Seek the LORD while He
may be found; - Isaiah 55:6a (NAS)
“Hurry up, Dad! Hurry up!” Harold
shouted as he banged on his parent's bedroom door. “It's my
birthday and I know what I want.” In response Harold heard nothing
so he tried to open the door but it was stuck. Desperate to get
going, he pushed harder and harder on the door, yelling for his dad
to hurry up and than all of a sudden the door flew open and Harold
found himself falling out of bed.
“I must have been dreaming.”
Harold thought out loud as he jumped to his feet, “I need to get
going, it's my birthday today and I know what I want.” Quickly
throwing on some clean but wrinkled clothes, Harold ran to his
parents bedroom and started banging on the door. “Dad, Dad, Hurry
up, I need to get to the pet store.” After banging on the door for
several minutes and getting no response he opened the door and went
in.
As he walked into his parents room he
let out a gasp – the room was empty. Furthermore, he noticed the
time on his parents alarm clock, it read 4:25 P.M. “AHHK” Herald
screamed, “I slept too long from staying up all night and the pet
store is about to close.” In a whirl, Harold took of running
through the house looking for his dad but he couldn't find him, in
fact, he couldn't find anybody.
After ten minutes of searching, Harold
found a note on the refrigerator that said they couldn't wait for him
to get up and went to the park for a picnic and that they would be
back around 5:30. “NO!!!” Harold screamed and then started to
panic, “I'll never make it in time.” In a flash Harold was out
the front door, on his bike and peddling as fast as he could.
With five minutes to spare, Harold
burst through the pet store's front door and frantically ran up and
down the aisles looking for the pet he so desired to have for his
birthday. “Where are they?” He yelled as tears started to well up
in his eyes. “The store's closing and I can't find one. They've
got to be here somewhere.”
“You'll have to leave now boy,”
came a voice from a clerk standing behind Harold, “I'm closing the
store.” “But you can't,” Harold protested, “I haven't found
my birthday pet.” “Well, what is it you're looking for? “ the
clerk sighed, “I'll see if I can help you if you’re quick.”
“I'm looking for a pet skunk.”
Harold told the clerk “Right this way.” the clerk told Harold and
led him through a door and into the alley. “Skunks are not pets.”
the clerk said, “We do not carry them. The only skunks that ever
come around here are the ones that try to get into our garbage.”
“But I've got to have one.” Harold protested.
“Do you even know anything about
skunks?” The clerk asked as he turned to go back in the store to
close it up. “Well, sort of. Maybe a little.” Harold told the
clerk. “Then you should know they don't make good pets.” The
clerk responded, “Now get lost.” and with those words the clerk
shut and locked the door leaving Harold wondering what he really
knew about skunks.
I think the Bible makes it clear that
we are to seek the Lord
- Deuteronomy 4:29 "But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. (NAS)
- Psalm 105:4 Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually. (NAS)
- Isaiah 55:6 Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. (NAS)
- Matthew 6:33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (NAS)
We should be seeking the Lord in
everything but too often we seek like Harold in his attempts to find
a skunk or like Asa the king of Judah – we go seeking in the wrong
spot.
In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s
rule, Baasha king of Israel attacked Judah. He made the town of Ramah
strong so he could keep people from leaving or entering Judah, Asa’s
country. Asa took silver and gold from the treasuries of the Temple
of the LORD and out of his own palace. Then he sent it with
messengers to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who lived in Damascus. Asa
said, “Let there be a treaty between you and me as there was
between my father and your father. I am sending you silver and gold.
Break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will leave my
land.“ Ben-Hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the commanders of
his armies to attack the towns of Israel. They defeated the towns of
Ijon, Dan, and Abel Beth Maacah, and all the towns in Naphtali where
treasures were stored. When Baasha heard about this, he stopped
building up Ramah and left his work. Then King Asa brought all the
people of Judah to Ramah, and they carried away the rocks and wood
that Baasha had used. And they used them to build up Geba and Mizpah.
At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to
him, “You depended on the king of Aram to help you and not on the
LORD your God. So the king of Aram’s army escaped from you. The
Cushites and Libyans had a large and powerful army and many chariots
and horsemen. But you depended on the LORD to help you, so he handed
them over to you. The LORD searches all the earth for people who have
given themselves completely to him. He wants to make them strong.
Asa, you did a foolish thing, so from now on you will have wars.“
2 Chronicles 16:1-9 (NCV)
Asa was in trouble and needed help. He
went looking in the wrong direction and found an answer but and it
helped him out for awhile but in the end it was the wrong answer for
it did not come from God but from men.
- Jeremiah 17:5 -This is what the LORD says: “A curse is placed on those who trust other people, who depend on humans for strength, who have stopped trusting the LORD. (NCV)
- Psalm 14:2-3 - The LORD looks down from heaven on the entire human race; he looks to see if there is even one with real understanding, one who seeks for God. But no, all have turned away from God; all have become corrupt. No one does good, not even one! (NLT)
- Psalm 10:4 - In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. (NIV)
There are many things for which we may
go seeking it may be help in a difficult time, it may be answers to
puzzling questions of life, etc. If we go seeking for answers or help
from the world we may find answers that seem to work but will never
ultimately satisfy.
Here's Something To Ponder
- When you need answers or help where do you go?
- Are there better answers to that which you seek?
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