Jeremiah 29:10-13 Seek Him…wholly

Jeremiah 29:10-13 “For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”

I want to focus a bit on the last verse, verse 13, today. “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” Let’s look a little bit at this set of verses, shall we?

The Lord really struck this verse in my heart recently. First of all let’s look at the context of what verse 13 is about. This is a time when Israel was in bondage due to their rebellion against the Lord who delivered them. They were in bondage to Babylon. Praise God that even while in bondage, God gave them a decent nation that didn’t choose to completely wipe them out (in the beginning). Even in correction the Lord shows love.

Verse 11 is a verse we often see everywhere. Unfortunately it makes me cringe many times because it’s often misquoted and taken out of context. In context this is regarding His People who were in bondage. It’s not speaking about graduation, or “believing for a new car” or such material things. This is the Lord saying, “I know you are currently in bondage. But My Will, will be done for you, and My will is that which is good for you. Not war and evil and bondage, but peace and freedom to answer the call I have called you to.”

How we ourselves can often relate to them though! God sets us free. We rebel and decide to do things on our own. We have to be corrected. We say sorry. Then we rebel again. God lets us get a taste and reminder of the trouble and bondage we were delivered from, in hopes to bring us to the place where we get to verses 12-13 “Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” The question I often ask for myself, and I’m sure God often asks is: “How many times do I have to go around this mountain before I learn to submit to God who knows best?”

When we are in need of deliverance, we truly need to cry out to the Lord, and seek Him for our help…and He will hear and bring that deliverance!

Yet, take special note of HOW we are to seek the Lord: “With all your heart.” I know of so many, myself included, when we “seek” the Lord for deliverance, but we do so with only part of our heart! We cry out in the morning in prayer, asking the Lord to help us. Then we rush off to work and completely forget the Lord until maybe around noon when we say a quick “bless this food” prayer, and again for supper, and then before we go to bed we might seek Him again in prayer asking for deliverance and help. Our heart throughout the day doesn’t even consider the Lord but rather focuses on the troubles we are going through, or is filled with entertainment, with busy-ness and distractions and all sorts of things! . . . If we are honest with ourselves we would realize that we are NOT actually seeking the Lord with ALL our heart!

This is like the people who say, “I tried the Jesus thing once and it just didn’t work for me.” NO! You don’t “try” Jesus. He isn’t a pair of jeans to go see if He “fits” in your life. With God it is all or nothing. Not just parts here and there when convenient.

Do you know what it is like to seek the Lord with all our heart? It is like the woman who pushed through the crowd and said “If I could but touch the hem of His garment!” It is like the blind man who cried out to the Lord and when the crowd told him to be quiet, he got even LOUDER, crying out to the Lord nonstop until the Lord answered! It is like the three men who couldn’t get their friend to Jesus in the house because of the crowd, so they tore through the roof and desperately lowered their friend down to Jesus! It is like the father of the possessed child who, when realizing his unbelief but knowing he needed the Lord, cried in tears to the Lord “Lord, I believe; help me with mine unbelief!”

To seek the Lord with all our heart, means that there is no room left for all these other things that fill our heart. Until we seek the Lord with ALL our heart, we cannot claim the promise of today’s verses, of finding the Lord for deliverance.

Let’s remember today that in order for us to see the Lord’s deliverance in our lives…it means actually, truly, TRUTHFULLY seeking the Lord with not part of our heart, not most of our heart, but ALL of our heart. We need to be honest with ourselves about it too, because the Lord knows whether we are truly seeking Him desperately with all our heart, or just trying to get by with 90% of our heart and keeping the 10% for something else.

If we seek the Lord with ALL our heart, He will be found. That…is the promise. Let’s rest in this promise once we choose to seek Him with 100%!

I love you all dearly and continue to keep you in prayer! May God continue to bless you, as I know He does, and I pray you have a wonderful day today in the Lord!

Love always in Christ,
Your brother,
And friend,
Michael

Leave a Reply