Seeking and Knowing
Does God reveal the path of life to you? Do you find a fullness of joy in Him? Do you see pleasures at God’s right hand forever? If your answer is no… have you ever really asked Him for it?
Do you know that kid who was so curious and could not help themselves but ask questions about everything? They find so much joy in learning new things about the world they were brought into, and they constantly, joyfully grow.
God created His prized creation for that: to learn and grow and beyond that, find joy in doing it! Jeremiah 29:12-13 says “Then you will call on 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.”
Therefore, to know these paths of life, to find complete joy in Him, God wants us to be curious about Him. Being just like little kids who ask questions about everything, to know and understand Him more. We can have a steadfast confidence in Him, but also ask our Heavenly Dad questions, just like you would an earthly dad.
“Father God, how can I speak into this person’s life today?”
“Would it please you for me to do or say this?”
“Do I need to distance myself from_______?”
“Is there spiritual and physical joy for both You and I in what I am doing?”.
“How can I even do this?”
We can ask these things and the best part is, He says that He will listen and when we seek Him and the wisdom He bears, we will find Him. These kinds of things produce a closeness to God that is greater than relying on experiences of Him. It introduces us to a relationship of knowing who He is. Which takes us exactly back to the purpose of our creation: to be made like Him, working for Him, in partnership & relationship with Him.
What does a relationship require? With God, we may think relying on the experiences of Him are enough. Listening to a powerful sermon, deeply worshiping with the body of Christ, healing of the sick, etc. These are all so great, but God does not just want us to experience Him, there’s more. He desires us to be in a real relationship with Him, understanding who He is.
Imagine if you were looking to date someone, but instead of trying to get to know and understand them; what pleases them, what doesn’t, how they function and behave, you only try to experience things they do or take part in. So instead of talking, asking each other questions, and figuring each other out, you only allow yourself to see him/her play sport, work, eat, shop, etc. Watch from a distance. Both are so good and actually required for a relationship, but my point is that you cannot have one without the other and expect a deep relationship. That goes for our Heavenly Father as well.
Take Moses for example, He was so close to God. Did that come from ONLY seeing miracle after miracle be performed by Him for Moses to see? No! If that was the case, every Israelite would have been just as close to God as Moses, and we know that didn’t happen. But the key to Moses’ closeness was the fact that he devoted himself to God. He spends so much time in prayer, talking to Him, getting to know who He is. He pleaded with God and asked questions. We see Moses seek God, see the very glory of God and leave, radiating with light. We see Moses as a man who drives himself toward knowing God and moving experiences of God follow. Moses is confident in God’s character and (this is key), is joy-filled and pleased by it.
Once we understand the level of closeness God wants with us (He says He has chosen us to be adopted (Romans 8:15), He has called us by name (Isaiah 43:1), He loves us more than we can understand (Ephesians 3:17-19). You can’t deny He wants a relationship with you.) we can begin to search for and shift our source of joy to the presence of God Himself, where pleasures are forever. We can begin to be pleased by God himself, like Moses and David and other heroes of the faith. We can be curious little children to our patient loving Father and ask Him questions about who He is. Asking both God and us to find the very root of what gives us joy, by understanding who God is through a relationship with Him, where He can show us the paths of life because our curiosity of Him who is the giver of life.