Seriously Seeking

Jeremiah 29:10-14 in the Message says:
^10-11 This is God’s Word on the subject: “As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.
¹² “When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen.
^13-14 “When you come looking for me, you’ll find me.
“Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” God’s Decree.
“I’ll turn things around for you. I’ll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you”—God’s Decree—“bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.

Wait a minute.... so if I seek God, I will find Him? Because I am pretty sure that I have said my bedtime prayers every single day and asked to have faith. Asked to feel His presence. Asked to see Him in my life. And yet, I feel nothing. I have no miraculous hope and happiness that this word promises.... so what's the deal? Is God even really listening? Is this whole God thing even real?!

Pastor Alan spoke on Sunday about a time when his youngest daughter, Lily was out shopping with their family at Bass Pro Shop. (For those of you who don't know, this is a HUGE store filled with all sorts of man-favorites. Camping, fishing, hunting, etc.) Well one minute she was there, and the next, she was gone. He looked around and she was nowhere. What do you suppose he did at this point? Did he do like most of us Christians today do in regard to our faith? Did he go about his life saying he wanted her back, but really doing nothing to find her? Did he give out one quiet, "Lily, I really want you to come back to me." Then go on with his shopping? Heck no! He went running through the store, looking EVERYWHERE! (And I mean everywhere.. at one point he said he was willing to go into the women's restroom and fitting room, if that's what it took. The truth of whether he actually had to do that, remains a mystery...) He was ready to move Heaven and Earth to find his precious Lily. He wasn't about to let anything or anyone get in his way. His life couldn't just go on like usual, and it never would until she was found and back safely in his arms.

Why don't we seek God in this way? The scripture in Jeremiah says "when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed." Notice the whole "serious" part? Yeah. That is where we go wrong. On a daily basis. We allow our favorite television show, the kids sports and activities, work, friends, family, etc get in our way of genuinely seeking God. He is always there, he never leaves us. Whether or not we feel His presence is up to us. I explained it to my Luciana like this: If you and I are standing face to face so she can see me clearly, then put her friends in between us, then add in her favorite tv shows and movies, her games, her school work, and everything else that steals her attention. She can't see me anymore. The Bible says,  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.- Matthew 6:33. If we would only make God our priority over everything else. Seek Him first. Before making any decision, praying and asking God to guide us. Before taking a test at school, asking God to help give us focus and knowledge. Before writing this blog, asking God to guide my words carefully so they only come from Him. If we stop worrying about all the things that make up this life, and only concern ourselves with seeking God, then He will handle the rest! Kinda cool, eh?

Ok, so now you are seeking God. You are devoting time in the Word every day, you are in constant prayer with Him throughout the day, and you are starting to get that faith burning inside of you and changing you. Does this mean nothing will ever come to harm, disappoint, upset, anger, frustrate, devastate, or try to completely destroy you? After all, His word says He has big plans for us, right? Plans to take good care of us and to give us the future we hope for. Well you see, the thing about that is, we are still in the world. The world is filled to the brim with sin and everyone in it is sinful. There is no getting around that, until we are in Paradise when this life is over. So, yes. Bad things will happen. People will hurt us. Loved ones will die. Miscarriages will happen. Jobs will be lost. Finances will get ridiculously tight. Children will stray. Your faith will be tested and it will be shaken. But will you allow it to be lost? The difference between tragedy in a believer's life, and tragedy in a non-believer's life is dramatic.

I have personally had tragedy strike me many times in my short life. The ones I can relate best to are my many miscarriages. Miscarrying a baby is always hard. It wrecks you emotionally and mentally. You feel like a failure as a woman. You feel like a failure as a wife. You feel like maybe you did something wrong, and if only you could go back and change things around, it might not have happened. You grieve for the baby that you had already bought little tiny clothes for, planned a nursery for, picked names out for, began rearranging your life to make room for. You have already fallen in love with this tiny being that you created. Now that baby is lost and you feel a hole in your heart the size of Texas. I have known really amazing women who have been completely destroyed by a miscarriage. It has consumed them completely. There is no more happiness or sunshine. Everything is bleak and dreary. The difference I mentioned earlier, is hope. Purpose. Meaning. A Christian woman knows that God doesn't make mistakes. He knows precisely what He is doing while He is doing it. In fact, He had planned it all out long before you were ever born. What's the purpose in the many miscarriages I have had? Where's the meaning in all that pain and heartache? Well, I see now that I can use that pain to help other women who are dealing with it. To give them hope and show them the light in all the darkness they feel surrounding them. God still gave me 5 beautiful and healthy babies. I just had a lot of losses along the way. He gave me the future I hoped for so far and one day I will get to snuggle and hug and kiss and love on my many many babies in Paradise.

Sometimes, there are things in our life that cloud our focus on God, or completely replace it all together. God is a jealous god and wants every part of us. Sometimes, He will strip us of all the things the are distracting us from Him. Work, school, friends, having a baby, working out, money, houses, cars, whatever is your pleasure.... these things are not evil things. But we regularly turn these things into idols when we prioritize them above God. For example, if we are constantly checking our bank accounts, counting our money, giving everything we have to make an extra buck, and putting all our focus to our finances, then God might arrange to have us lose our job. Cruel? Or brilliant? Money shouldn't be our god. After all, we take none of it with us when we leave this world. Sometimes it takes drastic measures and tragic circumstances to cause us to call out to the Lord. Sometimes we have to lose everything to finally see that we already had everything that mattered in Jesus. Circumstances will NEVER change who you are in Christ.

There is a new song that has quickly become my absolute favorite, called Oceans by Hillsong United. If you haven't had the pleasure of hearing it, you can check it out HERE. It talks about how God calls us out into this life where it doesn't seem safe. Bad things will happen and our "feet may fail" and land us on our faces, but regardless of all the terrible things that happen to us, we are His and He is ours. When fear surrounds us, we must remember that He has never failed and He never will. We must keep our eyes above all the ugliness and focus on Him. No matter what. Because we can always find rest in Him. Always.

1 Peter 1:6-7 MSG says:
^6-7 I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.


At the end of this life and these trials, God isn't going to look at how much you have, or how good your grades were, or how many friends you had (for the record, Jesus had 12 friends. That's it. Oh yeah, and one of them betrayed Him...), or whether or not you got the promotion. He will look at your faith and He will have your FAITH on display. Seek Him. Find Him. Have your faith and live in the beauty that He has planned for you. Stop trying it your way, cause chances are- it hasn't been working, and it won't start working. Try things His way. Even if it differs from your wants. Give it a shot and see the goodness He has in store for you.


PS Check out these other songs that can relate to this message... Here and Here.