Looking for God

“The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.”  Psalm 14:2-3

A number of years ago there was a movement among churches in America called “seeker churches.” The idea was that many people were “seeking God” and answers about Him at some level in their lives and that the worship, teaching, and ministries of the church should be aligned to help people seeking God to find Him. But the Bible says just the opposite when it comes to people seeking God. Because of sin in our world, and in each of us, our natural state is totally self-involved and self-seeking. Nobody looks for God in and of himself. We are born and live with the desire to rebel, disobey, and abandon God.

The Bible says, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws them” (John 6:44). We are dependent on the Holy Spirit to draw us toward God. If our thoughts begin to focus on God, we can thank the Holy Spirit for creating that desire in us. So then the faith to know God, and to be drawn toward God and to then surrender to God, all of that comes from God. Everything in us that seeks out God is a gift that God gave us. The Bible puts it this way, “By grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).

If left to our natural self, we will seek just about everything but God. Not one person comes to faith in Christ because they had a sudden urge to turn from themselves and pursue a perfect God who they had no way of knowing. Through the grace and mercy of God, He gives us the free gift of faith to seek Him, then the gift of salvation to be redeemed from our sins, and the gift of Jesus’ resurrection to enjoy eternal life with Him in heaven. A preacher I once heard said, “Salvation is all God and none of us.” How true.

God, thank You for giving me the faith to seek You, to trust You, and to surrender my life to You. I realize that in my sin my desires and dreams were strictly for myself. You have taught me through Your word and by Your Holy Spirit to know You and to obey You. I’m grateful that the faith You have given me has made me Yours. In Jesus’ name, amen.