Seek the Lord

Lately, the Lord has been teaching me what it means to seek Him. In Proverbs, we are taught to seek wisdom. Where can that be found? Proverbs 1:7 (NKJV) says: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Therefore, seeking the Lord is wisdom in action.

Sometimes, however, things can get in the way of our ability to seek the Lord. Even as a committed believer, it is easy to let things slip into our lives that may not completely keep us from seeking the Lord, but may hinder that action and keep us from serving and glorifying Him as well as we could. The thing that causes this can be a sin , but it can also be something that’s not necessarily sinful at it’s core: a person in your life, a habit you’ve developed, a mindset that you just can’t let go of, or a circumstance. Whatever the case, it can be easy to have thoughts like: It’s just my personality. I don’t see any way out of this circumstance, so I have no choice. This person hasn’t really done anything ‘wrong’ so God wouldn’t want me to hurt them by limiting their part in my life or putting them out of my life, etc. As a chronic worrier and over-thinker, I personally know that the list goes on and on! But God wants us to glorify Him so that others will want to come to know Him. And if this is part of His purpose for creating us, He wouldn’t design us in such a way that we couldn’t completely fulfill that purpose or make us stay in circumstances that hinder us as we try to fulfill that purpose. We don’t have to put up with these things. I believe this is part of what Paul meant in Hebrews 12:1-2:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

When we realize that we can do this, our thoughts are uncluttered and our vision is cleared so that we are able to search God’s Word deeply, rather than just grasping the surface meaning. We find buried treasures of true spiritual knowledge and wisdom that are worth more than any kind of riches. The Bible comes alive, our spiritual journey and purpose come alive, and so do we! Proverbs 2:1-6 (HCSB) echoes this:

“My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, listening closely to wisdom and directing your heart to understanding; furthermore, if you call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.”

When I would read or hear about the people Jesus healed during His earthly ministry, I used to think that I couldn’t relate to them. I had never had a supernatural healing of any kind (not that I don’t believe that is possible), so I assumed that those stories didn’t apply to me. Well, God likes to show us His truths in unexpected places! I have recently come to realize that, when Jesus healed those people, His purpose wasn’t just to relieve the person’s suffering(although I’m sure He was glad to). His purpose, as with us, was to glorify Himself so that others would want to have a relationship with Him. The diseases, spiritual afflictions, and sins that Jesus healed people from were things that were hindering them from seeking and glorifying Him to their full potential.

Now, I’m not saying that God wants to get rid of every negative thing in our lives because anything negative dampens His glory. Not at all. There are quadriplegics who glorify the Lord better than if they could walk and use their arms. There are people who have come through a long and serious struggle with a particular sin and, therefore, have a story that brings others closer to the Lord than the story they would have had if they had not struggled with that sin. God’s goal is not to take every difficult thing out of our lives. Instead, He wants to encourage us to take the mold that He created us in and the circumstances He put us in, both of which are unique to each of us, and use them to seek and glorify Him as fully as we can.