It is time to seek the Lord

‘Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near’ – Isaiah 55:6

Last week, it was expedient to introduce the issues before us by looking at the latter half of Isaiah 55 and speaking of the need to get our expectations right for this year. But we must now go further to say that to get our expectations right, we must get our hearts right.

That why that chapter begins with an invitation to come and drink from the waters of Life.

‘“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost” – Isaiah 55:1

This invitation is only to the thirsty. The man who is complacent, satisfied and indifferent cannot have access to these waters. No, the key to the door that leads to these waters is spiritual thirst. It is only those who are seeking that will find. It is only to those who are desperate enough to knock, that the door will be opened.

But let me point out the problem is not always that we are not thirsty. Often it is that we have not learnt to recognise spiritual thirst. Spiritual thirst (just like every other thing that we need to have in us to come to God) is a work of grace in the human heart. God himself puts it in us. (Note that God will never require of us what he has not first put in us). Spiritual thirst comes as God allows a sense of dissatisfaction to develop in our hearts. But often when God is stirring our hearts thus, we interpret it as our need for other things. We mistakenly feel that it is more of this or more of that that we need. We are like the boy Samuel who did not recognise God calling him, but rather ran to man. Or like Ephraim in Hosea 11 whom God wooed with cords of love but it is written, ‘they did not realize it was I (God)’. We too do not often recognise it is God drawing our hearts, so we run after many other things – more exciting activities, or another book, or a bigger car, or a better job, or a newer relationship to satisfy our thirst. That’s why God cautions the people here,

Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live.  – Isaiah 55:2-3

God was saying ‘I am the one drawing you. Why waste your resources, time and strength pursuing those things that can never satisfy the thirst in you?’  Like I said last week, I believe we are living in exciting days when God is pouring out his abundant rain of grace upon his people. My beloved, God is not far from you. He is near – so near. He wants you to drink of him. He wants you to find him. He is saying to us:

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

Now is the time when ‘he may be found’. This is the time that he is near. So this is not a year to focus on seeking things from God but on seeking to find Him. It is a year of drinking from his waters until we overflow. It is time to seek the Lord. This is the time to turn to the LORD through repentance, for he is near to have mercy. It is time to turn from our own ways and make seeking the Lord the disposition of our hearts,and to make drawing near to hear him a daily discipline. Last week we said: ‘Do not tailor your expectations to fit your experiences. Let your expectations remain based on what God is saying’. It is as we set our hearts’ pursuit in the right direction that our expectations too will begin to line up to what God wants.

Beloved, I want you to make up your mind to seek the Lord this year. I am not talking of a determination (for ‘the arm of flesh will fail you’). Rather I am talking of a decision you make depending on the grace of God at work in you. Pray and say ‘Lord, I will seek you. My heart cry this year is to know you. I want to find you’. And as you focus on this all other things will be added unto you. His rain of grace is falling down, but to drink we must recognise and respond to the spiritual thirst in us.