Desperately Seeking After God

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you says the Lord and I will bring you back from your captivity..."
(Jeremiah 29:11-14)

Captivity, for us as Christians, does not refer to literal prison bars. Captivity, for us, refers to anything that is holding us back from being all we can be for Christ.

Are you suffering from debilitating depression? Did your finances wash away with a flood of debt and job loss? Maybe you're like me, battling a tether to the refrigerator door! Anything that separates you from God's best, that overwhelms you or controls your life, is your captor.

But what did the Lord say about this?

He said, "I will be found by you and I will bring you back from your captivity."

When? How? When we search for the Lord with our whole heart we will find Him and be set free!

The Hebrew word for search is darash (dau-rahsh) suggesting a close pursuit with such earnestness that the search is infused with desperation. This indicates something more than warming a pew on Sunday or having an occasional quiet time. These activities are good, but they do not say, "Desperation"!

We all need to think about this.

Are you desperate for God? I'm learning to be. It began by recognizing that I needed to return to my first love - Jesus. I needed to depend on Him totally, to feast on His Word and sit at His feet in conversation...daily. I needed to let Him tear down the walls surrounding my heart so that I could thoroughly accept His love.

Desperate for God...

Something to think about.

Lord, Set me free from anything that keeps me from Your best. I want all of You. I want to be enthralled by Your love, amazed by Your power and thrilled with Your Word. I am learning to trust You completely, to depend upon You totally, and for that, I am very thankful. These lessons have been painful, but life-changing. Thank You, Lord, for letting me find You and for answering me when I called. I love You, Lord.