In Pursuit

I know that I need the Lord, but I don’t always turn to Him…first. I can often travel quite a distance before I realize that I am trying to prepare myself to reach out to Him. I am trying to find the right words, or trying to figure out what I really need, so that I can enter into a conversation with Him. Truth is, if I would just acknowledge that He is already with me, I would be in fellowship with Him and we could discover the right words and the clarity of my situation together. Isn’t that what He promised? “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matt 28:20)

Believing He is near and that He wants to be found enables us to hope with assurance. We learn to lean into Him, to pursue Him. If He is our righteousness, why do we feel that we have to get cleaned up or “get it right” to come to Him. We have nothing to bring to Him accept our will to believe that He is who He says He is (the way, the truth, the life) and will do what He says He will do (present us faultless before the Father).

Isaiah 55:6-7 says, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” (NKJV) And Psalm 34:10 says, “…those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.”

As I have journeyed with the Lord these many years (sometimes running, sometimes falling down, sometimes being carried), I have come to know it’s in the journey He will be found. In the journey of life here on earth, in the context of my everyday life, He becomes my Savior, my God, my King, my friend. Walking hand in hand with Him, I pursue the true knowledge of His heart.

Father, forgive me for skulking around in the front yard, wishing I wore cleaner clothes, when You have already flung the door wide with Jesus’ blood and offered to clothe me in His righteousness. You’ve made a place for me at your table, and accepted me in total and complete forgiveness. There is nothing hidden from You, and nothing You would not wish to hear me say to You. I owe you everything, and you owe me nothing. But you have desired me for your habitation. What do I do about that? I give you everything. All I am and all I have is yours. Be near me, Lord Jesus, and keep me, I pray, for your glory and honor forever. Amen.

Dear reader, how goes your pursuit of Him? Are you with Him, pursuing His heart? Are you separated from Him? Are you lost and don’t know how to get home? He is near, just call to Him. Believe He wants to be found by you, especially you.

Until next week, live forgiven, live loved, and live free in His presence.