Seek; Wait

Lamentations 3:25 tells us that, "The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him."

Seeking God - His righteousness and His Kingdom - is most often also paired with waiting upon the Lord. We seek, then we wait. This wait is a wait of faith, full of promise and expectation. Jesus tells us that those who seek Him will find Him. Upon further exploration of the scriptures we learn that seeking Jesus is a continual pursuit, and waiting upon Him a continual practice.

Acts 17:27-28 says, "...that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.'"

Do you feel, or have you felt, as if you are 'groping' for God? I sure have! With groping there is a sense of dogged determination driven by intense feelings of need. As the hymn says, I need Thee every hour"! I need God! And, praise Him, He is not far from us!

Colossians 3:1-4 further affirms the need for continuity in our seeking and waiting. It is a habit of determination and a mindset. The aforementioned scripture says, "Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God." Now, here comes the 'waiting' portion of this scripture - the promise! "When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory."

Hebrews 11:6 tells us that, "...without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." Here we see the importance of faith in seeking and waiting! To seek, and to wait is an exercise of our faith.

We see the principal of seeking, God's subsequent promise, and waiting in faith for the ultimate fulfillment clearly in Isaiah 55:6-11:

"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; and let him return to the LORD…"

Now the promise: "And He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. 'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' declares the LORD. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.'"

Then comes the practice of faith in waiting: "'For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.'"

An element of seeking God is looking to Him in counsel and trusting and resting in His provision. Isaiah 30:15-26 speaks to this. It says: "For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said, 'In *repentance (literally 'turning' or 'returning' - a type of seeking) and *rest (a type of waiting) you will be saved, In quietness and trust (the application of faith) is your strength. But you were not willing… 

[Now here comes the trouble in leaning on our own counsel]... the scripture goes on to say, "and you said, "No, for we will flee on horses," Therefore you shall flee! "And we will ride on swift horses," Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift. One thousand will flee at the threat of one man; You will flee at the threat of five, until you are left as a flag on a mountain top and as a signal on a hill. [Here we see that leaning on our own counsel leads to failure and dangerous vulnerability.] 

Yet, God follows this dire admonition with a promise for those who turn and cry out to Him - those who seek Him! He says, "Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; how blessed are all those who long for Him. O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. Your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you turn to the right or to the left. And you will defile your graven images overlaid with silver, and your molten images plated with gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing, and say to them, "Be gone!" Then He will give you rain for the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plenteous; on that day your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture. Also the oxen and the donkeys which work the ground will eat salted fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. On every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be streams running with water on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day the LORD binds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise He has inflicted."

In Luke 12:29-32 Jesus instructs us, "...do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying. For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.

Finally I would like to consider Psalm 27:4-14 as a prayer: "One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to meditate in His temple. For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; in the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock. And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me, and I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD. Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice, and be gracious to me and answer me. When You said, "Seek My face," my heart said to You, "Your face, O LORD, I shall seek." Do not hide Your face from me, do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; do not abandon me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation! For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me up. Teach me Your way, O LORD, and lead me in a level path because of my foes. Do not deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and such as breathe out violence. I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the LORD."