Finding the Lord
God is so good to come to us and reveal Himself to us, but at the same time we need to seek Him and call upon Him. In other words we must respond to His advances in order to find the Lord. Isaiah 55:6,7 gives us some insights in this vital area of our lives.
We must seek Him while He may be found. That tells us that there are times when we will not be able to find Him. We must call, when He is near, so there are times when He will not be close. Why is that a reality? If we rebuff His advances, He withdraws. He does not force Himself on anyone. When He comes, He comes as the Lord, so He picks the times, and the agenda is His not ours. He is not a genie in a bottle who has to jump at our wishes.
When He comes to us, He points out our sins and the unrighteousness in our lives, because He is holy, so He can't have close fellowship with anyone continuing in sin willingly. That is why Isaiah points out that we must forsake our ways and our unrighteous thoughts, so that we return to the Lord and His way. Then, He is eager to have mercy on us and pardon us. Once there is pardon, there is closeness, because of our cleansing.
Therefore, finding the Lord is a matter of responding immediately to Him when He comes to us and doing whatever He says to do. Then, once we enter close fellowship with God, He is ready to meet our needs and bless us according to His will.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Isaiah 56-58.
We must seek Him while He may be found. That tells us that there are times when we will not be able to find Him. We must call, when He is near, so there are times when He will not be close. Why is that a reality? If we rebuff His advances, He withdraws. He does not force Himself on anyone. When He comes, He comes as the Lord, so He picks the times, and the agenda is His not ours. He is not a genie in a bottle who has to jump at our wishes.
When He comes to us, He points out our sins and the unrighteousness in our lives, because He is holy, so He can't have close fellowship with anyone continuing in sin willingly. That is why Isaiah points out that we must forsake our ways and our unrighteous thoughts, so that we return to the Lord and His way. Then, He is eager to have mercy on us and pardon us. Once there is pardon, there is closeness, because of our cleansing.
Therefore, finding the Lord is a matter of responding immediately to Him when He comes to us and doing whatever He says to do. Then, once we enter close fellowship with God, He is ready to meet our needs and bless us according to His will.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Isaiah 56-58.