O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens. Psalm 8:1 (NIV)
OK, so I walk outside and look around at the beauty of nature. There has to be a Creator God; chaos (Big Bang Theory) did not create order. But where is God and why doesn’t He fix my problems now?
At times we may feel as though God is absent, wondering if He’s going to repair our situations. He’s already laid the groundwork for solving problems - Jesus Christ crucified, dead, and resurrected. Jesus is our foundation. All we need to do is build upon Him. Well, how do we do that? By seeking Him.
“Wise men still seek Him” - A simple Christmas slogan that conveys depth and truth. Those three wise men that sought baby Jesus knew that there was something worth seeking. As astronomers they studied the stars, their physical characteristics, positions, and motions. They probably walked into their backyard, gazed at the night sky, saw a huge star, and began to draw from their knowledge of the galaxy about the birth of a Jewish king. Thus began their journey to follow the star, seeking the One that the star proclaimed.
I’ve heard it said that Jesus was two years old when they found Him. That changes the beautiful manger scene. Or does it? Does it matter when the wise men found Jesus? No, I think the important thing is that they went “seeking Him” and found Him. God tells us in Scripture to seek Him, so wise women start seeking Him.
Even though we’re “wise women”, we are also “worried mothers”. Jesus speaks directly to that worry in Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV) and He says, “Do not worry.....but seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”.
Don’t you think that promise from Jesus’ own lips is worth investigating? So how do we go about seeking God? The answer lies in Deuteronomy 4:29-31 (NIV):
"But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey him. For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath"..............go seeking with all your heart and all your soul.
As Psalm 119:2 (Holman Christian Standard Bible) states: "Happy are those who keep His decrees and seek Him with all their heart."
When everything has failed you and answers to your problems are hidden, earnestly seek Him - "God, You are my God; I eagerly seek You. I thirst for You; my body faints for You in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water." Psalm 63:1 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
Seek Him with your whole heart - "My heart says of you, 'Seek his face!' Your face, LORD, I will seek." Psalm 27:8 (NIV)
OK, I know you have lots to do (especially at Christmas) and work awaits, but don’t you think your Savior (the One who gave His life for you) deserves some of your time (it’s really His time). Alright, let’s keep seeking. Scripture is full of verses telling us to seek Him.
Read another of God’s promises based on our seeking from Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NIV): "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
God has plans for our lives; maybe we ought to “conference” with Him first before we talk with others or try it our own way. Seeking Him should be our priority as it states in Psalm 105:4 (NIV): "Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always."
We should seek the Lord and no other as it says in Amos 5:4 (NIV): “Seek me and live; do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba.” (These cities represent idolatry.)
Zephaniah 2:3 (NIV) says: "Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility"...and 2 Chronicles 7:14 states: "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." (NIV)
Seeking Him will bring His answers, His promises. Seek Him diligently and daily. "For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them" Isaiah 58:2 (NIV).
Just as the wise men sought the Jewish King and found Jesus, receive His reward for your steadfastness to find Him. Hear what He says all throughout Scripture:
One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.
For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. Psalm 27:4-5 (NIV)
I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears...... The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. Psalm 34:4,10 (NIV)
I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me. Proverbs 8:17 (NIV)
Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD understand it fully. Proverbs 28:5 (NIV)
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)
Read Psalm 63 and let it be your daily prayer. Wise women still seek Him..........