Still Seeking

I have just started a new book. Well, actually it's a real old book written about 397 A.D. The book is called The Confessions and is written by Augustine. It is his autobiography outlined in thirteen different books. Augustine became the bishop of Hippo in North Africa. Yet, his journey before getting to this point was filled with hedonism and self-gratification. The Confessions is a prayer confessing his sinfulness and God's grace.

In his first book, he hits on the same theme that the Lord's been impressing upon my heart - seeking and finding. He begins with praising God for His greatness and power. He reminds us that God has created us and draws us to Himself in praise for our joy. He draws from Psalm 22 and Matthew 7 when he says, "But Scripture tells us that those who seek the Lord will praise Him, for as they seek they find Him, and on finding Him they will praise Him."

It is a true that seeking and praising go together. If we are promised to find God as we seek Him earnestly and with all our heart and soul, our response can only be that of praise. If after seeking God, He graciously reveals more of His greatness to me, my response would be praise and reverence. If after seeking God, He graciously reveals more of His mercy to me, my response would be humility and thanksgiving. If after seeking God, He graciously reveals more of His holiness to me, my response would be confession and bowing. Worship becomes my response to God's response to my search.

The ultimate goal in seeking is finding more of God. Augustine shares another rich statement, "What does this mean? Yes, let him rejoice in that, and choose to find by not finding rather than by finding fail to find You." Have you ever sought after God with a concern and not received an answer only to discover you have found more of God in the silence? Take some time with this thought.

In 1994 I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, an incurable inflamatory disease of the large intestine. Countless times I've cried out to God asking for healing. Countless times I've asked Him what He wants to teach me through this disease. I have yet to be healed or receive an answer to my prayer. Nonetheless, I believe I have learned more of God than I would have without the disease, not because of the disease itself, but because of the seeking. Yes, even in not finding or hearing, we are drawn into a deeper, richer, and fuller worship.

Father, let my seeking be turned to praise for Your glory and my joy.

Seeking Earnestly

Today, I continue with the treasure theme but with a deeper looking at how we are to seek. Psalm 63 is one of my favorite Psalms. David is away from the beauty and comforts of the sanctuary in Jerusalem. He writes this song from the wilderness or dessert of Judah. Let me give you the first eight verses below.

O God, You are my God, earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and Your glory. Because Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You. I will praise You as long as I live, and in Your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise You. On my bed I remember You; I think of You through the watches of the night. Because You are my help, I sing in the shadow of Your wings. My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me. (Psalm 63:1-8)

You can take any one of the short phrases above and soak in it for hours. One particular phrase caught my heart's attention today, "earnestly I seek You."

Now I'm no Hebrew scholar, but I do have a few resources that help me dig a little deeper into the original text. The word "earnestly" comes from a Hebrew word shachar. It is also translated to the word "diligently" in some translations. The word "earnestly" means to be up early for a task or to search for something painstakingly, earnestly, or diligently. Shachar - to rise up early in the morning and seek for something with intensity.

I've been thirty before. I can remember running out of water on boat while fishing in a fresh water lake during the hot summer. I got to the point where I lapped up water from the lake not even caring what else I might be drinking. What if I had been in a dessert? I assume if you're in a dessert and your mouth is parched from lack of water, you would go on an all-out search for water as your life may very well depend upon find it.

Jesus is our living water. As we rise up early in the morning, our soul and body (our all) should long for Him like a thirsty man in the dessert. He is our all. He is our source. He is our life. When we seek Him earnestly we will find an oasis of life.

This week, I'm leading our 1-5 grade children at Summer Music Camp here at our church. We're learning a musical entitled "Splash Kingdom." One of the songs speaks of Jesus as our Living Water.

Living water flowing down on me

I'm a believer

Rain come down, surround me like the sea

I'm a believer

Washing away my sin

Giving me hope to live again

Filling my heart with love

Bringing me strength from God above

Living water flowing down on me

I'm a believer

Rain come down, surround me like the sea

I'm a believer

Jesus the Living Water come down on me

Call His name

and then you will be saved

Jesus Christ

He paid the price for you and me

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. (Psalm 42:1-2a)

May the Lord Jesus rain down upon us and surround us like the sea.

Treasure Seekers

The number one movie over the past couple of weeks has been the second installment of "Pirates of the Caribbean." Almost every character in the movie is after a treasure chest containing a special object. Well, how can you have a pirate move without a treasure chest; they just go together.

For the past couple of years I've been involved in a sport or hobby called geocaching. In short, people hide various sized containers and log them by there longitude and latitude coordinates. With a handheld GPS unit, you can download or manually input these coordinates into the unit and then head off to try to find the containers. These containers can be as large as a five gallon bucket or as small as a film canister or even smaller. Presently, there are over 290,000 containers or caches hidden in over 220 countries.

I love the sport. At present, I've found 256 caches and can hardly wait for the next opportunity to get out and hunt for more. I've even put out seven caches myself. I think what I enjoy the most about it is the thrill of treasure hunting. Now there really is no significant treasure in these caches; usually they contain some small toys and trinkets. If you take something out, you are supposed to put something in to keep it even. My boys enjoy the contents while I just enjoy the find.

In my last blog, I shared about treasuring the Lord. He has chosen us and claimed us as His treasured possession. In the same way, I want Him to be the most valued treasure in my life; I want Him to be my Treasure. The Bible speaks about finding treasure.

But if from there you seek the Lord you God, you will find Him if you look for Him with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deut. 4:29)

You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. (Jer. 29:13)

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. (Matt. 7:7)

These verses are filled with hope for the believer. They remind us that God is never far off even when we feel alone or abandoned. The verse in Jeremiah was given to God's people when they were in Babylonian exile. God said He would fulfill His promise to bring them back to Jerusalem. He reminded them that He had plans to prosper them, not to harm them, and to give them hope and a future. I often need this reminder too.

As I soak in these three specific passages of Scripture, three specific truths come to the forefront for me.

1. God revels in being found. The first two passages actually speak of His covenant relationship with His people. Even when God had to respond in judgment to the Israelites and scatter them throughout the nations or exile them into captivity, He still offered to be found and restored relationally.

I remember playing hide-and-seek with my boys when they were young. I would often hide in such a way that they would find me easily, like hiding behind the curtains with my feet sticking out the bottom. Why would I let my feet hang out the bottom of the curtains? Because I loved it when they found me. I loved hearing the excitement in their voices when they spotted me. I loved seeing the joy in their eyes and faces when after they touched me, I would jump out and grab them up in my arms saying, "You found me." We would tumble around on the floor laughing and connecting heart-to-heart.

God can be found. Like a father with his children, God wants to be found.

2. God requires "full-throttle" seeking. God said that He would be found by looking for Him with all of our hearts and souls. God wants all of us. Our relationship with Him must be one of priority and preeminence otherwise our search will be casual. If I drop $5 in the park, I would probably go back over my path and give a quick search. Now if I drop my wedding ring, I would give it an all out search. I might even get out the metal detectors to help me with my search. Why? Because there is much greater value in the ring. Because of the significance and value I place upon God, I seek Him with everything I have.

3. God responds in grace. God pours out His unmerited love by giving according to my requests, by allowing me to find Him, and by opening the door upon which I knock. God would be justified in never responding to me or allowing me to find Him. Yet through the blood of Christ, I'm given hope and assurance and promise. When I seek Him with all of my heart and soul, I know that He will be found.

Let's be treasure seekers today.

Treasuring God

I was reading Steve Camp’s blog on an entry entitled The Juniper Tree: Learning to Treasure Christ in the Hard Places. He shared a paraphrase from John Piper in which he said, ““we have taught people to submit to Christ and we have taught them the truth about Christ, but have we taught them to treasure Christ?” Steve goes on to tell about the juniper tree, the very tree that Elijah sat under in fear and trembling by the threats of Jezebel soon after he had conquered the prophets of Baal. For Elijah the juniper tree was a place of suffering, defeat, depression, fear, and the plea before God for his own life. Steve shares about his own juniper tree experience of divorce and the continual consequences of that mark in his life. He is learning to treasure the Lord though his juniper tree.

As I reflected upon Steve’s thoughts, I had to admit that by the grace of God, I haven’t walked through a juniper tree experience. I haven’t had to try to learn what it means to treasure Christ during dark and difficult times. Don't get me wrong; I've had plenty of difficult and challenging times, but no juniper tree experiences. Yet, I was pierced by the questions that came to my heart, “Am I treasuring Christ during the good times?” “Do I see Christ and my relationship with Him as a priceless treasure?”

As I allow the Spirit to examine my life, I see that I’m growing in my submission and yieldedness to Christ. I’m growing in my knowledge of the truth about Christ. I’m serving and obeying Christ. I’m worshipping Him in thanksgiving, praise, confession, and adoration. Yet, I ashamedly admit that I don’t treasure Him.

In various places throughout the Word, God speaks about his choosing of Israel and taking them as His treasured possession:

Now if you obey Me fully and keep My covenant, then out of all nations you will be My treasured possession. Although the whole earth is Mine, you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. (Exodus 19:5-6)

For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all
the peoples on the face of the earth to be His people, His treasure possession. (Deut. 7:6)

And the Lord has declared this day that you are His people, His treasured possession as
He promised, and that you are to keep all His commands. He has declared that He will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations He has bade and that you will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as He promised. (Deut. 26:18-19)

"They will be Mine," says the Lord Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession." (Malachi 3:17)

Under the new covenant, I have become a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that I may proclaim the praises of the One who called me out of darkness into His marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9) God loves and treasures me so much that He gave His only Son. Jesus loves and treasures me so much that He humbled Himself to death upon a cross. He gave Himself up for the church to make her holy, cleansing her in the washing of water by the word. He did this to present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and blameless. (Eph. 5:26-27)

There are things that I treasure: my wife and my three children are priceless to me. On the wall in our dining room hangs four china plates that are hand painted by my grandmother who passed away a few years ago. If I was alone and our home caught on fire, those plates would be some of the first things I would grab along with several special photo albums that my wife treasures. If my wife’s wedding ring turned up missing in our home, we would tear the place apart until we found it. We would do so not because it would be expensive to replace, but rather because it is extremely special, it’s a treasure.

I regretfully admit that I sometimes treat my relationship with God more like a lost penny than a lost diamond. I have had to fall on my face before my Savior seeking forgiveness for my casualness and negligence. Now, in all my limitations, failures, and frailties, I’m asking the Lord to rekindle the flame and passion of my first love. I’m asking Him through grace and mercy to ignite my love, worship, and devotion to Him alone.

May our only goal be to know Him, glorify Him, adore Him, desire Him... treasure Him.

My First Post

I enjoy reading numerous blogs on various topics. I've never posted a comment on a blog to date - not for any particular reason, just haven't done it. Simply reading blogs can be time consuming. I guess I've been a little afraid that if I got into commenting that I could spend way too many hours in the blogsosphere.

So why start my own blog? This blog is mainly for me personally. It's a place for me to write out my spiritual thoughts, journey, struggles, and more. It will hopefully become an open journal. And, like most blogs, as family, friends, and others come across it and would like to comment, they're free to.

Right now, my plans are simply to post a couple of times a week. Again, these posts will be more personal and reflective in nature.

My goal is simply the glory of God in ceaseless worship.