“And you shall seek Me and find Me—when you shall search for Me with all your heart.”

Jeremiah 29:13

     It must be all or nothing.

     Half-heartedness is no-heartedness.  Lukewarmness is nauseating (Rev. 3:15-16).  Tentativeness, hesitation and reservation will never enter in.  Only those who “search for Him with all their heart will find Him.”
 
     Searching like a frantic parent would for a lost child in dense, dark woods.  Seeking like a drowning man would for anything to hold onto.  Desperately desiring the only One Who can fill that God-shaped hole in the heart.
 
     Why, then, do so many hold back?
 

    Fear.  Guilt.  Shame.  Doubt.  Unbelief.  Bitterness/unforgiveness.

     Fear of what it might cost them.  Fear of what they might have to give up or what He might ask them to do.  Guilt over past sins. . .of willful transgressions. . .of deeds done in secret to shameful to mention. . .an overwhelming sense of unworthiness, etc.

 
     Yet, an all-knowing, all-seeing God has promised:  “And you shall seek Me and find Me—when you shall search for Me with all your heart.”

     Dear Pilgrim, He cannot/will not lie (Heb. 6:18).

     When He said “Whosoever calls on the Name of the Lord” (Rom. 10:9-10, 13; Jn. 3:16), He meant “Whosoever.”  There’s nothing we have to offer Him, but brokenness.
 
     But, that’s all He asks:  “Come just as you are.  Just come.”

     Again, you may feel that inward urging within you to “seek Him.”  And, perhaps you have tried it a few times; yet, nothing’s happened.

     Your prayers still seem powerless and avail nothing.  The harder you try to believe, the more unbelieving you feel.  The more you do “for” Him, the better you feel. . .for a short time. . .but then that pervading emptiness floods your soul once again.
 
     But, He is not playing hard-to-get or hide-and-seek with you.

     He simply knows our “seeking Him with the WHOLE heart” will result in our serving Him “with the WHOLE heart.”  Just as the prodigal son never left home again after having wandered, so will we find what we’re looking for IN HIM when we “seek Him with every fiber of our being.”
 
     Say with Jacob, “I will not let you go except you bless me” (Gen. 32:26).
     What deep “desire of your heart” have you longed for a long, long time, Pilgrim, and no answer has come?  Could it be you’re not “praying in faith”—i.e., praying, but not expecting anything to happen?  Or, could it be the desire is a flesh-based one, not a God- planted one?

     You’ll know which one it is when you “delight yourself in Him” (Ps. 37:4).  Begin praying fervently today.  Begin praying “with thanksgiving as you make your requests known unto God” (Phil. 4:6).  Then, don’t stop until He gives you what you need (Mk. 10:51).

By Tom Smith Morning Manna Dated March 24, 2010