We are told to seek God, but we’re also told that no one seeks after God. What’s the point?

IT’S WORTH CONSIDERING

God Initiates

Throughout the Bible we find exhortations to seek God. Jesus said, “Seek and you will find.” Proverbs 8:17 says, “I love those who love me, and those who diligently seek me will find me.” Although it speaks directly of wisdom, it speaks also to our relationship with the author of wisdom. Psalm 119:2 says, “How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, who seek Him with all their heart.”

These and all the similar verses are easy to understand. God wants us to seek Him above all else. The first and greatest command is that we love Him completely. It seems logical that we can’t love him without seeking Him. Then along comes a passage that throws us for a loop, complicating the whole thing:

 There is none righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God (Rom. 3:10-11).

What are we supposed to do with that? This really complicates things. We can’t love God if we don’t seek Him, and according to these verses, no one seeks Him. Why would God keep asking us to do something He knows we aren’t going to do? How can we ever please Him? How can we ever love Him?

AS I SEE IT

Most of us have heard the adage, If you want something done right, you’ve got to do it yourself. Well, I think God’s answer to our dilemma is the spiritual version of this adage. An Old Testament example is found in Zechariah 12:10:

And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and supplication, so that they will look on Me who they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son…

 In this case, Jesus’ own people had failed to recognize Him as their promised Messiah, so He would take matters into His own hands, causing them to recognize Him as the fulfillment of all the messianic prophecies. We find God doing the same thing in regard to our failure to seek God or Jesus:

No one can come to me (Jesus) unless the Father who sent me draws him (John 6:44).

Once again, God takes the initiative. He takes steps to draw us to Him. He does whatever it takes for us to look to Him and to seek Him. When our love fails, His love prevails. He desires our love more than we realize, and He will orchestrate a situation that will not only cause us to seek Him, but He will also reveal Himself in a very special way so that He becomes our Jehovah-Jireh, our Jehovah-Shalom, our Jehovah-Shammah, or whatever attribute of His character we need most. He becomes ours, not just a concept, but a very real, up close and personal loving Father who has proven Himself to be exactly what we needed in a time of trial.

The point is that God is pursuing a love relationship with us, a real and personal relationship. He came to Adam and Eve in the garden. He came to Noah, Abraham, Moses and the prophets. He came to Saul. Jesus came to the twelve. They didn’t choose Him. He chose them, and He is taking the initiative with us. He desires our love. The question of His love for us was settled on the cross. It was His love for us that sent Jesus there. We need no further proof.

He deserves our love. He’s not obsessed with the conflict in the Middle East. He’s not so concerned about climate change that He has no time for us. We are His central focus. The God of the universe desires a love relationship with us. He has taken the initiative. Now is the time for us to respond.

If you want to become a child of God and to respond to His love for you through Jesus Christ, click here.

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