Find

“You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”  Jeremiah 29:13

Find – Where is God when we really need Him?  When terrible things happen in the world, where is the Almighty?  How come God doesn’t show up and fix things or rescue the innocent?  Why can’t we find God in this evil place?

If you’ve ever asked yourself these kinds of questions, you aren’t alone.  Whenever people get into trouble or things go badly, they seem to cry out, “God, where are you now?”  The people of Jeremiah’s day were no different.  Calamity was about to befall them.  They needed to find God.  But Jeremiah is not telling them anything new.  God gave them the answer long before.  Deuteronomy 4:29 says, “if you seek (baqash) the Lord, you will find (matsa) Him.”  Did you notice that the verb in Deuteronomy is the first verb in Jeremiah’s announcement?  The Israelites knew what they were supposed to do.  The answers to life are found in seeking God.  God promised centuries ago that those who sought Him would find Him.  But Jeremiah adds something.  He adds a second verb for “seek” – to diligently search for knowledge.  Maybe God added this second thought because He saw that the people were replacing knowing God with religious activity.  You won’t find God in rituals or rules.  You won’t find God in textbooks or testimonies.  Those are activities that result from finding God in His temple – you!

The Israelites ran all over the countryside looking for God.  They forgot what God told them during the time of Moses.  Don’t look for a place, look for a person.  Open your heart completely to Him.  Hold nothing back at all, not even your doubt or dismay.  When you seek with all your heart, God promises that you will find Him.  It’s a promise He keeps.  I know.  I had to let go of everything else to find Him.  Then I discovered He was there all the time.  My eyes were focused on what I thought I needed.  As a result, I couldn’t see who was right there waiting to help.  I was looking for the result but not the provider.  Jeremiah reminds us that we must seek Him, not His gifts.

Are you looking for God or for God’s gifts?

Topical Index: bāqaš, seek, find, māṣāʾ, Jeremiah 29:13