seek the Lord with their whole heart; then God would be found by them. Meaning, they had been seeking Him with partial hearts. Yet God would have given them the grace to return to Him ‘with whole hearts’ (Jeremiah 24:7), for it is God who works in us – our hearts (Philippians 2:12-13 and 1 Corinthians 15:10). Thus, your seeking has to involve the heart. Otherwise, it will be in vain.
God was also reminding them that although they were not where they expected, He had not forgotten them. Even in the midst of their difficult situation, His good plan for them will stand.
Today, in the midst of your difficult situation, God wants you to know that He has a plan and purpose. He also wants you to know that as we submit to his plan, He will fulfill that which concerns you and use you to bless the world around you.
Today, God is waiting to hear from you with His arms wide open to receive you when you seek Him. He wants to have fellowship with you and fulfill His plans concerning your life. And He is just a prayer away!
Will you seek Him on today? Who is better to seek and find than our God? There is none! He promises that you will find Him.
Prayer
Father, I come to You today. I really do want to find You, and have a deep intimate relationship with You. Help me discipline myself to devote the time to get to know You. Help me to hear You. And as I seek You in this way, with all my heart, I pray that You would reveal more and more of Yourself to me. In Jesus Name I pray; Amen.
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