(5th in a series of seven blogs on Jeremiah 29:10-14)
We’ve been looking at God’s promises in Jeremiah 29 to the Jews in captivity (see the previous 4 blogs to get the background for this). God promises He will be there for them when they call upon Him (verse 12). But just what does it mean to ‘call upon God’?
Calling upon Him doesn’t mean sending up a quick request during a TV commercial or passing on the ‘to do’ list we give Him every morning in our prayer time. Calling upon Him means turning totally and only to Him for our needs. A basic rule of Bible interpretation is to let Scripture interpret Scripture. The next verse, Jeremiah 29:13, tells us what God means when He says we are to ‘call on Him.’
“You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). This is the key to a close connection to God – seeking Him. But notice what God says. He doesn’t say we are to seek His blessings. He says we are to seek HIM. Honestly, is it closeness to God you want, or the benefits that come to you from that? Is He the greatest treasure, the most wonderful blessing you can ever have? When we have close intimacy with Him everything else follows. If we don’t have it, nothing will substitute.
Parents: do you want your children to seek to be close to you because they love you, or because of how they benefit from you? Meister Eckhard (c. 1260-1327) says, “If we seek God for our own good and profit, we are not seeking God.” If there are self-centered motives we don’t seek God, we just seek our own benefit. How awful to use the God of the universe who created us and died for us to meet our own needs! “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). (May 16, 2016 Doylestown, PA)
Phil 3:7-11 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ — the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Honestly spend a few moments asking God to search your heart (Psalm 139)? Do you really seek Him above and before all else? Or do you mainly seek what He can do in the way of help, blessing, peace, etc., in your life?
Spend a few moments seeking Him and Him alone.