True Seeking of God by Francis McLellan Wilcox

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Feb 16, 1911

True Seeking of God

By Francis McLellan Wilcox

True seeking of God involves something more than mere supplication. The blessing of God is promised on certain conditions. The prophet tells us to seek the Lord while he may be found, and to call upon him while he is near; and the conditions of seeking are clearly pointed out: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord.” If the seeker does this, then the Lord promises that “he will have mercy upon him,” and that “he will abundantly pardon.”

With too many the seeking of the Lord is a mere sentiment. The blessing of the Lord is measured by the shedding of a few tears or by some happy feeling of exaltation. It is indeed true that, when the Spirit of God comes into the hearts of his children, it will often bring sorrow, and the heart will be melted to tenderness. That Spirit will sometimes bring the deepest joy, leading the believer in songs of lofty praise to pour out his thanksgiving to his Maker. But let not these feelings alone be trusted as evidences of the Lord’s blessing. We have known some who could apparently shed tears of contrition, some who could apparently shout for joy; yet their hearts were not right with God, and in their lives were sins which the Spirit of God pointed out, and which they had failed to put away.

When the believing child of God can come to him with a conscience void of offense toward God and man, with the witness of his own heart that he has earnestly sought, and, so far as in him lies, is fulfilling the will of his Master, then it is his privilege to take hold of that sweet assurance of confidence and trust which will bring the blessed spirit into his heart as an abiding presence. Having entered into the fellowship of communion with his Master, he can enter, as a result, into the joy of communion.

There is a marked tendency in the world to-day to profess faith in Christ, and allow mere sentiment and emotion to supplant the deep movings of the Spirit of God, while at the same time sins are ignored, and the path of obedience is avoided for personal convenience. Let us guard against such an experience. We can not afford to possess any such superficial experience in God. We need that daily conversion which will permeate every fiber of our being, which will transform our life and plans, mold and shape our purposes, and bring under the control of the Spirit of God every emotion and impulse of the heart. The recognition of sin will be the signal for its surrender, and Christ will reign supreme in all the heart’s affections. This is surrender to God; this is consecration; and it is only this complete consecration that will bring the fulness of the Spirit’s leading. But O, when one gives himself thus fully to God, what may he not expect in Christian experience? He holds fellowship with God, and the Spirit becomes his guide.

This surrender to God and this reception of his Spirit does not mean that the Spirit is to become our servant, but rather that we are to become the servants of God. It does not mean the possession of the Spirit for exhibition or show, or for self-exaltation. It means such surrender to God, such self-abnegation, such crucifixion of the flesh, such self-forgetfulness, that we shall be willing to follow whithersoever he leads; and though his footsteps are marked with blood, and the way leads through Gethsemane, we shall follow on, all forgetful of self, all mindful of the One who goes before as our perfect example.

Dear reader, let us seek for this oneness with God, for this complete consecration which will bring into our experience the fulness of his daily divine leading. F. M. W.