The Bible talks a lot about seeking after the Lord. “Seek after the Lord with your whole heart” and “seek Him and you will find Him” are phrases that echo throughout the Bible. But little is said about actually obtaining what you are seeking, that is in this life. From the scripture, it seems that Christians are meant to spend a lifetime seeking.
Psalm 105:4 (ESV)
4 Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!
1 Chronicles 16:11 (ESV)
11 Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!
Matthew 6:33 (ESV)
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Matthew 7:7 (ESV)
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
The idea of constantly seeking something in life to never truly obtain it is foreign to us. For example, if you are seeking higher education you spend four years in college, and in the end, you have obtained it. Even then it can feel like a lifetime spent seeking something you will never obtain. But the fact remains you have full knowledge of when you will obtain it and it will happen in your lifetime.
It’s completely the opposite when it comes to seeking God. Day after day, year after year, we are to seek after the Lord. But we will never truly obtain what we are seeking until after our life on earth comes to an end. Only then will we have obtained what we have longed for throughout our walk with God. Full communion with Him in His presence. The time we will not simply know, trust, feel, or love Him but will be with Him in His kingdom.
Matthew 5:8 (ESV)
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 (ESV)
16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
While this may on the surface sound somewhat discouraging, but please understand that it is not what it is meant to be at all. I believe that we often look at things as though we will be able to quickly obtain them and then will no longer need to seek them. This tends to be true for the things of this world but God is not of this world and should not be viewed in the same way.
So don’t believe you can reach a point of no longer needing to seek the Lord in this life. Don’t become discouraged either when it feels like you have been seeking and still haven’t found it. Instead, know that we are to spend our lives after salvation always seeking after God and trying to draw closer to Him. We will one day get what we are seeking but that will not be until we graduate to Heaven.
Now, this is also not to say that you will not become closer to God and find pieces of Him as you continue to seek Him. The Bible is clear that He is with those who seek Him. He will bless them. We are His temple and The Lord will never leave us or forsake us.
Psalm 9:10 (ESV)
10 And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
Psalm 119:2 (ESV)
2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart,
Psalm 119:2 (ESV)
2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart,
However, those things are not what we are actually seeking. All that we experience from God in this world is just a taste of what is to come in the next. We were created to be with our creator and that is why we continue to seek Him until the day we finally find ourselves with Him. A lifetime of seeking after the Lord will be worth it in the end because those who seek Him will find Him. One day we will finally be with God in Heaven.
Proverbs 8:17 (ESV)
17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.
Deuteronomy 4:29 (ESV)
29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Revelation 21:3–4 (ESV)
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Often it feels like God is just out of reach and every time we take a step closer He takes one back. Maybe that is because He is trying to lead those who seek Him to the home He has prepared for them in eternity. Those of us who choose to seek after the Lord with our whole heart will never truly find what we are seeking in this life. But when we do find it the life of seeking will be all worth it. The journey we look back over will be one touched by our loving God.
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