Steps to Christ Chapter 10 The Knowledge of God Infographicby emmanuel_higgins
29:13Jeremiah 29:13
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
God will be found by every person who seeks and searches for Him with all the heart and with the whole heart. It is the Lord Jesus Himself who is found in this way by all who sincerely lay hold of Him by faith, for He is more than willing to be found. Such seeking is not divided, casual or fitful, but sincere, humble and earnest prayer that opens the heart to God, turns from sin in repentance and confession, and surrenders self and will to Him without reserve in obedience. It is diligent, prayerful study of Scripture, loving God with every power of the being, and believing that He exists and rewards those who diligently seek Him. Those who so seek receive the outpouring of His Spirit, rest and joy, strength and blessing, guidance and wisdom, and deliverance from the power of sin in genuine conversion.
Exile Setting and Return
The promise belongs to God's purpose for Israel at the close of seventy years in Babylon, when the rapid course of events among the nations betokened His mighty hand at work. It is joined to His pledge to end the captivity and bring His people back to their homeland, and to their finding Him when they seek and pray with all the heart. Their finding Him and receiving His favor would come when they turned to Him with the whole heart.
After the seventy years He would visit His people and perform His good word toward them in causing them to return. His thoughts toward them are thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give an expected end. Calling upon Him and going and praying to Him brings His listening ear, and He hears their prayers and shows them favor.
The return and restoration from captivity would follow the appointed seventy years of bondage, not the false prophets' promise of swift deliverance. Those who sought the Lord were ready to accept the opportunity under Cyrus to return and rebuild the temple. After seventy years He would deliver them and bring them back to Jerusalem.
In that exile setting wholehearted seeking is tied to being found by Him and restored from captivity, and is connected with loyalty, truth, and submission to God. Faith in the prophetic word leads into the foretold experience of giving special thought to the promises and entering into prayer and seeking.
Certain Promise to Find
God will be found by everyone who seeks and searches for Him with all the heart and with the whole heart. Wholehearted seeking, not a divided or casual approach, is what brings the discovery, and those who come sincerely and humbly will have Him make Himself known to them. This finding includes finding in Christ deliverance from the power of sin, and it is joined to seeking His blessing and receiving the Spirit, for when people seek the Lord with all their heart He will surely be found by them. Such devotion is expressed in courtesy and reverence toward Him.
Finding Him rests wholly with each soul and each family to decide and to make the effort to seek. God waits for a willing response to His offered grace and bestowed love, and He cannot respond to a soul that does not respond, while a heart yearning for Him recognizes His voice. He bids seekers to the marriage feast and sets before them in His Word a banquet full of marrow and fatness that will satisfy every want. When that decision and wholehearted seeking begins in every family, He gives an outpouring of His Spirit as on the Day of Pentecost.
The promise is impartial, with no respecter of persons, and for everyone alike. It can be believed and walked out upon even in great feebleness by believing that God exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him, and by showing that belief in trusting Him. Seeking means pouring out soul troubles to Jesus with a broken heart and contrite spirit, without studied eloquence or long set prayers, telling Him everything. Even the humble servant in humble employment wherever they are is seen as purchased with infinite price, and it is His greatest delight to bring such seekers close enough to recognize their Leader and listen for His orders, and as Captain of salvation to make known to them everything essential concerning eternity and salvation. Wholehearted seeking results in finding Him to teach and guide each person individually, giving patience with jealous and sensitive people, strength to endure misunderstanding and unkind judgment while following in the footsteps of Jesus, and wisdom to avoid stirring feelings and leaving disagreeable impressions while working out character for future immortal life.
God means what He says and will fulfill this sure promise. Seeking must be earnest and sincere, for God will not be trifled with. Those who have opportunity to find the true path but presumptuously depart from it will realize their terrible mistake when too late. Finding Him belongs with continuing to obey God, for eternal life is for those only who continue to obey, and with receiving Christ, for whom Christ has purchased salvation and gives power to become sons of God to those who believe on His name.
It is the Lord Jesus, the precious Saviour, who will be found by all who seek Him with the whole heart and lay hold of Him by faith. He is only too willing to be found by all who seek Him sincerely. Through finding Him seekers receive the power in heaven and in earth that He longs to bestow upon all. The Saviour is found when people seek Him with their whole heart, and earnest, continuous prayer makes the heart humble and ready to receive the truth as it is in Jesus and to teach the lessons learned from Him. Answering the prayer of Christ for unity by putting away suspicions led by Satan and dismissing the enemy belongs with this finding, with the result that the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against the enemy.
Meaning of Wholehearted Seeking
Seeking means searching with all the heart and the whole heart, not in a divided, casual or fitful way but in individual, steady, earnest seeking that refuses to be diverted. Pride, self, and the position taken can keep a person from seeking this way, for the Word must enter and rule the heart with the Spirit working there. God will not accept a person who remains in the present spiritual condition, but requires ceasing to let the spirit stay sour and hard and ceasing to criticize everyone.
Such seeking is sincere prayer that opens the heart to God, longs for Him earnestly, and draws near with humility rather than self-exaltation. It is not mere form, formal words or lip-service, and God will not accept prayer without this wholehearted drawing near. It means coming earnestly for His help in recognition that without Him there is perishing, longing as a thirsty deer longs for water, persisting in fervent prayer until He strengthens and gives peace. It includes learning meekness and lowness from Christ, finding rest of soul, serving with earnest active devotion, humbling self where every stain of sin can be cleansed, and giving true earnest service of the heart with full purpose.
Seeking includes turning from unbelief and sin, praying for pardon and help, surrendering fully, and receiving strength and blessing. It is earnest repentance that brings blessing and sweet assurance of acceptance and forgiveness sought with all the heart. It means getting everything straight between the soul and God instead of passing over wrongdoings or refusing to confess for fear of lessening the confidence of others, coming into close relation to the cross, seeing Christ making atonement for sins, and knowing for oneself something of His grief because of sin. It is standing in a repentant confessing attitude, which is the only hope of salvation and fills the heart with joy, confessing character defects in humble dependence and learning to rely on His wisdom and help. When fulfillment of promises is not received heaven has not failed, but the covenant is broken on the human side by refusing through disobedience to let Him remove sins; the way back is to come repentantly, confess sins, take hold of His strength and make peace with Him. Wholehearted seeking sees and acknowledges vileness, emptiness and weakness, feels entire dependence, surrenders self, accepts Christ as personal Saviour, and maintains repentance, humiliation and meekness, pleading to a purpose with sure success and manifestly receiving the righteousness of Christ by faith which is wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and eternal life, shown in appreciation by undivided obedience to His commandments.
Seeking means full consecration, yielding up the will, falling on the rock and being broken without lowering the standard of righteousness to meet erratic ideas. It is giving oneself to God without reserve, drawing near to Him and giving the service of the whole being, which brings relief from distress, peace of mind, and a changed desire to live plainly, soberly and watchfully. In genuine conversion from sin to righteousness, the sinner's only hope, he joins his weakness to Christ's strength, his ignorance to Christ's wisdom, his unworthiness to Christ's merit, his spiritual weakness to Christ's enduring might, and his poverty to Christ's boundless wealth, and surrendering all becomes one with Christ to be used to His glory with the spirit of peace. It means making Jesus truly Saviour to all intents and purposes, not touching Him only with the tips of the fingers but praising Him for His wonderful matchless love, obeying His requirements, submitting heart, mind, soul and strength to His will, expelling every selfish worldly motive, and cooperating with Christ to be made holy. God's earnest desire for such seeking is shown by His gift of heaven in Christ and by Christ's life, death and intercession as fullest evidence of His love, and He blesses every soul that makes this full consecration.
Wholehearted seeking is earnest, humble, prayerful study of Scripture, whose truths are like hidden treasure discovered only by diligent search. Through that study comes clearer knowledge of God's character and will and closer connection with Him, with spiritual life, grace and divine light needed in doubt and uncertainty, lest without recognizing Christ's light moral understanding and taste be corrupted. Finding comes in the Word in both Old and New Testaments, which contain rich spiritual nourishment for individual church members who so seek. Studying Scripture reveals Christ and makes believers increasingly like Him, for knowing Christ is eternal life, and light and life cannot be separated; in this way seekers find truth as hidden treasure, become acquainted with truth, and perfect Christian character as every scholar and worker must.
Finding requires seeking with every power of the being, which is loving the Lord with all heart and soul and strength and mind. These principles are the foundation of Christian life, and receiving them into the heart and living by them brings God's salvation and His power upon His work. It requires whole-heartedness in service and prayer with a heart overflowing with love for God and fellow men, with fervency and zeal, tenderness and love and sincerity under the deep moving of the Holy Spirit, yearning for a deeper and broader realization of the Saviour's love and crying for more wisdom. Tame, spiritless, dry, formal prayers show a Christless heart that is not seeking fully, and cherished selfishness must be cleansed away because it leaves the Lord no room to enter and keeps Him from being found.
Seeking means severing dependence on every human being and object and entwining the affections about God, a personal work of purifying the soul temple that no one else can do for another. It is going to Jesus Christ, the One who never makes a mistake, instead of going to any human being for help, pleading with strong crying and tears, waking up, cutting loose from entanglements of the world, and coming out to be separate. It means walking humbly before Him, putting away cherished inward sins and heartburnings against others, and refusing to be separated from His Spirit for anything else, falling helpless under the inspiration of the cross that He may lift up. It means seeing the sinfulness of cherished independence of judgment, turning from it, and becoming willing to receive counsel, which proves control by the Spirit and trustworthiness. When the heart is wholly turned it appreciates God's love, mercy, benevolence and character and practices His virtues with intensity of desire proportionate to heaven's value, gains experimental knowledge of Jesus not by casual touch but by living faith, has His presence and love filling the heart, dethrones every idol placed in affection before Him, and serves with an eye single to His glory, laying hold with affection on unseen eternal things.
Seeking means believing that God exists and rewards those who diligently seek Him, and showing that belief by trusting Him. It is pouring out soul troubles to Jesus with a broken heart and contrite spirit, without studied eloquence or long set prayers, telling Him everything, a promise that can be believed and walked out upon even in great feebleness. God through Christ gives strength and grace and heavenly wisdom to all who ask, withholding from none who come in humble earnest prayer feeling great need, making them living witnesses with joy in believing, praying with unfeigned lips to have precious promises impressed more deeply and to learn to appropriate them in order to perfect holiness in His fear. It is putting on Christ by seeking Him in prayer and believing the prayer is accepted, watching and praying without ceasing rather than praying only in a special season and then stopping, continuing to ask in order to receive and relying on Him every moment to remain steady and draw strength. Those who so seek find Him close beside them, ready to shield, help and bless, turning thought from cheap frivolous things to subjects bringing peace, joy, consolation and calmness, taking away worries and teaching the soul not to wear out its powers bearing responsibilities that belong to God.
Recognizing that human reasoning falls short and that human wisdom and calculations are foolishness turns people to seek God wholeheartedly. Such seeking is a call to turn from the enemy and pursue heaven, prayer and faithful service.
Gifts Received When Found
When wholehearted seeking begins in every family, God gives an outpouring of His Spirit as on the Day of Pentecost, and He sets before seekers in His Word a banquet full of marrow and fatness that will satisfy every want. In proportion to supplication the Holy Spirit is appointed to meet needs, and those who seek the Lord with all the heart will surely be found by Him to receive His blessing. Filled with the fullness of the Spirit, the church is able to live up to its profession and serve together as living witnesses, using abilities to help others and build Christ's kingdom.
Seeking the Lord with the whole heart leads to finding Him, and includes learning from Christ to be meek and lowly, which brings rest to the soul. That finding brings a sure answer of rest, grace and salvation, and through fervent persistent prayer the Lord strengthens seekers and gives them peace as they come earnestly recognizing without Him they perish and longing as a thirsty deer longs for water. Wholehearted seeking of the Saviour brings sacred nearness through the resting of the Spirit of God, and the Saviour found becomes very precious to the soul, in whom are joy, pleasure, satisfaction and everything that could be asked, for He is life eternal and gives a place in His kingdom of glory. Those who find Him will praise Him with heart and soul and voice and thank Him in the open congregation for what He is doing, and He is found precious to their souls when selfishness that blocks Him from entering is cleared from the heart.
Those who humbly and earnestly seek Him receive His strength, grace, righteousness, blessing and present help in every trouble, and He is ready to answer their call for help. He strengthens and blesses them, lifts them up, is close beside them to shield, help and bless, and gives assurance of Jesus' nearness and joyful blessing even amid trials. In times of mental weariness, darkness and temptation to distrust, seekers are to fight the good fight of faith with steady faith working by love and purifying the soul, reaching out in faith not depending on feeling or sight, for the Lord is with His people while they are with Him. His servants receive His power when they seek Him with all the heart, especially in perilous times when the message must go forward with power, with power in heaven and earth to stand the test in trying times.
Wholehearted seeking brings knowledge of duty, doctrine and truth, unerring counsel, guidance, wisdom, light and grace, with certainty unlike speculation and guesswork and assurance that prayers of faithful people are honored in heaven. God reveals Himself to every soul who seeks Him in humility and does not want people to stay in ignorance but to understand individual responsibilities to Him. Such seeking includes yearning for deeper understanding of the Saviour's love and asking God for wisdom, especially needed as the end draws near, with earnest prayer and reliance on His promise for guidance in the work He gives. He instructs those who humble themselves, unite in earnest prayer with fasting, inquire of Him daily to know His will, and seek to know whom He would have in decisions such as the choice of leaders, giving plans and methods and teaching how to lay hold of His promises. Daniel's experience proves where skill and understanding come from through coming to God just as he was and praying in faith, and the same wholehearted asking brings increased ability and power from heaven and a sight of salvation, with even the prayers themselves prompted by the Holy Spirit.
The heart that finds Him is filled with Christ's love and bound up in it, with self sunk into its proper place and Jesus become all in all to the soul. Finding Him fills the soul with His Spirit and the mind of Christ, so that words, patience, forbearance, longsuffering and gentleness spread the love of Jesus and shine as a steady bright light to all around. This keeps His love burning through love for the truth centered in Jesus, keeps the face lifted to Christ for light and power, overcomes discouragement, and keeps believers from becoming cold and dark and separated from Christ as they pray in faith and remain watchful. It is a daily pursuit to receive divine light from God's glory shining from the face of Jesus Christ and to spread that light by being light in the Lord, and without it the heart remains cold, absorbed in temporal and business matters that gain supremacy and quench love toward those in need. Such finding requires dying to self, consecration of soul, body and spirit daily, being led and disciplined, walking humbly with God, becoming converted as little children and awakening to danger lest striving for the highest place leaves one on the wrong side.
He comes near to those who seek Him wholeheartedly in a real encounter through earnest prayer. He desires to communicate directly without needing to work through other minds to lead His chosen ones, and everyone who places the hand in His will be led and kept in perfect safety unless the hand is withdrawn, abiding as the branch in the vine. Those who put entire trust in the Redeemer and let the heart repose in confidence in God are perfectly safe, for where there is first a willing mind there will be no lack of light and help from the source of all power and the Lord will be a present help in every time of need. Seeking Jesus with all the heart brings close connection and requires holding fast, not letting go, and holding on, producing thorough conversion that stays converted and gives clear understanding to carry truth, arouse people, stir minds to meet God and warn the unwarned. Those who so seek find Him close beside them, ready to shield, help and bless, turning thought from cheap frivolous things to subjects bringing peace, joy, calmness and consolation and taking away worries, so powers are not worn out bearing responsibilities that belong to God but the soul is kept in calmness and peace.
The promise applies to finding in Christ deliverance from the power of sin. Genuine conversion from sin to righteousness is the sinner's only hope, for if he seeks God with all his heart confessing his sins God will be found by him, by yielding the will and falling on the rock and being broken with no lowering of the standard of righteousness to meet erratic ideas. When genuine conversion takes place the sinner responds to Christ's invitation and joins weakness to Christ's strength, ignorance to His wisdom, unworthiness to His merit, spiritual weakness to His enduring might, and poverty to His boundless wealth, and surrendering all becomes one with Christ to be used to His glory with the spirit of peace. Even one with no power in himself to change his manner of life will find the Lord when seeking with all the heart, for Jesus Christ is the only helper who makes the change possible. Finding Him means full surrender of the heart and real conversion, not merely knowing truth or nominally professing parents' faith, pursued today while alive with most earnest effort because character is unchanged in the resurrection.
Urgency to Seek Now
The time has now come to seek the Lord with the whole heart in order to find Him while He may be found and while He is near, and every moment of probation is precious, more precious than fine gold, to be used to turn, yield will and way and independence to God, and overcome. Today, while alive, is the time for most earnest effort and full surrender, for it is not yet too late for wrongs to be righted because God has borne long with perversity and His hand is stretched out still to those who call upon Him. This seeking is life or death and must begin now as though determined to find Him, by being truly and genuinely converted, reconciled to God, asking Him to fill the heart with His grace and sweetness, getting out of the rut of past failure, and coming to walking and talking with God with power from on high. It means full surrender of the heart and real conversion, not merely knowing the truth or nominally professing the faith of parents, and not turning away from His testimony but walking in the light, putting on the robe of Christ's righteousness, and yielding soul, body, and spirit to God in preparation for heaven. Such change cannot wait until death, because people rise in the resurrection with the same character they took down into the grave, stained and polluted or cleansed, with no change made there, so to withhold life, strength, and heart from Him now is to rob God, since sinners are bought with a price and God has a work for them to do in revealing truth in daily life and bearing living testimony.
The promise belongs in the last days when the Word must be preached and the last message of mercy given to prepare a people to stand while everything that can be shaken is shaken. Even those who are asleep and do not know the time of their visitation can find God by humbling themselves before Him and searching for Him with the whole heart. This wholehearted seeking is especially necessary now because the end of all things is at hand, and this promise holds true as the end is near. It requires whole-heartedness in service and prayer with a heart overflowing with love for God and fellow men, with fervency and zeal, tenderness and love, and sincerity under the deep moving of the Holy Spirit, yearning for a deeper and broader realization of the Saviour's love and crying for more wisdom. In the last days of earth's history such seeking brings endowment with the Spirit of God to stand as free men and women amid every kind of wickedness practiced by those who do not take God into counsel, by rejecting strife over who shall be greatest and instead seeking greatness in humility and understanding of the will of the Lord. Tame, spiritless, dry, formal prayers show a Christless heart that is not seeking fully, for cherished selfishness leaves the Lord no room to enter and keeps Him from being found.
God's people must awaken their dormant energies to seek the Lord with all the heart so that they may find Him and keep His love burning in their hearts through love for the truth centered in Jesus. This seeking keeps the face lifted to Christ and to the Sun of Righteousness for light and power in the soul, overcomes discouragement, and keeps believers from becoming cold and dark and separated from Christ. It is done by praying in faith and believing and remaining watchful in prayer.
Seeking and finding is an individual, wholehearted and steady work to be done now, not fitful, calling every church member to surrender to God and to be converted. It means making Jesus truly Saviour to all intents and purposes, not touching Him only with the tips of the fingers, but giving Him the service of the whole being and praising Him for His wonderful, matchless love. It means refusing to hunt up the sins someone else has committed, knowing no one is made a sin-bearer and no one can bear even his own sins, but Christ must take the sins of every mortal, and showing appreciation for His sacrifice by revealing the fragrance of His character, being fragrant in words, being a savor of life unto life and not of death unto death, letting the love of Christ pervade the life, and speaking words that are as apples of gold in pictures of silver. This wholehearted seeking through praying and believing and praising God is needed for the conversion of professed Christians and whole families who do nothing to gather with Christ, who preach too much and pray too little, and who carry no burden for souls, beginning in every family. Parents are urged to seek Him in order to work with Him for their children's salvation. It is to be done together in holy convocation in unity without diversion, coming close together in heart and mind and refusing any scattering of mind to other attractions, in order to receive spiritual blessings, for the deep movings and might of the Spirit come in response to it. Every soul should do this seeking through days of meetings in order to know a living hope, and this hope leads to loving God and keeping His commandments.
God must be sought day and night with no delay until He is found, and finding Him brings joy to the soul. If the marked change from active life to death has not been experienced, a person must keep seeking the Lord wholeheartedly and make this the chief business of life. It requires not remaining in the present spiritual condition, not letting the spirit stay sour and hard, ceasing to criticize everyone, heeding counsel and warning rather than neglecting it, and responding earnestly and without delay. It calls professed Christians who do not realize their daily accountability to God to closely examine their own hearts with close searching of heart and earnestness of purpose, to keep their own souls in the love of God with individual responsibility, and to turn attention to oneself and battle Satan hand to hand and foot to foot. Handling sacred things daily, family prayer, and public calls to seek the Lord are not enough without this deep personal experience, for only this gives a true religious experience in true righteousness and true service to God; without it people trifle with eternal interests and cheat themselves out of fitness for the trials soon to come upon every soul whatever his position or profession, and they will not be prepared to unite with the holy family in the heavenly courts or to be a blessing to others in their place. Seeking God wholeheartedly is a call to turn from the enemy and pursue heaven, prayer, and faithful service.
When He is not found, heaven has not failed; the seeker has broken covenant by continuing in sin and refusing to let God remove transgression. Fulfilling the human part of the covenant contract is human responsibility, while trusting God for the rest, and placing oneself in cooperation with God through fervent, believing prayer and close connection with Christ makes answered prayer possible. Finding Him requires stopping self-made worry, coming as a penitent child, confessing sin, and taking hold of His strength to make peace, for God cannot cover sin while a person continues in sin and refuses to let Him take away transgression, supposing that disobedience has placed the person beyond help. Seeking must be earnest and sincere, for God will not be trifled with. Those who have opportunity to find the true path but presumptuously depart from it will realize their terrible mistake when too late. Finding Him belongs with continuing to obey God, for eternal life is for those only who continue to obey, and with receiving Christ, for whom Christ has purchased salvation and gives power to become sons of God to those who believe on His name.
Life Work and Witness
Wholehearted devotion expressed in drawing near to God and giving oneself wholly to Him enables earnest, capable people to serve Christ in missionary work and to do more in His work. Those who seek in this way become learners in the school of Christ and are accepted as workers, laborers together with God, receiving His power especially when the message must go forward with power in perilous times. Filled with the fullness of the Spirit, the church is able to live up to its profession when its members seek God wholeheartedly, serving together as living witnesses who use their abilities to help others, build Christ's kingdom, carry truth, arouse minds, warn unwarned cities with a clear trumpet message, and guard their charge as faithful sentinels separate from the world.
Seeking God must shape business as well as religious life, for the two cannot be separated, and human abilities and all natural and acquired endowments need to remain under the control of His Spirit and sanctifying power. Finding God requires humility of heart and a deep sense of need of divine help, with earnest endeavor to gain needed knowledge, qualifications, and wisdom to use the intellect so that glory redounds to God, for apart from Christ nothing can be done and success does not come from human smartness or learning. That wholehearted seeking means walking humbly before Him, putting away cherished inward sins and heartburnings against others, refusing to be separated from the Spirit of God for anything else, falling helpless under the inspiration of the cross so the Lord lifts up, relying on Him every moment to remain steady under all circumstances, pursuing a daily living experience in humble obedience to His law and commandments rather than carelessness and indifference or presuming God will work merely because the institution is His, being taught by Him His way with hearts daily converted to His will, and making the home pleasant and cheerful as a witness for Christ lest unconverted observers question why those professing the binding obligations of God's law do not walk in obedience.
When the Holy Spirit makes His presence known, students and educators should listen, bow before God, and seek Him wholeheartedly with earnest prayer for His presence, blessing, and heavenly lesson rather than treating ordinary study as more important. In a school this means setting aside ordinary study to give attention to what He is offering. Every gospel worker must first go to Jesus and cast the helpless soul upon Him without thinking he must be exalted, for all are brethren, and those who so seek will know the doctrine and the truth, walking with all humility of mind in accordance with the Word with evidence that they are doing their work as children of God, fitted to work the world, preach the gospel to every creature, and lead souls to conversion.
God is waiting to bestow wonderful endowments on His church when its members seek Him wholeheartedly and in unity of spirit. This requires drawing apart from worldly customs, coming close together in heart and mind in holy convocation without scattering or diversion of mind to other attractions, answering Christ's prayer for unity by putting away suspicions led by Satan and dismissing the enemy, and standing opposite confusion and dissension and strife and opposite treating self as a precious article that must be handled with great care lest it be broken. Then those who lay hold of Him by faith, each standing humbly in his own lot and place looking to Jesus as Saviour, Guide, and Counselor, are instructed, receive spiritual sight to see clearly the work to be done, have ways opened before them in lowly places and highways through agents raised up to carry out principles of truth, experience the deep movings and might of the Spirit and the lifting up of a standard against the enemy, fall broken on Christ, are glorified in Him with a life hidden with Christ in God, and stand firm rooted and grounded and established in present truth while everything that can be shaken is shaken so that what cannot be shaken may remain, ready to be baptized with the Holy Spirit to do a sharp, quick work.
The promise gives great encouragement to those who are cold and backslidden, including thousands today who have forsaken the law and made it void, that when messengers convict them of sin they can turn from transgression to the path of righteousness, and when they cry to the Lord in their trouble and seek Him, He will be found by them. God still desires the one who has disappointed Him after long backsliding, grieving the Spirit, exerting an influence against the Lord, and failing to make straight paths with sin waiting at the door, because He is set on reclaiming such a one so the family will be unbroken in heaven, His hand not having lost power to save and His ear still open to hear, so that calling and searching with the whole heart results in finding Him and gaining clear discernment of all things. Even one with no power in himself to change his manner of life will find the Lord when he seeks Him with all his heart, for Jesus Christ is the only helper who makes the change possible, and those who have had a knowledge of the truth and have left it can return, seeking again the presence of the Saviour with true contrition and urging their request at the throne of grace, where the Lord hears the humble, contrite prayer and restores and heals backslidings and makes the one who returns strong to do and to suffer His blessed will.
Daniel's experience proves that the Lord is always ready to hear the prayers of the contrite soul and answer its petitions, showing where his skill and understanding came from through coming to God just as he was and praying in faith. The same wholehearted asking of God for wisdom brings increased ability and power from heaven and a sight of the salvation of God, requiring prayer as never before, with even the prayers themselves prompted by the Holy Spirit. Cornelius's desire to know God's will illustrates that those who seek with earnest, full purpose of heart will find Him and receive the blessing they seek, and likewise some Jewish people who pray for a right understanding of His word are comforted in affliction and led to recognize Jesus as the true Messiah through prophecies obscured by tradition and misinterpretation.
The promise is to be taken by laying hold of what God has promised and by casting the helpless soul upon Jesus Christ, with all superfluity put away, especially in the present time, and by putting on Christ through seeking Him in prayer and believing the prayer is accepted by God. Seeking is watching and praying without ceasing, not praying only in a special season or at special times and then stopping, but continuing to ask in order to receive. Those who so seek find Him close beside them, ready to shield, help, and bless, lifting up and strengthening every sincere soul, making His own impression upon hearts when His workers do all in their power to honor and glorify Him, teaching them how to lay hold of His promises so that His grace abounds in the soul, leading the current of thought away from cheap, frivolous things and opening subjects whose contemplation brings His peace, joy, consolation, and calmness and takes away worries, so human powers are not employed and worn out bearing responsibilities that belong to God but the soul is educated to keep itself in calmness and peace. He Himself is desirous to communicate directly with those who seek Him with all their heart without needing to work through other minds to lead His chosen ones, and everyone who places his hand in His will be led and kept in perfect safety, for where there is first a willing mind there will be no lack of light and help from the source of all power, He never lets go of any hand unless it is withdrawn, and those who put entire trust in the Redeemer and let the heart repose in confidence in God are perfectly safe as He is a present help in every time of need.
Seeking the Lord with all the heart and with full purpose of heart is the very first work for those preparing for gospel ministry, for teaching, or for exerting a right influence in any place, and such wholehearted seeking finds Him. That preparation is obtained only by searching the Scriptures and seeking the Lord in this way, requiring surrender of the will to God's will and self-renunciation at God's altar, so that the soul is educated to believe and receive and impart and comes to realize its own insufficiency and God's wonderful power, receiving divine assistance, with all instruction received having an uplifting tendency when the heart is right with God. It is the condition for going on to perfection, expelling sin from the heart and enthroning Christ where sin was, putting the love of God in place of love for self, and ending overbearing despotic lording over brethren. Seeking God means desiring to walk with Him and receive His strength and grace so that life accords with His will and one can serve others faithfully, and daily communion with God brings divine light from Christ's face to shine in life and guide others.
God will be found by every person who seeks and searches for Him with all the heart and with the whole heart. It is the Lord Jesus Himself who is found in this way by all who sincerely lay hold of Him by faith, for He is more than willing to be found. Such seeking is not divided, casual or fitful, but sincere, humble and earnest prayer that opens the heart to God, turns from sin in repentance and confession, and surrenders self and will to Him without reserve in obedience. It is diligent, prayerful study of Scripture, loving God with every power of the being, and believing that He exists and rewards those who diligently seek Him. Those who so seek receive the outpouring of His Spirit, rest and joy, strength and blessing, guidance and wisdom, and deliverance from the power of sin in genuine conversion.
Exile Setting and Return
The promise belongs to God's purpose for Israel at the close of seventy years in Babylon, when the rapid course of events among the nations betokened His mighty hand at work. It is joined to His pledge to end the captivity and bring His people back to their homeland, and to their finding Him when they seek and pray with all the heart. Their finding Him and receiving His favor would come when they turned to Him with the whole heart.
After the seventy years He would visit His people and perform His good word toward them in causing them to return. His thoughts toward them are thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give an expected end. Calling upon Him and going and praying to Him brings His listening ear, and He hears their prayers and shows them favor.
The return and restoration from captivity would follow the appointed seventy years of bondage, not the false prophets' promise of swift deliverance. Those who sought the Lord were ready to accept the opportunity under Cyrus to return and rebuild the temple. After seventy years He would deliver them and bring them back to Jerusalem.
In that exile setting wholehearted seeking is tied to being found by Him and restored from captivity, and is connected with loyalty, truth, and submission to God. Faith in the prophetic word leads into the foretold experience of giving special thought to the promises and entering into prayer and seeking.
Certain Promise to Find
God will be found by everyone who seeks and searches for Him with all the heart and with the whole heart. Wholehearted seeking, not a divided or casual approach, is what brings the discovery, and those who come sincerely and humbly will have Him make Himself known to them. This finding includes finding in Christ deliverance from the power of sin, and it is joined to seeking His blessing and receiving the Spirit, for when people seek the Lord with all their heart He will surely be found by them. Such devotion is expressed in courtesy and reverence toward Him.
Finding Him rests wholly with each soul and each family to decide and to make the effort to seek. God waits for a willing response to His offered grace and bestowed love, and He cannot respond to a soul that does not respond, while a heart yearning for Him recognizes His voice. He bids seekers to the marriage feast and sets before them in His Word a banquet full of marrow and fatness that will satisfy every want. When that decision and wholehearted seeking begins in every family, He gives an outpouring of His Spirit as on the Day of Pentecost.
The promise is impartial, with no respecter of persons, and for everyone alike. It can be believed and walked out upon even in great feebleness by believing that God exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him, and by showing that belief in trusting Him. Seeking means pouring out soul troubles to Jesus with a broken heart and contrite spirit, without studied eloquence or long set prayers, telling Him everything. Even the humble servant in humble employment wherever they are is seen as purchased with infinite price, and it is His greatest delight to bring such seekers close enough to recognize their Leader and listen for His orders, and as Captain of salvation to make known to them everything essential concerning eternity and salvation. Wholehearted seeking results in finding Him to teach and guide each person individually, giving patience with jealous and sensitive people, strength to endure misunderstanding and unkind judgment while following in the footsteps of Jesus, and wisdom to avoid stirring feelings and leaving disagreeable impressions while working out character for future immortal life.
God means what He says and will fulfill this sure promise. Seeking must be earnest and sincere, for God will not be trifled with. Those who have opportunity to find the true path but presumptuously depart from it will realize their terrible mistake when too late. Finding Him belongs with continuing to obey God, for eternal life is for those only who continue to obey, and with receiving Christ, for whom Christ has purchased salvation and gives power to become sons of God to those who believe on His name.
It is the Lord Jesus, the precious Saviour, who will be found by all who seek Him with the whole heart and lay hold of Him by faith. He is only too willing to be found by all who seek Him sincerely. Through finding Him seekers receive the power in heaven and in earth that He longs to bestow upon all. The Saviour is found when people seek Him with their whole heart, and earnest, continuous prayer makes the heart humble and ready to receive the truth as it is in Jesus and to teach the lessons learned from Him. Answering the prayer of Christ for unity by putting away suspicions led by Satan and dismissing the enemy belongs with this finding, with the result that the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against the enemy.
Meaning of Wholehearted Seeking
Seeking means searching with all the heart and the whole heart, not in a divided, casual or fitful way but in individual, steady, earnest seeking that refuses to be diverted. Pride, self, and the position taken can keep a person from seeking this way, for the Word must enter and rule the heart with the Spirit working there. God will not accept a person who remains in the present spiritual condition, but requires ceasing to let the spirit stay sour and hard and ceasing to criticize everyone.
Such seeking is sincere prayer that opens the heart to God, longs for Him earnestly, and draws near with humility rather than self-exaltation. It is not mere form, formal words or lip-service, and God will not accept prayer without this wholehearted drawing near. It means coming earnestly for His help in recognition that without Him there is perishing, longing as a thirsty deer longs for water, persisting in fervent prayer until He strengthens and gives peace. It includes learning meekness and lowness from Christ, finding rest of soul, serving with earnest active devotion, humbling self where every stain of sin can be cleansed, and giving true earnest service of the heart with full purpose.
Seeking includes turning from unbelief and sin, praying for pardon and help, surrendering fully, and receiving strength and blessing. It is earnest repentance that brings blessing and sweet assurance of acceptance and forgiveness sought with all the heart. It means getting everything straight between the soul and God instead of passing over wrongdoings or refusing to confess for fear of lessening the confidence of others, coming into close relation to the cross, seeing Christ making atonement for sins, and knowing for oneself something of His grief because of sin. It is standing in a repentant confessing attitude, which is the only hope of salvation and fills the heart with joy, confessing character defects in humble dependence and learning to rely on His wisdom and help. When fulfillment of promises is not received heaven has not failed, but the covenant is broken on the human side by refusing through disobedience to let Him remove sins; the way back is to come repentantly, confess sins, take hold of His strength and make peace with Him. Wholehearted seeking sees and acknowledges vileness, emptiness and weakness, feels entire dependence, surrenders self, accepts Christ as personal Saviour, and maintains repentance, humiliation and meekness, pleading to a purpose with sure success and manifestly receiving the righteousness of Christ by faith which is wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and eternal life, shown in appreciation by undivided obedience to His commandments.
Seeking means full consecration, yielding up the will, falling on the rock and being broken without lowering the standard of righteousness to meet erratic ideas. It is giving oneself to God without reserve, drawing near to Him and giving the service of the whole being, which brings relief from distress, peace of mind, and a changed desire to live plainly, soberly and watchfully. In genuine conversion from sin to righteousness, the sinner's only hope, he joins his weakness to Christ's strength, his ignorance to Christ's wisdom, his unworthiness to Christ's merit, his spiritual weakness to Christ's enduring might, and his poverty to Christ's boundless wealth, and surrendering all becomes one with Christ to be used to His glory with the spirit of peace. It means making Jesus truly Saviour to all intents and purposes, not touching Him only with the tips of the fingers but praising Him for His wonderful matchless love, obeying His requirements, submitting heart, mind, soul and strength to His will, expelling every selfish worldly motive, and cooperating with Christ to be made holy. God's earnest desire for such seeking is shown by His gift of heaven in Christ and by Christ's life, death and intercession as fullest evidence of His love, and He blesses every soul that makes this full consecration.
Wholehearted seeking is earnest, humble, prayerful study of Scripture, whose truths are like hidden treasure discovered only by diligent search. Through that study comes clearer knowledge of God's character and will and closer connection with Him, with spiritual life, grace and divine light needed in doubt and uncertainty, lest without recognizing Christ's light moral understanding and taste be corrupted. Finding comes in the Word in both Old and New Testaments, which contain rich spiritual nourishment for individual church members who so seek. Studying Scripture reveals Christ and makes believers increasingly like Him, for knowing Christ is eternal life, and light and life cannot be separated; in this way seekers find truth as hidden treasure, become acquainted with truth, and perfect Christian character as every scholar and worker must.
Finding requires seeking with every power of the being, which is loving the Lord with all heart and soul and strength and mind. These principles are the foundation of Christian life, and receiving them into the heart and living by them brings God's salvation and His power upon His work. It requires whole-heartedness in service and prayer with a heart overflowing with love for God and fellow men, with fervency and zeal, tenderness and love and sincerity under the deep moving of the Holy Spirit, yearning for a deeper and broader realization of the Saviour's love and crying for more wisdom. Tame, spiritless, dry, formal prayers show a Christless heart that is not seeking fully, and cherished selfishness must be cleansed away because it leaves the Lord no room to enter and keeps Him from being found.
Seeking means severing dependence on every human being and object and entwining the affections about God, a personal work of purifying the soul temple that no one else can do for another. It is going to Jesus Christ, the One who never makes a mistake, instead of going to any human being for help, pleading with strong crying and tears, waking up, cutting loose from entanglements of the world, and coming out to be separate. It means walking humbly before Him, putting away cherished inward sins and heartburnings against others, and refusing to be separated from His Spirit for anything else, falling helpless under the inspiration of the cross that He may lift up. It means seeing the sinfulness of cherished independence of judgment, turning from it, and becoming willing to receive counsel, which proves control by the Spirit and trustworthiness. When the heart is wholly turned it appreciates God's love, mercy, benevolence and character and practices His virtues with intensity of desire proportionate to heaven's value, gains experimental knowledge of Jesus not by casual touch but by living faith, has His presence and love filling the heart, dethrones every idol placed in affection before Him, and serves with an eye single to His glory, laying hold with affection on unseen eternal things.
Seeking means believing that God exists and rewards those who diligently seek Him, and showing that belief by trusting Him. It is pouring out soul troubles to Jesus with a broken heart and contrite spirit, without studied eloquence or long set prayers, telling Him everything, a promise that can be believed and walked out upon even in great feebleness. God through Christ gives strength and grace and heavenly wisdom to all who ask, withholding from none who come in humble earnest prayer feeling great need, making them living witnesses with joy in believing, praying with unfeigned lips to have precious promises impressed more deeply and to learn to appropriate them in order to perfect holiness in His fear. It is putting on Christ by seeking Him in prayer and believing the prayer is accepted, watching and praying without ceasing rather than praying only in a special season and then stopping, continuing to ask in order to receive and relying on Him every moment to remain steady and draw strength. Those who so seek find Him close beside them, ready to shield, help and bless, turning thought from cheap frivolous things to subjects bringing peace, joy, consolation and calmness, taking away worries and teaching the soul not to wear out its powers bearing responsibilities that belong to God.
Recognizing that human reasoning falls short and that human wisdom and calculations are foolishness turns people to seek God wholeheartedly. Such seeking is a call to turn from the enemy and pursue heaven, prayer and faithful service.
Gifts Received When Found
When wholehearted seeking begins in every family, God gives an outpouring of His Spirit as on the Day of Pentecost, and He sets before seekers in His Word a banquet full of marrow and fatness that will satisfy every want. In proportion to supplication the Holy Spirit is appointed to meet needs, and those who seek the Lord with all the heart will surely be found by Him to receive His blessing. Filled with the fullness of the Spirit, the church is able to live up to its profession and serve together as living witnesses, using abilities to help others and build Christ's kingdom.
Seeking the Lord with the whole heart leads to finding Him, and includes learning from Christ to be meek and lowly, which brings rest to the soul. That finding brings a sure answer of rest, grace and salvation, and through fervent persistent prayer the Lord strengthens seekers and gives them peace as they come earnestly recognizing without Him they perish and longing as a thirsty deer longs for water. Wholehearted seeking of the Saviour brings sacred nearness through the resting of the Spirit of God, and the Saviour found becomes very precious to the soul, in whom are joy, pleasure, satisfaction and everything that could be asked, for He is life eternal and gives a place in His kingdom of glory. Those who find Him will praise Him with heart and soul and voice and thank Him in the open congregation for what He is doing, and He is found precious to their souls when selfishness that blocks Him from entering is cleared from the heart.
Those who humbly and earnestly seek Him receive His strength, grace, righteousness, blessing and present help in every trouble, and He is ready to answer their call for help. He strengthens and blesses them, lifts them up, is close beside them to shield, help and bless, and gives assurance of Jesus' nearness and joyful blessing even amid trials. In times of mental weariness, darkness and temptation to distrust, seekers are to fight the good fight of faith with steady faith working by love and purifying the soul, reaching out in faith not depending on feeling or sight, for the Lord is with His people while they are with Him. His servants receive His power when they seek Him with all the heart, especially in perilous times when the message must go forward with power, with power in heaven and earth to stand the test in trying times.
Wholehearted seeking brings knowledge of duty, doctrine and truth, unerring counsel, guidance, wisdom, light and grace, with certainty unlike speculation and guesswork and assurance that prayers of faithful people are honored in heaven. God reveals Himself to every soul who seeks Him in humility and does not want people to stay in ignorance but to understand individual responsibilities to Him. Such seeking includes yearning for deeper understanding of the Saviour's love and asking God for wisdom, especially needed as the end draws near, with earnest prayer and reliance on His promise for guidance in the work He gives. He instructs those who humble themselves, unite in earnest prayer with fasting, inquire of Him daily to know His will, and seek to know whom He would have in decisions such as the choice of leaders, giving plans and methods and teaching how to lay hold of His promises. Daniel's experience proves where skill and understanding come from through coming to God just as he was and praying in faith, and the same wholehearted asking brings increased ability and power from heaven and a sight of salvation, with even the prayers themselves prompted by the Holy Spirit.
The heart that finds Him is filled with Christ's love and bound up in it, with self sunk into its proper place and Jesus become all in all to the soul. Finding Him fills the soul with His Spirit and the mind of Christ, so that words, patience, forbearance, longsuffering and gentleness spread the love of Jesus and shine as a steady bright light to all around. This keeps His love burning through love for the truth centered in Jesus, keeps the face lifted to Christ for light and power, overcomes discouragement, and keeps believers from becoming cold and dark and separated from Christ as they pray in faith and remain watchful. It is a daily pursuit to receive divine light from God's glory shining from the face of Jesus Christ and to spread that light by being light in the Lord, and without it the heart remains cold, absorbed in temporal and business matters that gain supremacy and quench love toward those in need. Such finding requires dying to self, consecration of soul, body and spirit daily, being led and disciplined, walking humbly with God, becoming converted as little children and awakening to danger lest striving for the highest place leaves one on the wrong side.
He comes near to those who seek Him wholeheartedly in a real encounter through earnest prayer. He desires to communicate directly without needing to work through other minds to lead His chosen ones, and everyone who places the hand in His will be led and kept in perfect safety unless the hand is withdrawn, abiding as the branch in the vine. Those who put entire trust in the Redeemer and let the heart repose in confidence in God are perfectly safe, for where there is first a willing mind there will be no lack of light and help from the source of all power and the Lord will be a present help in every time of need. Seeking Jesus with all the heart brings close connection and requires holding fast, not letting go, and holding on, producing thorough conversion that stays converted and gives clear understanding to carry truth, arouse people, stir minds to meet God and warn the unwarned. Those who so seek find Him close beside them, ready to shield, help and bless, turning thought from cheap frivolous things to subjects bringing peace, joy, calmness and consolation and taking away worries, so powers are not worn out bearing responsibilities that belong to God but the soul is kept in calmness and peace.
The promise applies to finding in Christ deliverance from the power of sin. Genuine conversion from sin to righteousness is the sinner's only hope, for if he seeks God with all his heart confessing his sins God will be found by him, by yielding the will and falling on the rock and being broken with no lowering of the standard of righteousness to meet erratic ideas. When genuine conversion takes place the sinner responds to Christ's invitation and joins weakness to Christ's strength, ignorance to His wisdom, unworthiness to His merit, spiritual weakness to His enduring might, and poverty to His boundless wealth, and surrendering all becomes one with Christ to be used to His glory with the spirit of peace. Even one with no power in himself to change his manner of life will find the Lord when seeking with all the heart, for Jesus Christ is the only helper who makes the change possible. Finding Him means full surrender of the heart and real conversion, not merely knowing truth or nominally professing parents' faith, pursued today while alive with most earnest effort because character is unchanged in the resurrection.
Urgency to Seek Now
The time has now come to seek the Lord with the whole heart in order to find Him while He may be found and while He is near, and every moment of probation is precious, more precious than fine gold, to be used to turn, yield will and way and independence to God, and overcome. Today, while alive, is the time for most earnest effort and full surrender, for it is not yet too late for wrongs to be righted because God has borne long with perversity and His hand is stretched out still to those who call upon Him. This seeking is life or death and must begin now as though determined to find Him, by being truly and genuinely converted, reconciled to God, asking Him to fill the heart with His grace and sweetness, getting out of the rut of past failure, and coming to walking and talking with God with power from on high. It means full surrender of the heart and real conversion, not merely knowing the truth or nominally professing the faith of parents, and not turning away from His testimony but walking in the light, putting on the robe of Christ's righteousness, and yielding soul, body, and spirit to God in preparation for heaven. Such change cannot wait until death, because people rise in the resurrection with the same character they took down into the grave, stained and polluted or cleansed, with no change made there, so to withhold life, strength, and heart from Him now is to rob God, since sinners are bought with a price and God has a work for them to do in revealing truth in daily life and bearing living testimony.
The promise belongs in the last days when the Word must be preached and the last message of mercy given to prepare a people to stand while everything that can be shaken is shaken. Even those who are asleep and do not know the time of their visitation can find God by humbling themselves before Him and searching for Him with the whole heart. This wholehearted seeking is especially necessary now because the end of all things is at hand, and this promise holds true as the end is near. It requires whole-heartedness in service and prayer with a heart overflowing with love for God and fellow men, with fervency and zeal, tenderness and love, and sincerity under the deep moving of the Holy Spirit, yearning for a deeper and broader realization of the Saviour's love and crying for more wisdom. In the last days of earth's history such seeking brings endowment with the Spirit of God to stand as free men and women amid every kind of wickedness practiced by those who do not take God into counsel, by rejecting strife over who shall be greatest and instead seeking greatness in humility and understanding of the will of the Lord. Tame, spiritless, dry, formal prayers show a Christless heart that is not seeking fully, for cherished selfishness leaves the Lord no room to enter and keeps Him from being found.
God's people must awaken their dormant energies to seek the Lord with all the heart so that they may find Him and keep His love burning in their hearts through love for the truth centered in Jesus. This seeking keeps the face lifted to Christ and to the Sun of Righteousness for light and power in the soul, overcomes discouragement, and keeps believers from becoming cold and dark and separated from Christ. It is done by praying in faith and believing and remaining watchful in prayer.
Seeking and finding is an individual, wholehearted and steady work to be done now, not fitful, calling every church member to surrender to God and to be converted. It means making Jesus truly Saviour to all intents and purposes, not touching Him only with the tips of the fingers, but giving Him the service of the whole being and praising Him for His wonderful, matchless love. It means refusing to hunt up the sins someone else has committed, knowing no one is made a sin-bearer and no one can bear even his own sins, but Christ must take the sins of every mortal, and showing appreciation for His sacrifice by revealing the fragrance of His character, being fragrant in words, being a savor of life unto life and not of death unto death, letting the love of Christ pervade the life, and speaking words that are as apples of gold in pictures of silver. This wholehearted seeking through praying and believing and praising God is needed for the conversion of professed Christians and whole families who do nothing to gather with Christ, who preach too much and pray too little, and who carry no burden for souls, beginning in every family. Parents are urged to seek Him in order to work with Him for their children's salvation. It is to be done together in holy convocation in unity without diversion, coming close together in heart and mind and refusing any scattering of mind to other attractions, in order to receive spiritual blessings, for the deep movings and might of the Spirit come in response to it. Every soul should do this seeking through days of meetings in order to know a living hope, and this hope leads to loving God and keeping His commandments.
God must be sought day and night with no delay until He is found, and finding Him brings joy to the soul. If the marked change from active life to death has not been experienced, a person must keep seeking the Lord wholeheartedly and make this the chief business of life. It requires not remaining in the present spiritual condition, not letting the spirit stay sour and hard, ceasing to criticize everyone, heeding counsel and warning rather than neglecting it, and responding earnestly and without delay. It calls professed Christians who do not realize their daily accountability to God to closely examine their own hearts with close searching of heart and earnestness of purpose, to keep their own souls in the love of God with individual responsibility, and to turn attention to oneself and battle Satan hand to hand and foot to foot. Handling sacred things daily, family prayer, and public calls to seek the Lord are not enough without this deep personal experience, for only this gives a true religious experience in true righteousness and true service to God; without it people trifle with eternal interests and cheat themselves out of fitness for the trials soon to come upon every soul whatever his position or profession, and they will not be prepared to unite with the holy family in the heavenly courts or to be a blessing to others in their place. Seeking God wholeheartedly is a call to turn from the enemy and pursue heaven, prayer, and faithful service.
When He is not found, heaven has not failed; the seeker has broken covenant by continuing in sin and refusing to let God remove transgression. Fulfilling the human part of the covenant contract is human responsibility, while trusting God for the rest, and placing oneself in cooperation with God through fervent, believing prayer and close connection with Christ makes answered prayer possible. Finding Him requires stopping self-made worry, coming as a penitent child, confessing sin, and taking hold of His strength to make peace, for God cannot cover sin while a person continues in sin and refuses to let Him take away transgression, supposing that disobedience has placed the person beyond help. Seeking must be earnest and sincere, for God will not be trifled with. Those who have opportunity to find the true path but presumptuously depart from it will realize their terrible mistake when too late. Finding Him belongs with continuing to obey God, for eternal life is for those only who continue to obey, and with receiving Christ, for whom Christ has purchased salvation and gives power to become sons of God to those who believe on His name.
Life Work and Witness
Wholehearted devotion expressed in drawing near to God and giving oneself wholly to Him enables earnest, capable people to serve Christ in missionary work and to do more in His work. Those who seek in this way become learners in the school of Christ and are accepted as workers, laborers together with God, receiving His power especially when the message must go forward with power in perilous times. Filled with the fullness of the Spirit, the church is able to live up to its profession when its members seek God wholeheartedly, serving together as living witnesses who use their abilities to help others, build Christ's kingdom, carry truth, arouse minds, warn unwarned cities with a clear trumpet message, and guard their charge as faithful sentinels separate from the world.
Seeking God must shape business as well as religious life, for the two cannot be separated, and human abilities and all natural and acquired endowments need to remain under the control of His Spirit and sanctifying power. Finding God requires humility of heart and a deep sense of need of divine help, with earnest endeavor to gain needed knowledge, qualifications, and wisdom to use the intellect so that glory redounds to God, for apart from Christ nothing can be done and success does not come from human smartness or learning. That wholehearted seeking means walking humbly before Him, putting away cherished inward sins and heartburnings against others, refusing to be separated from the Spirit of God for anything else, falling helpless under the inspiration of the cross so the Lord lifts up, relying on Him every moment to remain steady under all circumstances, pursuing a daily living experience in humble obedience to His law and commandments rather than carelessness and indifference or presuming God will work merely because the institution is His, being taught by Him His way with hearts daily converted to His will, and making the home pleasant and cheerful as a witness for Christ lest unconverted observers question why those professing the binding obligations of God's law do not walk in obedience.
When the Holy Spirit makes His presence known, students and educators should listen, bow before God, and seek Him wholeheartedly with earnest prayer for His presence, blessing, and heavenly lesson rather than treating ordinary study as more important. In a school this means setting aside ordinary study to give attention to what He is offering. Every gospel worker must first go to Jesus and cast the helpless soul upon Him without thinking he must be exalted, for all are brethren, and those who so seek will know the doctrine and the truth, walking with all humility of mind in accordance with the Word with evidence that they are doing their work as children of God, fitted to work the world, preach the gospel to every creature, and lead souls to conversion.
God is waiting to bestow wonderful endowments on His church when its members seek Him wholeheartedly and in unity of spirit. This requires drawing apart from worldly customs, coming close together in heart and mind in holy convocation without scattering or diversion of mind to other attractions, answering Christ's prayer for unity by putting away suspicions led by Satan and dismissing the enemy, and standing opposite confusion and dissension and strife and opposite treating self as a precious article that must be handled with great care lest it be broken. Then those who lay hold of Him by faith, each standing humbly in his own lot and place looking to Jesus as Saviour, Guide, and Counselor, are instructed, receive spiritual sight to see clearly the work to be done, have ways opened before them in lowly places and highways through agents raised up to carry out principles of truth, experience the deep movings and might of the Spirit and the lifting up of a standard against the enemy, fall broken on Christ, are glorified in Him with a life hidden with Christ in God, and stand firm rooted and grounded and established in present truth while everything that can be shaken is shaken so that what cannot be shaken may remain, ready to be baptized with the Holy Spirit to do a sharp, quick work.
The promise gives great encouragement to those who are cold and backslidden, including thousands today who have forsaken the law and made it void, that when messengers convict them of sin they can turn from transgression to the path of righteousness, and when they cry to the Lord in their trouble and seek Him, He will be found by them. God still desires the one who has disappointed Him after long backsliding, grieving the Spirit, exerting an influence against the Lord, and failing to make straight paths with sin waiting at the door, because He is set on reclaiming such a one so the family will be unbroken in heaven, His hand not having lost power to save and His ear still open to hear, so that calling and searching with the whole heart results in finding Him and gaining clear discernment of all things. Even one with no power in himself to change his manner of life will find the Lord when he seeks Him with all his heart, for Jesus Christ is the only helper who makes the change possible, and those who have had a knowledge of the truth and have left it can return, seeking again the presence of the Saviour with true contrition and urging their request at the throne of grace, where the Lord hears the humble, contrite prayer and restores and heals backslidings and makes the one who returns strong to do and to suffer His blessed will.
Daniel's experience proves that the Lord is always ready to hear the prayers of the contrite soul and answer its petitions, showing where his skill and understanding came from through coming to God just as he was and praying in faith. The same wholehearted asking of God for wisdom brings increased ability and power from heaven and a sight of the salvation of God, requiring prayer as never before, with even the prayers themselves prompted by the Holy Spirit. Cornelius's desire to know God's will illustrates that those who seek with earnest, full purpose of heart will find Him and receive the blessing they seek, and likewise some Jewish people who pray for a right understanding of His word are comforted in affliction and led to recognize Jesus as the true Messiah through prophecies obscured by tradition and misinterpretation.
The promise is to be taken by laying hold of what God has promised and by casting the helpless soul upon Jesus Christ, with all superfluity put away, especially in the present time, and by putting on Christ through seeking Him in prayer and believing the prayer is accepted by God. Seeking is watching and praying without ceasing, not praying only in a special season or at special times and then stopping, but continuing to ask in order to receive. Those who so seek find Him close beside them, ready to shield, help, and bless, lifting up and strengthening every sincere soul, making His own impression upon hearts when His workers do all in their power to honor and glorify Him, teaching them how to lay hold of His promises so that His grace abounds in the soul, leading the current of thought away from cheap, frivolous things and opening subjects whose contemplation brings His peace, joy, consolation, and calmness and takes away worries, so human powers are not employed and worn out bearing responsibilities that belong to God but the soul is educated to keep itself in calmness and peace. He Himself is desirous to communicate directly with those who seek Him with all their heart without needing to work through other minds to lead His chosen ones, and everyone who places his hand in His will be led and kept in perfect safety, for where there is first a willing mind there will be no lack of light and help from the source of all power, He never lets go of any hand unless it is withdrawn, and those who put entire trust in the Redeemer and let the heart repose in confidence in God are perfectly safe as He is a present help in every time of need.
Seeking the Lord with all the heart and with full purpose of heart is the very first work for those preparing for gospel ministry, for teaching, or for exerting a right influence in any place, and such wholehearted seeking finds Him. That preparation is obtained only by searching the Scriptures and seeking the Lord in this way, requiring surrender of the will to God's will and self-renunciation at God's altar, so that the soul is educated to believe and receive and impart and comes to realize its own insufficiency and God's wonderful power, receiving divine assistance, with all instruction received having an uplifting tendency when the heart is right with God. It is the condition for going on to perfection, expelling sin from the heart and enthroning Christ where sin was, putting the love of God in place of love for self, and ending overbearing despotic lording over brethren. Seeking God means desiring to walk with Him and receive His strength and grace so that life accords with His will and one can serve others faithfully, and daily communion with God brings divine light from Christ's face to shine in life and guide others.