If You Seek Me

So, things get lost around here…misplaced…rehomed…whatever happens they disappear.  We do, however, have only a few places where lost things can hide, so usually we find whatever the treasure is and we all rejoice in our good fortune!  Last night, however, I wasn't looking for anything.  We were doing one of our tidies (because cleaning happens less often) and I was scooting the couch cushions in and found some socks lurking between the couch and the cushion (YUCK) so I pulled those out and figured I'd have a mini treasure hunt to see what I could find.  It wasn't an incredible collection, but always a surprise!  I found a silver necklace, more socks (of course) a knitting needle, one play dog bowl, a princess plate for a tea party, a rock (which for some reason I left there) and some other random  trash (literal garbage…UGH).  My girls showed up and were like, "Yeah, Mom my necklace!"  Or, "That's where that went!"  I didn't go so far as to vacuum (because I didn't want to get carried away) but I did feel a little better knowing what was there…and where it was now.  As I was searching I thought of (I cut and pasted this so it looks funny to me, like we needed a drumroll)

Jeremiah 29:13

New International Version (NIV)

13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

I became a Christian in college and most of us didn't have much money, really we only had the money our parents gave us (and how fortunate that our parents had money to give us!) so we couldn't go to LifeWay or some Christian bookstore and purchase "inspirational" items.  Mugs or picture frames with scripture on them. So, we just scratched the verses on pictures or wrote them on index cards and miracle of miracles, the Lord wrote them on our hearts!!!  I remember we had Jeremiah 33:3 on a poster of a small child on the phone.  Funny…anyway!  I love the promise here.  You will seek me and FIND me! We won't end up on some horrible end of hide and seek with the Lord.  The sort where one of the two quits and doesn't tell the other.  Then the seeker is seeking for nothing or worse, the one hiding is hiding for a really LONG time in a dark and cramped space!  It's happened to all of us…at least those of us who were children in the 80's when those games were still played with the neighborhood kids.  No, this isn't that.  This is a promise to those of us LOOKING…we will FIND!  As I searched the couch last night, I wasn't looking for anything in particular, just looking and I found some stuff.  It's even more thrilling when you are looking for something in particular and you actually find it!  We've had lost wallets, shoes and please Heaven help the homeschool families find all of the library books!!!  We could feed a small nation (actually probably a large one) with our fines!  There is such great celebration when you find what you were looking for.  The same is true in this case.  If you are truly seeking the Lord…you will truly find Him.  The unfortunate truth is that most of us aren't seeking Him.  We're seeking His goods.  We want what He can do for us, not what He can BE for us.  Our Redeemer, or Lord of Lords, our King of Kings.  That's what we'll find.  We are moving into the Season where we all look like Seekers.  We all look like people who want to find that sweet baby who was born to bear our sin and sorrows.  We are all looking for our Savior, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in the manger…let's really look.  Let's really be seekers…the sort that find.  And when you do, when you have found the treasure that is God Almighty, don't hold back…CELEBRATE!  It's no small thing to be reconnected with the very One who bought your soul with unperishable goods…the precious blood of His Son.  Go…look…you'll find Him and you'll never be the same again!