Articles
Seek And Find Me
“And you shall seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).
Judah had been in captivity for seventy years. God wants them to have peace and hope. God had not forgotten them. He had plans for a bright future. This should have encouraged them, even though now they were in most undesirable circumstances. But the rod of God’s chastisement was for their ultimate welfare. If they would turn to Him with their whole heart, He would listen to them.
I am impressed that, even though God punished Judah for their idolatry and disobedience, He had not forgotten them. That fact is, God has never forgotten His people. Even though His people had forsaken Him, God never left them.
There is good news for us. No matter how far we turn from God, He always has a way back for us. Isaiah said, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isa. 55:6-7).
Both Jeremiah and Isaiah say, “Seek the Lord.” God is merciful, and will forgive, but we must seek Him. He will not force Himself upon us. If we seek, He will be found. If we go looking for God, we can find Him.
God can be found if man will turn from his wicked ways. God will not have fellowship with man while he pursues wickedness and unrighteousness. But if man will forsake his wickedness and unrighteousness and return to the Lord, God will have mercy and abundantly pardon.
We are the ones who left Him. He did not leave us, so we need to return to the Lord. If we return to Him, that is, repent, He will have mercy. Despite having forsaken Him, if we return to Him, He will be merciful to us. God is different than man. We can forsake one another and say we have forgiven, but we may not be very merciful. We say we will forgive, but we continue to harbor a grudge. Not God. God will forgive abundantly. When God forgives, He sends the offense as far as the east is from the west. He sends it out to the depths of the sea. He does not keep it in the shallows to call up again when it is convenient.
Seek Him with all your heart reminds us of “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind”. God wants man’s heart. He will get the “do” when man gives Him his heart. “For it is God who works in man both to will and do for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). God has always wanted man’s heart. Judah had given her heart to idols. God will not share us with idols. He wants our whole heart.
God has always provided a way back to Him, but we must seek Him with all our heart. He is abundantly merciful to forgive.
Rickie Jenkins
