                              
     “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”                                                           (Jeremiah 29:13 NIV).
How often I have heard this verse quoted. I think I have missed the most important word in that verse – when.
At times when it seems like God is quiet or can’t be found, we seem to wonder why? Or where is He? We seem to cast the fault on Him. Yet if I am reading this verse correctly, the fault lies totally with me. I have a responsibility to seek Him with ALL my heart.
Perhaps the question that needs to be asked is, “What does it mean to seek Him with all my heart?”. Other versions many shed some light:
- “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” (NLT)
- “When you seek me in prayer and worship, you will find me available to you. If you seek me with all your heart and soul.” (NET)
- “Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart” (Amplified)
Seeking Him with all my heart involves more than a cursory once over. It takes a wholeheartedness. It takes prayer. Worship is involved. He becomes a vital necessity to living. It involves more than I once thought.
“If we seek Him, we will find Him when we want Him more than all else.” (New American Commentary, page 254).
The key to finding Him is wanting Him more than I want anything or anyone else. The key is that He is my first choice not something I default to when all else fails. Perhaps the question we need to ask ourselves is, “How much do we want to find Him?”
For we shall find Him…..when.
       When I need Him as a necessity to live.
              When I give Him all of my heart.
And only I can decide when.
