“Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the LORD, and He will have mercy on them, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.” - Isaiah 55:6-7
What does it mean to seek the LORD? According to this passage in Isaiah, we should seek Him now, while He is near and can be found. “Call on Him,” Isaiah urges. Simply put, pray! Talk to the Lord. Ask Him for help. Beg for His mercy and grace. Tell Him what you need. Just seek Him now.
Isaiah does give some details of what happens when we seek the Lord. First, it is clear that we cannot seek God and practice continual sin. If we seek God, one of the first things that will happen is conviction of sin. He will awaken our conscience to any known or hidden sin. Once He has graciously shown us our sin, we must forsake it if we are honestly seeking Him. If we refuse to turn from our sin then at that moment we cease to seek Him. God is not found in sin; therefore it is impossible to seek Him there.
But seeking the Lord doesn’t just mean turning from sin; it also means turning to Him. We turn to Him for deliverance from sin and His wrath against our sin. When we seek Him, we do so trusting that we will escape His righteous fury over our sin. Notice what Isaiah says will happen when we turn to the Lord – He will have mercy and freely pardon.
The only way to seek God is through a relationship with His Son Jesus Christ. He is our Mediator, our Sacrifice, and our Shepherd. We cannot come to God apart from Christ. The Lord is near, and there is still time to call to Him through faith in Jesus. Forsake all sin and turn to Him. He stands waiting to freely pardon.
Dear Father, with all of my heart I seek You. Please help me and show me my sin. I turn to You in faith today. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Topics: Faith