Original Entry: May 22, 2008
McMinnville, OR
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
“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. Jeremiah 29:11-13
“And you,
my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with
wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every
heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but
if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.
1Chronicles 28:9
He went out
to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and
Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you
are with him. If you seek him, he will
be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.” 2Chronicles 15:2
I have a
Christian friend who is an expert marksman with a long rifle. He loves to shoot, reloads most of his
ammunition, and can hold his own in any circle of men talking about guns,
ammunition and big game hunting. In the
years I have known him he has only taken one deer.
Interesting
to me was that he misplaced his shot and had to finish the deer off with a
second shot. Apparently it was pretty
traumatic for him and I would imagine the poor deer. After hunting with him once I realized he is
actually afraid of the dark, creepy creatures that come out after sunset, and
generally being alone in the outdoors.
That is
why it is called hunting and not killing.
My friend
is a hunter, but not a killer. When I
talk to “hunters” I try to determine under which category they may fall- hunter
or killer. There is a huge difference
between the two.
I have
pondered this at length and come up with several answers why there is such a
gap between the hunter and the killer. One is that hunter don’t put forth the
effort to find the game. My hunter friends enjoy the camp life with their
buddies, like to sleep in until sunrise, stay out of shape and in their rigs,
and some are just plain old stupid about how they hunt.
I want to
tell them, “Animals hide! They don’t jump up and down screaming, ‘Here I
am! Shoot me!’”
God
hides.
He is not
desperate.
He does
not beg.
He does
not need us.
He does
not bless a casual pursuit of Him or half-hearted devotion.
You can
hunt for God but to find him takes Jeremiah 29:13 effort, “You
will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
How badly do you want God? How hungry are you for your King? The psalmist wrote, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O
God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with
God” (Psalm 42:1-2)?
When it comes to my relationship with God
the only logical response I can decipher is to make the time to seek Him
in everything I do, and with all of my heart (Colossians 3:23). If my pursuit
for God is, “with all your heart”,
only then will the greatest Trophy in the universe, God, “let” men find Him.
This
Trophy, in my opinion, is worthy of a man’s greatest effort.
