Sunday Snippets: Guess Who Has Moved!

Jeremiah 29:12-13 "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."

1 Chronicles 16:11 "Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually."

Isaiah 55:6-7 "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."

I heard a quote recently that gave me pause. I can't remember who said it, or I would give credit, but anyway it wasn't me. ;) They said, "If you feel far from God, guess who's moved!" 

Wow.

If I feel far from God...who has moved? Obviously if two people or things were once close, and they are now apart from each other, one or both of them has moved. We know for an absolute fact from God's Word that He NEVER changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So if I am far from God, He has not moved. I have.

More times than I can count, when I realize that my daily devotions are slipping, I shove the thought aside, thinking things will get better on their own. Stupid, Mykaela!! What I fail to think about is, if I'm not seeking God with my whole heart, how will my spiritual life improve?? Do I think that somehow I will magically draw near to God once more, when I am making no effort to do so? 

The verse in 1 Chronicles says we are to seek His face "continually". What is something else we have to do continually? The first thought that popped into my head was breathing. Can we just decide one day that breathing isn't that much of a priority...we can put it off for a couple hours with no harm done. Uh, no. That ain't gonna work, folks. 

Our walk with God should be just as important to us, if not more so, than our daily life-giving things like breathing, eating, hydrating our bodies, and resting. After all, Who is it that gives us the ability and strength to do these things? We are not guaranteed anything in this life. It is of The Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, for His mercies are new every morning. Did you ever notice in that verse how it says "every morning"? The Lord doesn't put off telling our bodies to wake out of sleep and have the strength to even get out of bed. Why do we refuse to seek the face of The One who gives us all things richly to enjoy?

It takes a conscious effort to draw near to God. He waits for us with open arms, like a Father asking His child to come; but we must run into His arms of our own volition. He is not going to force us to pursue close, sweet fellowship with Him. 

When we return from our selfish wanderings with repentant hearts, God will never refuse us His love! He will abundantly pardon our iniquities. All we have to do is turn from sin and call on His name. We tend to complicate everything, and yet it's as simple as crying out to our Father in the silence of our own hearts! God can do more in a moment's time to restore and make things right than we could do in a hundred years of trying in our own strength. 

We cannot live Godly without God. The very words are a contradiction. Without Him, we are nothing. 

Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. (Hosea 6:1)

Mykaela