Seek and you shall find. Really? What an offer!

Seek and you shall find! When Jesus stated these five incredible words in his famous Sermon on the Mount, he offered us a promise filled with power that was brimming with history and meaning.

To discover the depth of his promise, let’s start with history, and go back four thousand years to hear Moses address his people who had just been freed from slavery.  He said, “If you will seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and all your soul” (Dt4:29).  

Then a thousand years later, King David quoted Moses’ words.  At that time, David was in the middle of a lot of trouble, so he used Moses words to remind himself and the people around him to seek the Lord by saying, God said, “Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, Lord, do I seek’” (Ps 27:8).

Later, when David’s Kingdom was at its peak, and everything was going well, David declared again, “Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing” (Ps 34:10).

I’ll bet these words were part of David’s ongoing vocabulary.  We see it again and again in the Psalms as David implored his people to “Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!” (Ps 105:4).  

Do you feel the urgency and resolve in these words!!?  No wonder King Solomon gave God’s name message in the book of Proverbs, “I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me” (Pro 8:17).

Unfortunately, despite all this encouragement to seek God, people forgot.  They became distracted with the busyness of life, strayed from God and stopped seeking him.  The result was that Israel was conquered by the Assyrian Empire.  

So God sent another prophet, Jeremiah, who warned the people of Jerusalem for 20 years to seek God and put God first in their lives. But the people did not listen and Jerusalem was conquered and destroyed by the Babylonian Empire.  Through all of this, God never stopped loving his people.  Even after the Israelites were carted off to Babylon, God called out to them saying, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

Now, listen to this! When Moses, David, Solomon, Jeremiah and Jesus all say the same thing – Seek God with all your heart – yes, we should probably pay attention.  So here it is. . . The secret to having God’s power and peace in our lives is so very clear, and so simple.  When we seek God, we will find him.

Seek God’s will. Discover what God wants for you. Learn about God. Read his Book.  Talk with him  Rest in him. Live life with Jesus always in your heart and mind, in the words you use, in the decisions you make and in how you interact with others.  Pay attention with an engaged mind. Seek God and find his peace. Seek God and discover his power. Seek God and find new purpose, depth and meaning in your life.

What do you seek after? Could there be anything, or anyone more worth seeking than God?