A little game of hide and seek

Do you remember that old time game of hide and seek? All the kids in the neighborhood would gather together, then we'd pick someone to be the 'seeker' and all the rest of us would dash hither and yon in hopes of finding that perfect hiding spot so we would go undiscovered until we heard the loud cry of "All come free!" hollered across the yards. The one who had the task of seeking had to explore all the nooks and crannies, under objects, behind them, and even inside of them. We'd scamper up trees, nestle back inside a bushy hedge, or scramble into an empty box beside the house. All of this was in the hopes of not being found by the one doing the seeking. I wonder how many of us think God is the one 'hiding' while we are the ones doing the seeking? We may even be at the point in our lives where we feel like we need to call out, "All come free!", simply because we have been seeking way too long and been totally unable to find what it is we are seeking in him. 

Without faith no one can please God because the one coming to God must believe He exists, and He rewards those who come seeking. (Hebrews 11:6)

God never hides, but there are some principles we can see in scripture that may help us understand why we 'think' he does. If you have ever read through the Song of Solomon, you may have observed this story of two lovers that somehow transitions into one of them seemingly pulling far away or almost 'hiding' from the other. It seems like this 'love story' kind of takes an unexpected turn from this totally close, intimate place of relating to one another, into this place of 'hey, where did you go' kind of scene. I think the thing God was showing us in this story is that he is the groom and we are his bride. In the first stages of our 'relationship' with him, we are madly in love, always together, sensing each other's presence almost continuously. Then we enter into this 'other stage' of our relationship with Jesus in which our 'sense' of his presence is somehow affected - we just know he isn't as close as he was and we wonder where he has gone. 

It is at this point that we can either cry out in despair, thinking he has abandoned us and left us to fend for ourselves - thinking perhaps that we didn't matter to him anymore - or we could do exactly what he expects for us to do - seek him out! He hasn't hidden - he has moved a little bit further away so that we will come along with him - seeking new things in him. We might feel abandoned at times, like all we've known has been taken from us, but we need to be called to account for believing those feelings of abandonment. Yes, the feelings are real - but God intended those emotions to drive us into seeking - to get us up and moving again toward something we may not have ever experienced before in him. As it says in our passage today, God rewards those who come seeking. 

Seeking can be done various ways, but at the crux of it is this kind of 'desperation' momentum that drives us on and keeps us looking. As with the hide and seek games of our youth, we know the clock is ticking and we want to find as many of the neighborhood gang as we can before the time is up. We sought them out with gusto - earnest in our seeking. God asks the same of us - be earnest in our seeking. He also asks us to be honest in that seeking. We come believing, but we are also totally honest with him about our disbelief! There will be times we come with more disbelief than we do belief - but that is okay because he wants us as we are, not some fancy, made up 'us' that isn't real. Seek him as you are and don't be surprised if the seeking takes you into places you have explored yet in him. Just sayin!

You reading my mind?

If you have ever used the term, "You must have read my mind", then you probably had someone show up with just the right thing you needed at that moment, coming through for you without you even having to ask for their assist, etc.  Truth be told, they didn't read your mind - they anticipated your needs, did the neighborly thing, or just listened to the voice of God!  Man does not read man's thought - God does!  Wouldn't it be great if we could read God's mind?  To truly figure out this whole mess we call life and know the end from the beginning?  Well, according to what he told Jeremiah, we can!

For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.  Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you.  Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:11-13 AMP)

Thoughts and plans for welfare and peace, not for evil, and to give us hope in our final outcome!  Welfare is really our "well-being" - the condition of being and doing well.  Peace is something which eludes us at times because we live in the opposite of peace, being affected by our circumstances so much our emotions are in a frenzy most of the time!  God's plans are for us to know AND live in peace - not frenzy, worry, or fear.  God doesn't plan or have thoughts of evil for our lives - but of good.  He doesn't want us to lose hope, though the journey will be long and the road ahead pocked with potential pitfalls.  His plans and his thoughts are for our good!  

So how is it we don't understand the mind of God?  He puts it quite plainly in this passage.  It might just be because we don't finish the passage!  The rest of the passage gives us hints on how it is we learn to tap into the thoughts and plans of God for our lives:

* We have to ask.  He says we need to "call upon him".  Too many times, we get in the midst of our mess and we forget who holds the mess in the palm of his hands!  We don't ask, so we don't receive the understanding we need.  James reminds us, "If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves."  (James 1:5-6 MSG)  If we don't know, we are to ask.  We only get to know another's thoughts when we take time to explore them.  Isn't it silly how much time we actually take "worrying" our way through life and the answer is really right at our fingertips?

* We have to seek.  If you really take this in context, you will see there is a sense of urgency or earnest which is described in this passage.  We are to require God as a vital necessity for life itself.  It is a seeking which is directed from the heart.  Since the heart is made up of our emotions, this is suggestive of some form of passionate and intense seeking.  Earnest is an intense and serious state of mind, with a sense of importance planed on that which is sought after.  In other words, we place an "importance" on finding what it is we seek.  When we do so, there is a drive from within which is deeply felt.  It is not casual, or cursory.  When we get serious about finding God's plan, we realize seeking takes some effort on our part.  If you have ever sat down to truly get to know another you have an interest in, you know only a fraction of the "investment" it takes to develop that relationship.  God asks nothing less of us - in fact, he asks more.  Seeking involves not only our minds, but our hearts.  In turn, it involves our obedience.  

What is the outcome of this asking and seeking?  I think it is found later in the 29th chapter, verse 27, when Jeremiah hears from God, "Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is there anything too hard for Me?"  We learn God has it all in his hands.  Nothing is out of his control or exceeds his abilities / capabilities.  What escapes our minds-eye never escapes his.  What befuddles our thinking is clear as crystal to him.  If we want to know God's thoughts and his plans for our lives, we need to follow the pattern he lays out for actually finding them.  Just sayin!