A Deep Seeking

UV 658/10,000 A Deep Seeking “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29 v 13 It takes a deep seeking to see the King. When we believe without doubting- that is equivalent to seeking with all our heart. When we repent sincerely – that too is seeking God with all our heart. When we obey willingly the Word of God- this is seeking the Lord with all our heart. When we humble ourselves before the Lord and trust Him- this is seeking the Lord with all our heart. When we worship with devotion- this too is a deep seeking. Seeking the Lord with all our heart is to align all our emotions and thoughts in such a way as to please Him. The word “ all” implies that there is no space left in our hearts for any other desire other than to find God. He is the missing link in the puzzle of life with all the other pieces found. When we find this missing link, all other links of life will fall into its due place. When we seek the Lord in every aspect of our lives, when we rejoice in doing His will and not our own, He will be found by us. His glory will be revealed or His goodness will happen to us in a way that it is perceived by all of our being. Wherever a man regardless of his status, his nationality, colour or background set his mind like flint to find the Lord, He has not hidden Himself but revealed Himself. The Lord only measures the extent of our longing to know Him. Cultural or religious background is not relevant to Him. When Cornelius the Roman centurion sought the Lord with all his heart as it was apparent in his life of piety and charity, the Lord sent the chief apostle Peter after one more object lesson for the latter in a vision that all people are declared sacred to the Lord. History is replete with examples of people from diverse backgrounds who encountered God when they sought Him with all their heart. In the case of St Paul, he was seeking God passionately by doing the opposite of God’s will. The Lord seeing his misguided passion was compelled to appear to Him in a blinding vision and voice re-directing Him on the road to Damascus. Sadhu Sundar Singh, the Indian mystic born in a Sikh family challenged the Lord to appear before him before he took his own life. Seeking with all our heart would mean that we are persistent and diligent in our pursuit of God. Seeking with all our heart implies that we will not either give up easily or be deluded by our own thinking or by what others say about God. We seek a direct first hand, experience of the Lord. We are not conditioned by our religious doctrines and previous training to limit God to our own notion of who God is. It is the most important quest of life to find the Lord as without a true experience of God, without an ongoing personal relationship with Him, we are but depraved creatures, without hope, purpose or meaning. With Him, we are fulfilled, transformed, blessed. The words, ‘ you will find Me” implies that our finding the Lord will not be a mere imaginary or ethereal experience but a tangible, experential and practical encounter with God in real time. Prateep V Philip