Skip to main content

Seeking





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. (Deuteronomy 4:29)
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)


          Apparently, yesterday was a good day for seeking. Since the predicted rain failed to show, I left for Presque Isle State Park before 7 am seeking whatever creatures I might find. Usually, I have at least a little success with birds. I was also thinking about the type of praying that I shared here yesterday. I tend to say, “Let me see a __________” (the list tends to start with a Bald Eagle but I’m learning to be flexible.) Today, I said, “What do You want to show me?” 
          It didn’t take long for the answer to come, “I want you to see Me.”
          I know, it’s like William Blake said, “To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower Hold infinity in the palms of your hand and eternity in an hour.”[1] But, I also think of Elijah, who discovered that God was not in the wind, the earthquake or the fire, but in the soft whisper (I Kings 19:11-13)
          I can’t say that I found God in any special way, but I found myself thinking about seeking. That’s why I go out there. I’m seeking something. I don’t know if it’s always the same thing. It might be adventure, or beauty, or creativity, or discovery, or an escape from boredom, or peace, or some combination of those and more. Whatever it is, that search hides behind the more obvious search for something to photograph.
          When I got home, Dad told me to look in the garbage can. Apparently Grace had been seeking, too. He looked out the window and saw her biting at and digging at something. When she wouldn’t stop because he pounded on the wall (never effective, I’ve found), he went out and took a dead mouse away from her. It hadn’t been dead long, and there doesn’t look to be damage. I’m sure she killed it but I don’t know that she really meant to. I’m convinced that some of her digging in the yard is because she smells, sees, or hears vermin and she’s trying to reach it. She’s seeking something: adventure, friendship, maybe just the answer to “what is that?”  
          I don’t think I’ll ever display her boundless enthusiasm for her search but what I lack in youthful energy, I may make up for in stubbornness. People talk about finding God. I suspect they’re referring to finding Him that first miraculous time, but today’s passages don’t sound to me like a onetime thing, or even like an every-once-in-a-while thing. These verses sound more like a Moulder-seeking-the-truth thing, or an Ahab-hunting-the-white-whale thing, or maybe like a doctor-seeking-a-cure-for-Malaria (or cancer, or AIDS, or ebola.)




[1] https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/w/williambla150124.html

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen!

  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)            Do you like roller coasters? I don't. You spend forever climbing a hill. You get to the top and have half a second, then you race down to a low point. Sometimes the racing down involves tying your insides into knots. At the bottom, you either have to be dragged up another hill or you get off the ride. Peter's life was a roller coaster from the time he met Jesus. There would be miracles, and then Jesus would teach things that didn't always make sense, and then they'd go out and perform miracles, and return to be taught. Peter was praised for giving the right answer to "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus said that said answer came from God. Peter was at the top of the hill.            ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Lists

                 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:2-3)   In connection with what I wrote yesterday about the possibility that I’m wrong, I’m feeling the need to go back to basics - craving spiritual milk because somehow, I missed something. It’s a little embarrassing, craving milk like a newborn, but the truth probably is that we are newborns many times in many ways in our lives. From God’s perspective, we may never be anything more than newborns, forever needing that milk. On the other hand, being a newborn can also be exciting because so much is new. My mind is playing pinball - ricocheting from one idea to the next and through six more before it happens to hit the third again. The main topic is prayer. I have at least seven organizing structures all somewhat influenced by the movie War Room , which I’v...
Post a Comment
Read more