This is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: ”Seek me and live; do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing.” (Amos 5:4-5)
Seek Me and live. To a nation and people that are wandering away from Him, God simply says, “Seek Me and live.” Seek Me, run after Me, pursue Me, desire Me, make Me your priority.
I was trying to think this morning what it means to “seek God.” I guess it boils down to wanting Him, really desiring Him. We seek that which we love or that which we feel that we cannot live without. In Matthew 6, after talking about worrying over finances, food, clothing, and daily provision, Jesus says, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well” (6:33). Instead of seeking after financial security, making this your priority, making this your aim, making this the thing you worry about, Jesus says, “Seek God. Seek His kingdom and His righteousness.” Pursue Him.
I am reminded of A.W. Tozer’s book, The Pursuit of God. It is one of the most powerful Christian books written in the last century. His first chapter is “Following Hard after God” in which he states that the main problem we face in the Christian life is lack of desire. We become complacent, apathetic, thirsty and hungry for the wrong things. We fight this battle every day in our lives. Actually we fight it in almost every relationship. Why do marriage relationships so often falter, fizzle, and fail? Desire for one another gets slowly replaced by apathy and busyness. The relationship becomes so cluttered with trivial things, unresolved issues, and other desires that the heart of the relationship dies.
No relationship can operate on cruise control. The natural tendency of all things in this sin-cursed world is to move toward, what scientists call, entropy. Disorder. Decay. Actually, the definition of entropy is pretty interesting. “A measure of disorder of the molecules in substances that are in contact with each other, indicating the amount of energy that (although it still exists) is not available for use because it has become more evenly distributed instead of being concentrated.” In other words, energy is not lost in substances rather it is distributed among so many other things that it loses its concentration, its power, its effectiveness. The same is true with us. How many things are on your mind right now? How many things are on mine?
God says, “Seek Me and live.” Don’t go running off to Bethel, Gilgal, and Beersheba (places of worship, idolatry, and government). For our time…don’t go running to Washington DC, Trenton, Colorado Springs, Nashville, or even Sayre Woods to find peace, security, satisfaction, and direction. Run to Me.
And what’s the promise? You will live. Find God and you find life…real life, true life, abundant life, everlasting life.
No matter where we are, God promises, “But if…you seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you look for Him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 4:29).
Lord, I thirst and hunger after the wrong things. My mind is easily distracted. My emotions are easily dominated by worry. Calm the waves of my heart and help me to see You and seek You today.