[12] Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. [13] And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart NKJV (Jeremiah 29:12-13).
What if God actually means what He says? What if, when He says, “When you search for Me with all your heart, you will find Me?” This might sound crazy, but what if, when God said “with all your heart,” He actually meant “with ALL your heart,” and not some metaphorical application? Yes, it’s an invitation, but not an invitation to lukewarmness or some watered-down no-effort therapeutic season, but a whole-hearted effort to seek the LORD.
Why is it so difficult for us to believe that the God who sent His only begotten Son to bear the sins of the whole world by being nailed to a tree wants us to put some effort into our worship and our seeking? Why is that so difficult to believe? And then to say “to seek God” is not about perfection, but about learning to stay close and learning to live with Him is sending mixed signals at best and contradictory at worst. God says, “Be holy for I am holy.” We are called to be like God, and you cannot be like God without some effort.
And then to say that you have no idea if you are seeking the LORD with all of your heart, therefore, implying that since you don’t know, then it cannot mean that is a poor, poor excuse for spiritual laziness. How about we get up out of our nice, warm beds early in the morning, as our Savior did, before the sun comes up, and pray, worship, and sing songs of praise to our LORD. How about we push ourselves away from the dinner table every now and then instead of feeding one of our pleasures of life, we feed our souls, and let our spirit commune with His Spirit. How about that? Have we tried that?
And how about this, let us stop using the excuse that we are only human, we cannot do better. And let us step up boldly and come with boldness and confidence into the Presence of our God. Come straight to His mercy seat and kneel in worship at His feet. How about showing some humility and share the Gospel face to face with our friends, our neighbors, and our coworkers. Then, maybe then, we might begin to seek the LORD with ALL of our heart. But we will never meet that command unless we put some effort into it.
Father, forgive us for our lukewarmness and our complacency. Please do not withhold good things from us, like how we withhold our full and complete worship of You. Strengthen our hands for spiritual warfare, and lead us into paths of righteousness for Your Name’s sake, in Jesus’ Name, amen.