Diligently Seeking God

“The silver-haired head is a crown of glory, if it is found in the way of righteousness” (Proverbs 16:31).

IN THE LATER YEARS OF LIFE, OUR HEARTS CAN COME TO LOVE MANY THINGS ABOUT GOD THAT OUR MINDS LEARNED ABOUT HIM IN OUR YOUTH. In our journey toward God, experience may enable us to appreciate Job’s statement: “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You” (Job 42:5). It is only the passing of years, for most of us, that can turn our knowledge of the facts into gentle understanding and affectionate wisdom. In old age, we are better able to see just how true the truth really is.

To begin with, there is a difference between knowing God in THEORY and knowing Him in EXPERIENCE. If the choice is between truth and falsehood, it’s obviously a good thing to be taught the truth about God when we are young. But it’s only when we’ve had a few years to work with the truth during life’s ups and downs that we really appreciate the value of what we learned about God in our earlier years. It’s in the actual LIVING of life that we come to cherish the truthfulness of God’s truth. David said, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). The longer we have lived with God, the sweeter His goodness will begin to taste.

But there is something else about age. As F. W. Robertson said, “Manhood in the Christian life is a better thing than boyhood, because it is a riper thing; and old age ought to be a brighter and a calmer, and a more serene thing than manhood.” One reason for this serenity is that, normally, the older Christian is closer to reaching heaven than the younger is. And the closer we get to our true home, the more we cherish the love of our Father who awaits us there. It was not Paul the young man, but Paul “the aged” (Philemon 9), who wrote these words of hopeful love: “Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:6-8). As the years go by, the “sweetly solemn thought” alluded to in Phoebe Cary’s great hymn will fill our hearts more fully: “One sweetly solemn thought comes to me o’er and o’er: today I’m nearer to my home than e’er I’ve been before.”

“Old age can love God better than a doctor of theology can” (Bonaventure).

Gary Henry – WordPoints.com

“And Jacob said, ‘No, please, if I have now found favor in your sight, then receive my present from my hand, inasmuch as I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of God, and you were pleased with me’” (Genesis 33:10).

NO ONE EVER CAME TO GOD IN TRUE PENITENCE WITHOUT FINDING GOD’S WELCOME TO BE THAT OF A FRIEND. Having refused to live by the laws of our Creator’s kingdom, we know that justice demands our banishment from His presence. As rebels against His love, we are right to fear the consequences of our rebellion. But the wonder of God’s character is the grace by which He is willing and able to make us His friends once again.

Jacob had every reason to fear the wrath of Esau, the brother he had so treacherously supplanted before fleeing to Haran. As he returned to Canaan, Jacob prepared many gifts, hoping to placate the anger that he assumed would still be smoldering in his brother’s heart. Contrary to all expectation, however, Esau was eager to be reconciled. “Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept” (Genesis 33:4). Jacob’s gifts were not necessary, Esau insisted, but Jacob begged that these be accepted as tokens of his gratitude for the grace he’d been shown. Jacob knew that he had no rightful claim to the friendship of either God or his brother. That his brother’s face was friendly was as unexpected as the fact that he’d been allowed to survive in his wrestling with God the night before. Slowly, Jacob was growing in his understanding of God. He was learning that those who will struggle for what is right and deal realistically with their sins can always expect a friendly welcome in the presence of God. And Jacob saw something of this grace in his brother’s countenance: “I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of God, and you were pleased with me.”

When we come to our senses and seek God honestly and penitently, we too will find that He is “gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy” (Psalm 145:8). As traitors, we deserve to be banished from His presence. But such is the love of our Father that He is eager to welcome us back home.

This, this is the God we adore,
Our faithful, unchangeable friend.
Whose love is as great as his power,
And neither knows measure nor end.
(Joseph Hart)

Gary Henry – WordPoints.com

“But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you” (1 Samuel 13:14).

THE GREATNESS OF CHARACTER THAT DISTINGUISHED DAVID FROM SAUL LAY NOT IN DAVID’S OUTWARD CIRCUMSTANCES OR EVEN HIS INBORN ATTRIBUTES, BUT IN THE CHOSEN DISPOSITION OF HIS HEART. He was a man “after God’s own heart.” What attributes are suggested by this remarkable phrase? No doubt the essence of David’s character could be described in numerous ways, but the story of his life indicates at least the following requirements if we are to be of the same spiritual caliber as he.

WE MUST GENUINELY RESPECT GOD’S WILL. As a man of faith, David could be counted on to trust God’s wisdom implicitly, carry out God’s instructions faithfully, and depend on God’s help humbly. He showed his respect for the PERSON of God by taking the WILL of God with utter seriousness, and this disposition is no less necessary for us than for him. It is useless to aspire to David’s character if we’re not willing, as he was, to move at God’s command.

WE MUST REVERENTLY REPENT OF SIN. David’s integrity is never seen any more clearly than on those occasions when he was confronted with the fact of sin in his life. Just as he understood the need for godly sorrow, David also understood how to accept chastisement and make real corrections in his conduct. When he did wrong, he did what was right about his wrongs.

WE MUST DOGGEDLY REFUSE TO GIVE UP SEEKING GOD. Like everyone who has ever truly entered the arena, David knew what the tears of defeat tasted like. Yet one thing could always be said about him: he got up every time he was knocked down. It would take more discouragement than there is in all the regions of hell to keep a man with this kind of heart from seeking God. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21), and David’s life is one heroic illustration of that principle. The things we deeply desire determine our character. Do we wish to be people “after God’s own heart,” really and truly? Then we must, in our own hearts, desire and cherish the treasures of His will more than the trinkets of our own moods.

“A man’s heart is right when he wills what God wills” (Thomas Aquinas).

Gary Henry – WordPoints.com

“And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God” (2 Corinthians 8:5).

TO SEEK GOD SINCERELY IS TO GIVE OURSELVES TO HIM COMPLETELY. The good things that come from life in God come to those who yield themselves to Him entirely. If we hold back parts of our hearts or our lives from His benevolence, we will miss the unique blessings that flow from commitment. If we sow sparingly, we will not reap bountifully (2 Corinthians 9:6).

“A living sacrifice” is the expression Paul used to characterize the yielding of ourselves to God: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1). In the Law of Moses, animals that were sacrificed to God had to be slain. It was not possible for the worshiper to retain the living animal for himself and still give a part of it to the Lord. The very life of the animal itself had to be given. Corresponding to those sacrifices, our offering must be total. Although ours is a “living” sacrifice, the gift must be no less complete than if our bodies were to be slain. God deserves no less than our all, both inwardly and outwardly.

But the partial approach not only tries to give God less than He deserves, it involves us in great difficulty and frustration. Just as a timid soul can’t leap a large chasm by taking two medium-sized jumps, the requirements of our new life can’t be met by the half-hearted efforts of our old mind. If we try to hang on to all that we think is “ours” and give God only enough of our outward behavior to get us to heaven, we are attempting the impossible. The old self will never be happy having to give up parts of itself to God. Since it never relinquishes its own desires except when forced to do so, the old self will never find Jesus’ yoke “easy” and His burden “light” (Matthew 11:30). So the old self must die and a new self must come to life. We must be “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20). When that happens, we will then find that the Lord’s “commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3).

“The Christian way is different: harder, and easier. Christ says, ‘Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good’” (C. S. Lewis).

Gary Henry – WordPoints.com

“Then He said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other” (Matthew 12:13).

IT IS TRUE SPIRITUALLY, AS WELL AS PHYSICALLY, THAT SIGNIFICANT GROWTH REQUIRES THE EXERTION OF EFFORT. It is inconsistent to say that we want to grow but do nothing about it. Passivity only breeds weakness and leads to stagnation.

Dallas Willard, in his provocative The Spirit of the Disciplines, quotes William Law’s statement that “God has made no promises of mercy to the slothful and negligent. His mercy is only offered to our frail and imperfect, but best endeavours, to practise all manner of righteousness” and also Henry Thoreau’s wry observation that “men will lie on their backs, talking about the fall of man, and never make an effort to get up.” A life that grows toward God is an active enterprise, not merely a passive status to be enjoyed. To “be” a Christian, one must “walk in Him” (Colossians 2:6).

Those who move forward are those who reach forward “to those things which are ahead” (Philippians 3:13). Paul urged Timothy, “Meditate on these things; GIVE YOURSELF ENTIRELY TO THEM, that your PROGRESS may be evident to all” (1 Timothy 4:15). The gospel, the “glad tidings” of our salvation, must not simply be heard and appreciated; it must be responded to. Not only at first, but forever afterward, the gospel must be “obeyed” (Romans 1:5; Galatians 3:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:8; 1 Peter 4:17; etc.).

It is a pity that so many individuals have come to think of religion and spirituality as the mere giving of mental assent to correct doctrine, as if life in God had to do only with the thinking of the mind and nothing to do with the activity of the body. But the flesh is not inherently evil, and the enjoyment of grace by faith does not preclude the requirement of bodily obedience. Our bodies, in fact, can be a valuable ally in our spiritual growth. Trained by the effort involved in spiritual disciplines and godly habits, our bodies can aid and support us in our seeking of God. In Jesus’ own life, we see an obvious link between His inward strength and the habits of His outward activity. If He had to exert effort, should we expect to grow strong by merely passive means? Bodily, as well as mentally, we must seek God with diligence.

“The lazy man does not, will not, cannot pray, for prayer demands energy” (Edward McKendree Bounds).

Gary Henry – WordPoints.com

“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29).

GOD’S WORD IS NOT GIVEN TO US FOR THE PURPOSE OF IDLE SPECULATION, BUT FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBEDIENCE. We misappropriate the truth God has revealed when we make it merely the grist for intellectual debate. The greater design of the Scriptures — requiring more effort and promising a richer reward — is to provide the practical materials for building a better, more obedient life. When we study, we ought to be looking for this “obeyable” information. To study for any other reason is actually dangerous.

In the matter of obedience, one problem is that we delay obeying what we’ve learned from the Scriptures because we can’t see as far down the theoretical road ahead as we’d like. Perhaps we don’t fully understand why God would require such a thing as the Scriptures have indicated. Or it may not be clear to us what the consequences would be if we took God at His word. Or we may not see how this or that act of obedience fits into the overall scheme of God’s will. There is no shortage of obstacles, more or less theoretical in nature, that can stymie the serious student who wants not only to obey but to understand what is being done. The irony of growth, however, is that understanding comes from moving ahead with our obedience, rather than holding back. In any case, understanding can wait, but obedience cannot.

But another problem related to obedience is that we often delay doing our duty until we feel that we can get it exactly right. We may think we need to make more progress in the realm of spiritual theory before we can do very well in the realm of spiritual practice. And so we linger in our many abstractions, seeking the strength we need for obedient living. Yet solid spiritual progress lies down the clear road of honest obedience to what we presently know is right, not the winding path of theoretical curiosities. We can’t seek God without using our minds to the best of our ability, it’s true. But neither can we find God without carrying out what our minds have learned already.

“The really important thing in life is not the avoidance of mistakes, but the obedience of faith. By obedience, the man is led step by step to correct his errors, whereas nothing will ever happen to him if he doesn’t get going” (Paul Tournier).

Gary Henry – WordPoints.com

“Then they said to Moses, ‘You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die’” (Exodus 20:19).

AS LONG AS WE CAN AVOID BEING “TOLD” WHAT GOD REQUIRES OF US, WE THINK WE CAN POSTPONE DOING ANYTHING ABOUT OUR RESPONSIBILITIES. If somehow we can say that we’re not sure what God’s will is, we can substitute ambiguity for action. But when God speaks, the issue is suddenly clarified. The focus then shifts from the doubtful issue of whether God’s will is this or that to the rather simple issue of whether we’re going to comply or not. God having spoken and we having heard His will, there is nowhere to hide. The time for obedience has come.

Suppose that I have incurred an expense from a business in a city far away, an expense that in my opinion is at least unwelcome, and maybe even unreasonable. The first thing I can tell myself is that I don’t have to pay the debt until the bill actually arrives. But beyond that, until the bill arrives I can tell myself that there’s a possibility the debt will not even be assessed against me — if the company has not actually “spoken,” there’s a chance it really has no desire to collect the debt after all. Safely hidden behind this barrier of uncertainty, I will probably procrastinate going to the mailbox. I know that the moment I find the bill in my hands, the issue will be clarified. Immediately, the focus will shift from the question of what the will of the creditor might be to the question of whether I’m going to pay the bill or not.

Is there a clue here as to why we study the Bible so little? And perhaps a clue also as to why, having studied the Bible, we spend so much time in textual controversy and doctrinal debate? Surely God’s word is not as hard to comprehend as the vast number of our disputes would seem to indicate. Sometimes the more likely possibility is that we are just putting off “going to the mailbox.” The complexity of our talk about what God’s will “might” be is a substitute for action in regard to what our conscience already knows. God has not only spoken, He has spoken clearly. What is needed from us is a little less talk and a lot more action.

“Why are we so terrified for God to speak to us? Is it because we know that when God speaks we must either do what He asks or tell Him we will not obey?” (Oswald Chambers).

Gary Henry – WordPoints.com

“If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it” (Genesis 4:7).

IN THE AGE-OLD CONFLICT BETWEEN RIGHT AND WRONG, IT IS OUR VERY HEARTS THAT ARE AT RISK. The tempter seeks to destroy us by deceiving us and drawing our will away from God. And to the extent that we ALLOW our hearts to be turned against God, we allow evil to gain another unfortunate victory. We become yet another name on Satan’s long list of victims.

Our hearts are under attack on all fronts. There is not a single dimension of our thinking where we are not challenged by evil and confronted with crucial choices. In our intellect, the choice is between truth and deception. In our affections, we must decide between love and hatred. In our will, the stark alternatives are obedience to God and disobedience. Unless we determine not to let it happen, wrongheadedness, and even wrongheartedness, will overthrow us in each of these realms and wipe out every good thing we were created to enjoy.

These truths are sobering, to be sure. We have an obvious need for humility and vigilance in everything that pertains to our spiritual welfare. But it is also possible for us to have courage and hope. Endeavoring to strengthen the backbone of his young friend Timothy, Paul wrote, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). We are caught up in a cosmic struggle, but the Creator of this cosmos is far greater in power and wisdom than all the forces of evil combined. The rightful King reigns from His throne!

Let us be reminded of this fact: the devil has only the power to entice us, not the power to coerce us. And God, who gave us the freedom to choose, WILL not coerce us. Instead, honoring our freedom, He EXHORTS us to resist the devil’s deception and to hold onto the truth. God INVITES us to find in Him that which is real life. The basic issue is easy to understand and dangerous to forget. Moses captured it in his historic words to Israel: “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

“The devil wrestles with God, and the field of battle is the human heart” (Feodor Dostoevsky).

Gary Henry – WordPoints.com

“Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, ‘Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them’” (Revelation 14:13).

AT THE END OF THE ROAD, WE CAN GO TO AN ETERNAL PLACE OF REST AND BEAUTY AND STRENGTH. The solace and safety for which we long are things that can be fully realized. What is true in time will be even more true in eternity: “There is a place of quiet rest, near to the heart of God (Cleland B. McAfee). It is to be a place of “sanctuary in the very truest sense of the word.

One of Dalhart Windberg’s paintings is called Everlasting Sanctuary. A print of that painting first arrested my attention in the hallway of the hospital where my mother lay dying. It drew me immediately into a world both strong and serene. Later, friends gave me a small copy to hang in my home, and I’m always eager to enter the scene that it depicts. When I am world-weary, I can hear Windberg’s distant waterfall. I can smell the cool evergreens that shelter the river and feel the gentle warmth of the meadow beneath my feet. A deep desire for sanctuary stirs within me.

In literature, I think there is no more powerful evocation of sanctuary than Imladris, or Rivendell, in the work of J. R. R. Tolkien. In the imaginative world of Middle Earth, where good and evil are at war, Rivendell is the elven refuge in a steep, hidden valley cutting through the moors beneath the Misty Mountains. Rivendell resonates with me because I know it represents reality. It connects me to a truth that is larger than my own life.

It’s not inevitable, of course, that I will arrive at the eternal sanctuary of God’s home. If I do, it will be the consequence of right choices about God that I am making right now. I know that not every road leads to the gate of heaven. There is only one that does, and I put my feet on that path when by faith I courageously acquiesce to what I know of God’s will.

“Bring us, O Lord God, at the last awakening into the house and gate of heaven, to enter into that gate and dwell in that house, where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light; no noise nor silence, but one equal music; no fears nor hopes, but an equal possession; no ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity, in the habitations of thy majesty and thy glory, world without end” (John Donne).

Gary Henry – WordPoints.com

“. . . so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:27).

OUR DILIGENT SEEKING OF GOD CAN BE BASED ON THE CONFIDENCE THAT HE IS THERE TO BE FOUND. Human beings are hopeful by nature, it is true, but they are not merely “wishful thinkers.” The deep human longing for God is a need for something that really exists. If we truly and honestly search for God, we will, in time, certainly find what we need to find.

CONFIDENCE. Among the great discoveries in the natural world, some were made accidentally, but many more were made by explorers who were confident of the existence of the thing they were looking for. In a similar way, it is faith, based on reasonable conclusions drawn from credible evidence, that propels us forward in our discovery of God. We should be careful, rather than naive. But having been careful, we should also be optimistic.

PATIENCE. The person who is sure that the object of his search is actually there waiting to be found will not be unduly upset by short-term delays or frustrations in the quest. He will simply keep looking, patiently moving closer and closer to the thing that has intrigued him. So shouldn’t our seeking of God be patient? After all, this quest is the most significant endeavor in the world. Should our faith not steady us as we move forward a little each day? “So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9 NRSV).

PERSISTENCE. It is said that Thomas Edison tried several thousand wrong approaches to the electric light bulb before he found what he was looking for. His confidence that the search was legitimate, coupled with his patience in the process, gave him a legendary persistence, no doubt amazing to those unacquainted with the power of belief. Likewise, the question is not whether we are willing to look for God, but whether we are willing to look again and again . . . and if necessary, yet again. Like a bubble making its way from the bottom of the aquarium to the top, perhaps momentarily detained but never completely deterred, we should seek our Creator’s presence with persistence, until the day of glorious discovery when we look upon His face.

“Time discovers the truth” (Seneca).

Gary Henry – WordPoints.com