Seek!

Seek!

Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face continually. 1 Chronicles 16:11 KJV

Today's extract flows from the terrible events that occurred when the ark of the covenant was to be brought back by David. The first time, it was done carelessly, put on a cart, with the animals allowed to walk unaided. A man had tried to help the cart when it stumbled, and God had struck the man dead. Of course, David wa afraid and diverted the ark to the home of Obed-Edom. This man must have learnt the right way to handle the ark, because the Bible records that for three months that the ark was in his house, God blessed the home of Obed-Edom. 

Guess this was the sign David needed to take steps to treat the ark right. Should I wait until God takes drastic steps to punish sin before I learn the right way? Should I allow death ravage my camp before I learn that by God's standard, no sin will go unpunished? Since I have learnt about the mercy and grace of God, what stops me from making the approach and enjoying all that God offers full and free? 

One of the key words in today's extract is SEEK. You don't seek for something that is of no value and can be easily replaced. You don't seek for something that you don't even know is lost. And it matters who or what you seek, because the target of the search reveals the motivation and purpose behind the search. If I am seeking for relevance and importance, it will be revealed by the target of my search. 

If I know I am weak in or by myself, and that I seek God for the right reasons, it will also show by my search. Check out who I am asked to search for: the Lord. It is as simple, yet as complicated as that. It is simple because God is near to all who call, but it must be a diligent and persistent search. It cannot be something done once in a week or once in a couple of days, but a daily and regular search. 

The reason is when I find God, I get all that He is and has. Think about a marriage properly so called. The two parties are seen as one in the sight of God and man, having children who bear the same surname. When you meet the child, and s/he introduces him/herself, you easily know who the father is. It is the same with God: if I claim I have or know God, it will show in my daily life. If I have God, there are things that will happen in my life that will be obvious this had nothing to do with my ability, power or influence. This is the point all who claim to know God must come to: where we know that we are nothing outside or without Him. 

If I ever get to a point in my life where I think that I know enough of God to last me a lifetime, then I am making a grave mistake. I must keep learning, searching, seeking, knocking, asking; leaving room for more of God in my life; never satisfied, never full of myself, just simply hungry for all that God can be. God never disappoints; He always shows up. Seek Him; in Him is all of life, and the blessings that God wants to give. If I don't have Him, I can't get all that He has promised. His time of favour is here.