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; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried (Jeremiah chapter 29 verses 13 to 14).
The Misconception of Hiding
Unlike the game of “Hide and Seek” where the unseen or hidden person’s aim is to NOT be found, God’s aim in the reality of “Life” is TO BE found by us. In “Life”, it many times (so many times) seems like God is the One who is hiding from us and we are the ones doing the ‘hopeless’ search.
He reassures us in His word however, that He is not hidden FROM US but positioned FOR US to find Him. We will find Him through a consistent, diligent and relentless search by us. As He spoke to Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 29 verses 13 to 14, I am confident He is also speaking this to us:
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; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried
The Wisdom of Seeking
I suspect that your curious minds must be wondering: “Why …. Why it is we need to go through such a long process of finding God and finding the hidden things in Him anyway…Why…Why couldn’t it have been so much easier?!?!” Guess what?Proverbs chapter 25 verse 2reveals a part of the answer.
It says: “It is the glory of God to conceal (hide) a matter BUT the glory of kings (that’s us) to search out a matter”.
We are kings on earth and we are representatives of the Kingdom of heaven. The scripture tells us simply, that God gets glory and honour whenever He creates mysteries for us to unfold. In turn, we can be assured that God’s system of hiding isn’t just a selfish one. Instead, He offers us the comfort and confidence in knowing that WE TOO will gain honour when WE search for (and find out) the deep things that were hidden in Him.
The Rewards of Finding
Haven’t you ever had a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment when you have found the hidden person in Hide and Go Seek? Or simply just finding anything at all that you thought was seemingly unfindable? Listen, God gives us a reward when we search for Him with all our hearts.
May we thereby be comforted by the fact that God has not eternally hidden Himself from us and left us hanging on a hopeless thread or sent us on a wild goose chase. Instead, may we know that He truly desires to be chased and pursued with diligence, with our whole hearts and He promises us that “He will be found by us” and that “He will give glory to us”.
Let Us Pray:
Precious Father,
Gentle Redeemer, our King and Friend, may we Your children come to find You AND know You when we position ourselves to search for You with our whole hearts, may You renew our way of thinking so that we may understand fully that our searching for You will not be in vain but that You CAN BE FOUND. Please equip us with the diligence to search for You with all our hearts in the name of Jesus our Lord we pray AMEN.
Melicha J. Smith originates and resides in Jamaica, West Indies. She has been involved in youth ministries for over 13 years and has served in the capacities of teacher, mentor, intercessor and missionary. Professionally she functions as a Registered Pharmacist.
Melicha enjoys and invests most of her time in writing, reading and listening to music. She loves a good game of football even though she understands VERY LITTLE about the game.
Melicha Smith is an author, speaker and founder of Reflective Hands Ministry.
Follow her on Instagram: @reflectivehandsja