Why would those of us who believe in an omnipresent God commit to a pursuit of Him? Is it even biblical for one of us to express verbally the notion that we should seek encounter with the Creator? If we do so, is it not possible that we become one of those who places experience at a level that is risky to our spiritual well-being? After all…the devil can counterfeit a spiritual experience so would it not be wise to occupy ourselves with more in-depth study of the objective revelation from God, the Holy Scriptures?
And thus the carousel begins to spin.
“Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!” – Psalm 105:4
“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” – Jeremiah 29:13
“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” – Psalm 34:8
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you…” – James 4:8
We are early in a new week and yesterday’s worship gatherings are now a mist. There is something spiritually potent about gathering with the people of God in an atmosphere where He is longed for and adored. We love to sing to Him. We love His word being preached. We love to be around others, His children. Something happens when we are together in corporate worship, learning and service. Sunday passes like all other days and Monday rolls around. It is here where many sense some form of loss, a diminishing of what was so intoxicatingly real just the day before. To those, God might say, “I’ve not changed, backed away, withdrawn or diminished. Come closer. Press in. Here I am if you want me.”
But do we want Him? Do we believe He wants to be wanted? Are we tempted to cop out and settle for His omnipresence when He offers to be omni-presiding? This is where I spend my days as of late, pondering the degree to which we actually desire His presence. Wanting. Hungering. Thirsting. Receiving. And then wanting Him more, hungering for Him more, thirsting after Him more and (dare I say it?) receiving more of Him. What I describe and suggest is the pursuit of a deepening, transformational and thoroughly valid experience with the living God. If we cannot have this from Him then our Christianity is nothing more than biblical history, a holy database of the previously-available God. Bluntly, this would be the tease of all the ages.
God offers a chase to us. It may not sound reverent but I believe it is biblically undeniable: there is a heightened level of interaction with Him reserved for only those who pursue Him. Ironically, this ongoing experience is His offer to us all and His desire for us all. But few want this. It blows out the walls on predictable Christianity. It puts us in omnipotent hands which may stretch us to our own embarrassment or thrill. The Potter doesn’t sit and look at the clay – He intends to form it into an expression of His unfathomable creativity. Yet in this illustration we have a slight caveat. In this illustration the Potter sometimes waits for the clay to present itself. He wants the clay that wants His hands, and it is here that His most joyful work occurs. He is pleased in His previous choice of a lump of clay. He is pleased to have molded that lump into a vessel which bears His name. He is pleased to use that newly formed vessel in His purposes. That is where most of us leave off and we are supremely benefited if this describes our own experience of being brought to Christ by divine grace. Yet I submit that there is an additional possibility. If the vessel so desires the hands of the Master that he expresses to be made malleable clay again – the Potter is delighted to do it. God delights in us delighting in Him. So He says to us, “Seek Me…Taste Me…Drink Me…Pursue Me…Want me…Seek My presence continually.”
Sacrifice your discomfort with this concept upon the altar of your obedience. Go back and read the verses I listed above – there are many more like these. If they are not inviting us into deeper experience with Him then what are they saying? Is this not the plain and clear meaning to these verses? So let us ask for what He offers and not presume we already have it. Shall we ask Him for a fish but receive a serpent? Could we ask for bread only to receive a stone? Could it be possible to ask Him for an egg but be handed a scorpion? Jesus used these questions in Luke 11:11-13 to motivate us to ask God to impart unto us the fullness of Himself. That is a command for which there is no downside!
I do not know what you will do but I am going to trust and obey.
What an interesting blog. I always appreciate what you write. It nearly always is just the right words for the day.
It follows a wonderful day yesterday…to me not a mist gone by but me remembering what was preached and then of course the marvelous communion last evening. I never tire of it…it always refreshes and cleanses me. Thank you Pastor Jeff.
This reminds me of how the Israelites told Moses that they would listen to him but never wanted to hear directly from God again. They settled for what was safe instead of finding out personally that God is, indeed, good…very good. They chose to be content with their religion while Moses experienced God. Paul said that he knew whom he had believed, not what. I like that!