Seek Me...

 

I will be the first to admit that there are times, even when you are not socially isolated, that God seems as distant as the stars and maybe even more so.   In our state we've been able to attend services at our church now for many months.   I know churches in our area that have yet to reopen.  I've wondered how the people who attended there are managing on their own.  Truth told, if I, going to church, sometimes struggle to find God, how much more difficult might it be for some of those who can't attend?

Monday morning I took up my Bible and opened to Song of Solomon to read my chapter.  There in Chapter 3:2 I read, "I will get up now and go about the city, through its streets and squares; I will search for the one my heart loves..."

I was curious what the Hebrew word for search in this passage was.  That led me into a wonderful study that morning about what it means to search for, to seek, for God.

What I found is that there are 4 Hebrew words for seek. Three of them pertain to us seeking God and one to God searching us.   Each of the words that relate to our search for God has a different element of seeking held within it's definition.   In the New Testament there are two Greek words, both derived from Hebrew which also describe an essential element of what it means to seek God.

"I will get up now and go about the city, through its streets and squares; I will search for the one my heart loves..."

In our first verse, Song of Solomon 3:2 the word used is 'baqash' and it is definitive of how she searched for her love.   She is getting up to go and search for her love (God)  in a pleading, begging manner.    She is in earnest in her search, longing to find him.

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your  heart."

The same word is used in the first part of Jeremiah 29:13, "You will seek me..."    This prophecy comes when God has sent his people into exile because they no longer held Him in a place of honor in their lives.  Here he speaks through Jeremiah, "You will seek me..."   The very meaning of the word doesn't say that someone looked up and casually wondered, "Hmmm...wonder where God got off to?"   He is missed and longed for and then he is sought.

The ancient root word that Baqash is derived from means to seek specifically through  earnest prayer.  Prayer is often a confession of something.  In the Song of Solomon the young woman confesses she loves and longs for her lover.   In Jeremiah, God says the people will one day realize that they long for and miss their God.

What mother, when a young child disappears momentarily and can't be found doesn't immediately begin to pray even as she searches for him?   My son Samuel was the worst for disappearing into thin air if I didn't have my eye on him every second of his waking hours.  As a Mama, I looked for that child with earnest prayer in my heart each time he disappeared! 

And that is how we must seek God.  We must sincerely want to find him...To look for Him in a way that generates prayer, a confession of longing,  within us.  

Jeremiah 29:13 reads in full:  "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your  heart."

The word used for seek in the second half of Jeremiah 29:13, "when you seek me with all your  heart," is a different word than that used in the first half.  The second word is the Hebrew word,  'darash'.  It means 'resort to' but the ancient root word means 'to tread often or frequent' and it is related specifically to worship

What does it mean to tread often or to frequent?  It means to walk over the same path, or to return to the same spot over and over again.   It is a familiar path we've grown accustomed to walk.

If you live in the country and are near fields of cattle, give it a glance and see if you can't spy the trail the cows use  to go to the watering hole each day.  Even the deer and rabbits use the same paths and they are easy to spy out if you know what you're looking for.   

Here on this property it was the cow's trail up the hill to the chicken yard where Granny watered them that was most noticeable.  That was the path we children took to the area where we played most often amongst the trees when we visited here.  The path those cows used was so well packed that it couldn't even soften in heavy rains.  All these years later, some 50 odd without cows upon the land,  that trail is still visible here and there through the grass, a clear path that leads from the fields where the cows grazed to the chicken yard where they were watered.   

Without any signal from Granny, the cows simply began to head up that path from the pasture at a set time each day without fail no matter what the weather.  

Worship is a ritual but not in repetition of words as much as of habit.  It is a habit of detaching oneself from the world and deliberately setting out to find our source.   Like those cows, it really should become instinct with us to simply begin to go to our watering place at a set time each day, without fail.   

We all have a set routine to our day.  Why not have a set time to turn to God daily?  That time and place would be best determined by you and your daily schedule.  For me that is a space in the morning hours when I've met my initial obligations for the day and am ready to stop for a quiet space.   

For many it is the very early morning hours, prior to the beginning of the day.  Laine of Laine's Letters often mentions rising in the early morning, even before her husband arose for his work, to pray and study. 

In Proverbs 8:17 -  I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.

The word used for 'seek' here is the Hebrew 'shachar' which means to start out early, earnestly, diligently.  Shachar is derived from an ancient root word whose meaning relates to being at a task early in the morning.

We must find our own 'early' time to seek out God.  For me that currently is around 10am, which is my best time for finding a quiet space.  Otherwise, my mind is preoccupied with the needs of hungry man and chores that face me.  Once I am through those initial tasks of daily life, I can go before God with a mind that is focused solely upon him.  But here's the truth of it...I need to go back to my former habit of having that prayer time BEFORE the day starts.  It's all well and good to do Bible study at 10am, but my first moments of each day really should be to intentionally seek God through prayer and private worship.  A far better way to begin a day than to flip through Instagram, agreed?

Psalm 5:3  "In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly. "

While the above verse has nothing to do with seeking God, it does speak volumes to me about going before God in the morning.

There are a two more words that can help us understand further how we ought to seek God.  In the New Testament parable of the woman who loses her coins we read this:   

Luke 15:18"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn't she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?"

The Greek word here for 'search' is 'zeteo'.  It means to seek in order to find by thinking,  reasoning or meditating.   This word is derived from the Hebrew word meaning 'worship'...So worship is a purposeful time of thinking of or meditation upon God...That's something we must keep in mind.  To be purposeful in seeking God in our quiet time.   

In Hebrews 11:6, we find this word used in another form with an altered meaning:

Hebrews 11:6 "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

Ekzeteo is the Greek used for seek.  It means 'to crave'.  We tend to think of craving as something to do with food in our culture.  But 'Crave' means to feel a powerful desire for, and has an archaic meaning of  'to beg for'.  I can say honestly that this past November I had come to the place where I craved God to the point of begging Him to allow me to find Him once more.  I knew that above all else I needed what only He could give, a solace that is found only in his presence.  I begged for him to return to my life.  

Through this study I learned that when seeking God, I need to be earnest.  I need to continually return to the place of prayer and worship.  I need to diligently look for Him.  I need to seek him early in the morning of each day and I should beg and plead my way into his presence if I am in one of those dry seasons of the soul that occur.  Pray God that it's a long time before another such season is upon me.  Certainly with this knowledge I should be able to find my way to Him once more!