by Jim Hughes
Is. 55:6-7 Seek the LORD while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near. Let the people turn from their wicked deeds. Let them banish from their minds the very thought of doing wrong! Let them turn to the LORD that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
The admonition here is for us to seek the Lord. The Lord puts upon us the responsibility of seeking. He initiates the contact, but we must do our part. The Lord will not intrude on our space by forcing himself upon us. We must reach out for Him in response to His reaching out to us. Are you seeking the Lord? Are you intentionally and diligently looking for the Lord’s presence in your life?
The Lord may not always be around to be found. If we ignore Him enough times and for long enough, we may no longer be able to find Him. It’s not that He moves away from us, but it’s that we move away from Him. We can shut Him out to the point where we will no longer be open to the desire of the heart for Him. If you are guilty of shutting the Lord out of your life, you are treading on very dangerous soil. Sin hardens the heart and eventually leads to such deadness of soul that one will no longer let the Lord in.
Ignoring or neglecting the disciplines of Bible study and prayer causes us to drift from the Lord. We become independent of Him and no longer deem them to be essential for our lives. We become spiritually dull and lose our sense of connection to the Lord. Soon, we begin to allow sin to creep in and no longer feel guilt and shame over it. We become conditioned to sin and it takes over our lives.
If you are guilty of doing your thing and not seeking the Lord, take seriously today’s admonition. Seek the Lord while He may be found. If you don’t consistently make the Lord a part of your living, you will wander away from Him. You may drift far enough from Him that you won’t find your way back. Ignoring the Lord is very serious business. Turn to the Lord now while he is near to your soul. The Lord will forgive you and restore you to a right relationship with Him. He is waiting for you.
About the Author:
Spending his formative years in Ft. Wayne, IN, Jim followed the love of his life to southeast Iowa where they married and have spent the majority of their lives. Jim has pastored several churches throughout his life and has worked many years in local factories to help support his family. The father of two married adult children and one son still at home, Jim is a first-time author.
C Through Marriage came into being through many years of pastoral and life experiences. The book first took on a life of its own over 20 years ago when I sought to address the much publicized moral failures of prominent leaders in the church. In the chapter on Chasity, I include the guideliness that I developed then to protect one’s self from such failures.
I am a firm believer in order to make sense out of life you have to use much common sense. We need to get back to the basics of what has worked for many, many generations. If is isn’t broke, why try to fix it? I strive to return to the basics of what really works in all my writings.