Seek

God doesn't hide.  But we are still told to seek Him.  Sometimes it seems He remains just out of reach though.  But I also wonder if that is because my heart isn't in the seeking, maybe too many distractions and worldly concerns.  I think the kind of seeking the Lord is looking for is single minded, desperate focus.   He wants us to desire His Presence above all.  Not just a quick peek in the Bible and a few hurried words of prayer, but a yearning so deep that is makes us forget all else while we are doing it.  And that is my desire also, although I know it will take patience and practice to get to that place. 

The Lord has been putting this on my heart lately.  Last week I read in our Advent devotional about the woman in Mark 5* that had been ill for twelve years.  She held fast to the hope that she only need to touch the hem of Jesus' garment to be healed.  But the Lord showed me something else in this story as well....her determination to reach Him.  She was unclean.  In being so she was more than likely an outcast, rejected by the very crowds of people she was pushing through.  And yet she came to Him.  She risked even more rejection to reach her Healer. 

Then we have Zacchaeus in Luke 19**.  Height challenged Zacchaeus.  A hated tax-collector.  Unpopular.  Most likely corrupt.  A pariah among his people.  He too had to find a way above the crowds to find Jesus.  He climbed a tree!  He found away around the crowds to catch a glimpse of his Savior.

In Mark 2*** we see four friends determined to reach Jesus for help of a fifth man.  Again the crowds were so intense, they resorted to desperate measures to reach their goal.  Finding Jesus.  Climbing on the roof, they made a hole and lowered the fifth man down on his mat right in front of Jesus! They sought the One who forgives all our sins and heals our diseases. With determined focus they sought the One who makes us whole inside and out.

What are the "crowds" in your life and mine that keep us from Jesus?  That keep us from receiving His healing touch?  Busyness is usually my problem.  Especially this time of year what with all the extra hours at work and the preparations for the upcoming Christmas celebration.  These things crowd out my "God time" when I should be drawing closer to Him.  But I feel the stirring, the deep need in my heart for Jesus.  For quiet time alone with Him.  It's in there, beneath the to do list and the frantic work schedule and the needs of the daily routine.  Lord, help me to prioritize!

Lord, I need You.  More than anything or anyone else I need You.  I need the peace, love, and wholeness only You can bring.  Lord, focus my attention on You.  You are more important than even the air I breathe.  Give all of us the deep desire to do whatever it takes to reach You.  There is no more worthy, more necessary objective in our lives.  It's You we need most!  Thank You for this beautiful and timely reminder.  In the Name of our Savior and Healer, Jesus.  Amen. 

Start seeking! 

Isaiah 55:6  Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near.

*Mark 5:24-34  24 Jesus went with him, and all the people followed, crowding around him. 25 A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. 26 She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. 28 For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition.  30 Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my robe?”  31 His disciples said to him, “Look at this crowd pressing around you. How can you ask, ‘Who touched me?’”  
32 But he kept on looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done. 34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.”

**Luke 19:1-10  19 Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. 2 There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich. 3 He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way.  5 When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.”  6 Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. 7 But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled.  8 Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!”  9 Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

***Mark 2:1-12  2 When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. 2 Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, 3 four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. 4 They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. 5 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”  6 But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, 7 “What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”  8 Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? 9 Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’? 10 So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, 11 “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”  12 And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!”