“You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with ALL your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).
What does it mean to seek God with all your heart? Seek has two Hebrew meanings. The first is darash, meaning to inquire or search carefully for something. The second is bakash, which means to request something. The King James Dictionary defines “seek” as to go after and to press in.
To be completely transparent, I thought I was seeking and pressing into God with all my heart. Every day, my early mornings were spent in prayer and studying His Word. I would then ask God for His direction before writing. Some mornings, I would praise and worship Him and then listen for His still voice to speak into my spirit. Unfortunately, I was inconsistent in praising and listening. But God, in His vast mercy, honored my efforts.
The other day, as I was asking God what He wanted me to write for this week’s blog, I received an unexpected, loving reproof that I was not daily pressing in and seeking intimacy with Him. God impressed upon my heart that it is imperative to spend time in His presence, conversing as one friend would with another, yet recognizing and honoring His sovereignty and deity.
Until the fall of man, there was sweet fellowship as “God walked in the garden and talked with Adam as a man talks with his friend” (Genesis 3:8). A friend is defined as a person with whom we develop a bond of mutual affection and respect. Friendship is a close relationship and trust between two people that develops over time. We might interact occasionally or on a regular basis with people, but “a friend sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24). God is still looking for those whom He can talk with as a man talks with a friend.
Human friendship requires an investment of time in one another, so that trust may develop, thereby allowing vulnerability and an exchange of thoughts and opinions. Eventually, a bond forms, permitting each to confide their deepest thoughts without fear of rejection or recrimination. True friendship is a heart-to-heart connection, not easily broken.
A friend not only shares their heart, they listen to the other. A friend forgives and is nonjudgmental. A friend loves at all times, (Proverbs 17:17) “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend” (Proverbs 27:17). A friend is honest and lovingly corrects for “open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed” (Proverbs 27:5). A friend comforts and encourages. A friend is faithful and is always there for the other.
The friendship that we build with God has the potential to be so much more than what we can have with a human friend. God and Adam had the purest of friendships, because sin had not yet entered the world. It wasn’t until Adam and Eve sinned, that they hid from God and broke fellowship with Him.
Jesus, being God, became flesh to redeem mankind and re-establish relationship with God (Philippians 2:4-7). He said, “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father, I have made known to you “ (John 15:15). Jesus paved the way for us to have an intimate relationship with God, the Father, because from the beginning, God created man to have relationship with Him.
God wants us to always seek Him and His strength with all our heart (Jeremiah 29:13;1 Chronicles 16:11). We should thirst for Him just as a deer pants for the water (Psalm 42:1). King David said, “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek You; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for You, in a dry and parched land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1).
There are times when our soul feels dry and parched. We grow weary from trying to navigate the obstacles and challenges of life. We get so caught up in our struggles, that we forget to stop and meet with God who can direct and comfort our souls. We long for relief, but do we thirst and long for God? Those who seek Him are never forsaken (Psalm 9:10).
Hebrew 11:6 in the NKJV says, “He rewards those who diligently seek Him.” Diligently means to do what is right, especially in one’s work or duties. The NIV uses the word, earnestly, defined as having intense conviction. Therefore, we must daily seek Him with an intense conviction, knowing that in seeking Him, He will respond.
We seek God by reading His Word, for His Word is a direct connection to Him and a reflection of His heart. We also connect with God through prayer. However, God is relational; therefore, we must ask ourselves if prayer has become only a one-way street where we ask God to respond to our needs, or, is there communication flowing in both directions.
Part of prayer is praising Him and seeking His heart. How do we accomplish that? We worship Him with words from our heart. We worship by speaking His Word. And we worship Him with songs of praise. I often use the Psalms as a prayer, and I use Psalms to worship God. As an example, I personalized part of Psalm 145 as a prayerful praise of worship:
“Lord, I give you praise, for You are righteous in all Your ways and faithful in all You do. You are near to all who call on You, to all who call on You in truth. You fulfill the desires of those who fear You. You hear my cry and save me. You watch over all who love You, but all the wicked You will destroy. My mouth will continually praise You” (Psalm 145: 17-21).
After worshipping God, we then sit quietly and listen for His Spirit to gently speak into our spirit. However, do not become discouraged if God’s Spirit does not immediately respond. There are times when He responds with a thought that directs us. He may use Scripture, nature, people, a song, a circumstance, or a word from another person. He has a myriad of ways to communicate, but we must be open to receiving.
Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). The key word is “listen.” The closer we follow His Word, the better able we are to hear God’s voice when He speaks. We are then able to worship Him in spirit and in truth, as He inhabits our praises (Psalm 22:3).
PRAYER: God, I know that You passionately love me and desire sweet fellowship with me. You want me to know Your heart and Your plans for my life. Though You know me intimately and my every thought, You desire that I share my heart to build and strengthen our relationship and my trust in You. During this season of great stress and confinement, help me to heed Your words, “Come to Me when weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). You are a holy and righteous God, but You are also my friend and my Father who loves and cares for me. Help me each day to be faithful in seeking You with all my heart. In Jesus’ name, amen.