Seek Him

Isaiah 55:6 Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near.

God came near to us by revealing Himself through Jesus Christ, but in order for this revelation to be effective, there is something we must do. We must look for the Lord. Hebrews 11:6 says that we should "sincerely try to find Him." Through Jeremiah 29:13 God assures us "when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me." It is our sin that has alienated us from God and it is necessary therefore, that we turn from our sin and look for God. (Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have come between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, from hearing.) We should turn from looking anywhere and everywhere else and look for Him. Psalms 32:6 says “… let every godly one pray to You, in a time when You may be found”.

We are told that we should turn to God and look for Him before it is too late (while you can find Him). The most obvious example of this is that we must turn to God before we die. Death ends all opportunity to turn back to God. We must also turn to God before Jesus returns. At His Second Coming Jesus will put an end to grace and do away with all opportunity to turn back to God. Further, we must turn to God before time passes us by. Hebrews 3:7-8 tells us that there are times of opportunity to turn back to God. If we miss them, we may be too late. Isaiah 49:8 “This is what the LORD says: “At just the right time, I will respond to you. On the day of salvation, I will help you. I will protect you and give you to the people as my covenant with them…”

Our key verse tells us we should call to God while He is near. There are times when God comes closer to us than normal. These are times when God reaches out to us and reveals Himself to us with more urgency. Instead of just letting us continue on our way apart from Him, He comes close and calls out to us.   Isaiah 65:1 says there are times when God cries out "Here I am, here I am." When we hear His voice, we should turn to Him, look for Him, and call out to Him.

  
In Amos 5:6 God warns the Israelites “Come back to the Lord and live! Otherwise, He will roar through Israel like a fire, devouring you completely”. He makes it clear that if we will seek the Lord we will live. Amos again exhorts us in 5:14 ‘’Seek good and not evil, that you may live; and so Jehovah, the God of Hosts, shall be with you”. God commands us to look for Him because He wants to be found by us so that he can bless us, protect us, prosper us. It pays to look for the Lord! Speaking through his prophet Isaiah (65:1) He says “I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help. I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’ to a nation that did not call on my name’’. David warned his son Solomon “…If you seek Him, He will be found by you. But if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever (1Chronicles 28:9).

Moses reminded the Israelites in Deuteronomy 4 that they will remain Jehovah’s inheritance and a people of the covenant as long as they seek Him with all their heart and with all their soul, but if they do evil in the sight of their God, and provoke Him to anger, they will soon utterly perish from off the land. History tells us that his worst fears came true.

James 4:8 warns those whose loyalty is divided between God and the world: “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners; and purify your hearts, double-minded ones.’’ 

The author of Hebrews exhorts us (3:7-9) not to harden our hearts when we hear God’s call, like it happened during the Israelites’ sojourn in the desert when the people became so convinced that God couldn’t deliver them that they lost their faith in Him. Those who are with hardened hearts are so stubbornly set in their ways that they are unable seek God. They are the stone-deaf who lose the ability to hear God’s call. This does not happen suddenly or all at once, but it is the result of a series of decisions to disregard God’s will.

God is eager to have men seek Him through their prayers and is disappointed and grieved when he finds no one to pray. In Ezekiel 22:30 He says ““I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn’t have to destroy the land, but I found no one.” And again Isaiah 59:16 says “He saw that there was no one, He  was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so His own arm achieved salvation for Him, and his own righteousness sustained Him.” In spite of this disgraceful and sad state of affairs, God didn’t give up on man. Listen to what He promises to the Israelites who had gone into captivity: “And I will be found by you, says Jehovah; and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you, says Jehovah. And I will bring you again into the place from where I caused you to be exiled’’ (Jeremiah 29:14).

Heaven is waiting for our prayers! Jesus promised “… whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven. I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you’’ (Matthew 18:18, 19).

      Because redemption is an impossible task for any human, God Himself, as the Messiah, would personally step in to help. (Romans 11:26, 27) And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, "There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is My covenant with them when I have taken away their sins." 

Isaiah prophesied during the time Israel was had been divided into two kingdoms—Israel in the north and Judah in the south. The northern kingdom had sinned greatly against God, and Judah was heading in the same direction—perverting justice, oppressing the poor, turning away from God to idols and looking to pagan nations for military alliances.  Isaiah’s message was directed against both nations.  The condition under which today’s believer lives is not very different from Isaiah’s days. God’s instructions, promises and warnings found in the book of Isaiah equally apply to us also who are the spiritual inheritors of “Israel”.

The New Testament says “For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John  3:16). Jesus assures us that our heavenly Father is aware of our needs, but we must “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you” (Mathew 6:33).

St. Paul assures us in Philippians 4:19 ‘’God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. Colossians 3:1  says “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God”.

Hebrews 11:6 adds ‘’… it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek him”.

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