In this study we look at what it means to "Seek God". What rewards are promised to those who seek God?
Read and Discuss Job 1:1-23
9 So Satan answered the LORD and said, "Does
Job fear God for nothing?
10 "Have You not made a hedge around him,
around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have
blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land."
Wouldn't it be great to have this type of favor from God! What does the bible say about rewards or favor with God?
Matthew 7:7-8
"Ask, and it will be given
to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. "For
everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will
be opened.
Psalm 34:10
The lions may grow weak and
hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
Hebrews 11:6
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.
Answer: Seeking God
What is seeking God?
Seeking God is an attempt:
- to know God
- to understand God
- to spend time with God
- to seek the presence of God
- to interact/commune with God
How do we seek God?
Actions include:
- prayer
- mediation / listening
- nature
- reading scripture
It's about the motive and
intent. Are you praying to God for your personal gain, or are you praying to foster a relationship with Him?
So the catch is that if you're seeking God for the motive of personal gain then you aren't seeking God you are seeking the gains.
So the catch is that if you're seeking God for the motive of personal gain then you aren't seeking God you are seeking the gains.
Finding God:
Proverbs 8:17 (NKJV) 17
I love those who love me, And
those who seek me diligently will find me.
James 4:8 (NIV) 8 Come near to
God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your
hearts, you double-minded.
Jeremiah 29:13
'You will seek Me and find Me
when you search for Me with all your heart.
Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.
Matthew 6:3
"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Hunger for God
"In the period of preparation, the soul loves in emptiness. It does not know whether anything real answers its love. It may believe that it knows, but to believe is not to know. Such a belief does not help. The soul knows for certain only that it is hungry. The important thing is that it announces its hunger by crying. A child does not stop crying if we suggest to it that perhaps there is no bread. It goes on crying just the same. The danger is not lest the soul should doubt whether there is no bread, but lest, by a lie, it should persuadeitself that it is not hungry. It can only persuade itself of this by lying, for the reality of its hunger is not a belief, it is a certainty. We all know that there is no true good here below, that everything that appears to be good in this world is finite, limited, wears out, and once worn out, leaves necessity exposed in all its nakedness. …But as soon as we have seen this truth, we cover it up with lies."
Seek and Obey
Psalm 119:2Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.
Matthew 6:3
"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
"In the period of preparation, the soul loves in emptiness. It does not know whether anything real answers its love. It may believe that it knows, but to believe is not to know. Such a belief does not help. The soul knows for certain only that it is hungry. The important thing is that it announces its hunger by crying. A child does not stop crying if we suggest to it that perhaps there is no bread. It goes on crying just the same. The danger is not lest the soul should doubt whether there is no bread, but lest, by a lie, it should persuadeitself that it is not hungry. It can only persuade itself of this by lying, for the reality of its hunger is not a belief, it is a certainty. We all know that there is no true good here below, that everything that appears to be good in this world is finite, limited, wears out, and once worn out, leaves necessity exposed in all its nakedness. …But as soon as we have seen this truth, we cover it up with lies."
--Simone Weil (Waiting For God)
What your soul knows is that:
• there is an emptiness
• there is a void
• you are not happy
• there must be more to life than this
• you do not understand the meaning of life
• you have not made it
• it’s hungry
A hunger for God is often times what keeps you seeking Him. When we are content with life (our situation in the world) we are at risk of falling away from God.
"Hunger draws God"
--Todd White
Not Seeking The Lord
Psalms 10:4
The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him All his thoughts are, "There is no God."
Isaiah 31:1
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help And rely on horses, And trust in chariots because they are many And in horsemen because they are very strong, But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the LORD!
Jeremiah 10:21
For the shepherds have become stupid And have not sought the LORD;
Therefore they have not prospered, And all their flock is scattered.
Spirit and Truth
A man who worships in Spirit and Truth no longer honors the Creator because of his works, but praises him because of himself.
Closing song: All I Want Is You by William McDowell
(c) 2014 Michael Leadon
No comments:
Post a Comment