The preachers quoted here describe seeking God as searching for him with the whole heart, and as another name for true religion itself: endeavouring to know the Lord more and more. They say it means setting time aside, that it costs ruthlessness against laziness and self-satisfaction, and that it changes the one who seeks.
The promise is plain: "ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13). The Old Testament uses two main verbs, one meaning to inquire after or frequent, the other to search for.12 To seek God is to turn to him deliberately, to ask for him and not merely for his gifts.
The psalms give the language. "When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek" (Psalm 27:8). "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee" (63:1). "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God" (42:1). It is continual: "seek his face evermore" (105:4).
There is urgency in it. "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near" (Isaiah 55:6). The prophets call a wandering people back: "Seek ye me, and ye shall live" (Amos 5:4); "it is time to seek the LORD" (Hosea 10:12). The promise to Solomon joins seeking God's face with humility, prayer and turning from sin (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Scripture is honest that fallen people do not seek God of themselves: "there is none that seeketh after God" (Romans 3:11). The seeking begins on the other side. "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). Pascal imagined Christ saying, "thou wouldst not seek Me, if thou hadst not found Me."3 Augustine opened his Confessions with the same thought: "thou hast made us for thyself, and restless is our heart until it comes to rest in thee."4
For that reason those who have found God go on seeking. A. W. Tozer wrote, "To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul's paradox of love."5 Paul, long a Christian, still wrote, "That I may know him" (Philippians 3:10).
Jesus attached a promise without conditions other than sincerity: "seek, and ye shall find" (Matthew 7:7). And Hebrews says of God that "he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Hebrews 11:6).
- Strong's Hebrew 1875, dârash: "properly, to tread or frequent; usually to follow (for pursuit or search); by implication, to seek or ask...".
- Strong's Hebrew 1245, bâqash: "to search out (by any method, specifically in worship or prayer); by implication, to strive after".
- Blaise Pascal, Pensees, "Section vii: morality and doctrine".
- St. Augustine, Confessions, "Book 01, Chapters 01-10".
- A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit Of God, "I Following Hard after God".
In their own words
Each line below is quoted exactly from a sermon on this site. Follow the link to hear or read it where it was said.
Seeking God is searching for God with all my heart.
Ian Robson
in Setting Our Hearts to Seek God and in Understanding the Purpose of God
Listen at 51:59
Seeking the Lord is sometimes used in Scripture as the alias for true religion and it very aptly describes it, for our life consists in endeavoring to know the Lord yet more and more.
C.H. Spurgeon
in Good News for Seekers
Read in context
Seeking God is scheduling time and planning for it, setting your heart towards Him.
Shane Idleman
in Desperate for More of God - Our Heart
Listen at 23:40
To seek the Lord is going to take ruthlessness against the flesh, against laziness, against indifference, against casualness and spiritual self-satisfaction.
Art Katz
in Psalm 24: Seeking the Lord
Read in context
To seek the Lord is to have something happen to your own soul, something that takes place in seeking.
Art Katz
in Psalm 24: Seeking the Lord
Read in context
What Scripture says
- Jeremiah 29:13 you shall seek me, and find me, when you search with all your heart
- Isaiah 55:6 seek the LORD while he may be found
- Psalm 27:8 your face, LORD, will I seek
- Matthew 7:7 seek, and you shall find
- Hebrews 11:6 a rewarder of them that diligently seek him
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