Why is seeking God important?
The importance of seeking God runs through Scripture like a golden thread — and the seriousness of the subject becomes clear when we see what happens when men don't seek Him. The natural state of fallen man is not neutral indifference but active departure from God, and it is only by grace that anyone turns to seek Him at all.
Man's Natural Condition: No One Seeks God
The starting point is sobering. Scripture declares plainly that, left to himself, man does not seek God. Hamilton Smith exposes this in his notes on Romans 3:
Hamilton Smith"There is none that seeks after God". The religion of the natural man has the appearance of seeking after God. Nevertheless a religion of works, barren moralities, and ritual observances, so far from seeking God, is, in reality an effort to quiet conscience, and keep God at a distance. Fallen man may be intensely religious, but does not really seek after God.
This is a devastating verdict. Religion itself — when it is the product of the natural heart — is not truly seeking God but a way of keeping Him at arm's length. The rituals become a substitute for the real thing.
L. M. Grant makes the same point from Psalm 14:
L. M. GrantThus, the Lord observes from heaven the character and activities of all the children of men. He discerns what men do not discern, for mankind generally are full of pride, no matter how debased they may be. Are there any who understand and seek God? None whatever, until God by grace works in their hearts.
And again from Psalm 10, Grant underscores how refusing to seek God lies at the very root of human evil:
Psalms_LMGBoasting of his self-sufficiency, this deluded slave of Satan does not at all seek God: God is not in his thoughts. How contrary is this to the purpose for which mankind was created! "Man's chief end is to glorify God," but here is man sunk down so low as to not even recognize a Being greater than he is!
God's Purpose: That Man Might Seek Him
Why then does it matter? Because seeking God is the very thing man was made for. William Kelly, commenting on Paul's address at Athens (Acts 17:27), unfolds God's great design for the nations:
William KellyBut providential disposal of the nations was far from all His care. He felt graciously for every soul of man, who in losing Him had lost the only and the necessary centre for the heart, and the basis for all true morality, of which known relationship to Him must be the corner-stone. This is touched in verse 27 as His great aim for them individually — "to seek God, if haply they might feel after and find him, though he is not far from each one of us."
Kelly makes the profound point that in losing God, man lost the only necessary centre for the heart. Apart from a known relationship to God, there is no true basis for anything — not morality, not rest, not satisfaction. The whole arrangement of nations, seasons, and dwelling-places was designed to lead men to reach out and find Him.
Kelly adds:
the only necessary centre for the heartFrom the day of man's departure from God, one must seek God in grace and by grace. God uses means of all kinds to exercise the conscience as well as attract the heart. And He whom we know as the Lord Jesus Christ was ever the object of faith in some true way, however small the measure. God's goodness leads to repentance.
The Soul That Seeks: Thirsting for God Himself
For the believer, seeking God goes far deeper than initial conversion. It becomes the activity of a soul that thirsts for God for His own sake. A brief but luminous exposition of Psalm 63 in the Bible Treasury brings this out:
Psalm 63"Oh my God, early will I seek thee." There is activity of soul thus seeking God. The soul athirst for God seeks — there is diligence in seeking God for Himself — the mouth is open for everything. The Psalm does not speak of seeking for water; when a man is thirsty, he seeks for water; but here it is more thirsting for Him who gives the water.
The distinction is vital: seeking God is not the same as seeking His gifts. The psalmist is not looking for blessings or relief — he is thirsting for God Himself. And the more he enjoys God, the more the world around him is felt to be "a dry and thirsty land":
God HimselfWhat does it matter, the dry and thirsty land, if I have the living water in my soul? I do not think about the dryness then. ... "Because thy loving-kindness is better than life," this world is a wilderness.
Seeking God Brings the Soul Into His Presence
J. N. Darby, writing on Psalm 22, presses on the seeker the wonderful truth that God has already met him through the accomplished work of Christ:
J. N. DarbyAre you then seeking God? Have you heard the voice of Christ? It is no longer the cry of deepest grief unheard. The atonement is made, He Himself is raised from the dead, the accepted glorified Saviour... If you seek God now, you are entitled by His work to take up and join in His songs of praise. For it is not a promise, but an accomplished fact.
And then, with characteristic directness:
16008EDo you who seek God say, Oh that I could find Him? But He has found you. Come then and praise Him. Christ has been on the cross, bearing our sins. You have to learn it as an accomplished fact; not saying, I hope He will do it. The work is done, sin is entirely put away.
The Lesson of King Asa: Seeking God and Finding Him
The Old Testament history of King Asa illustrates the principle practically. An article in An Outline of Sound Words traces the prophet Azariah's message to the king:
"The Lord is with you, while ye be with Him; and if ye seek Him, He will be found of you; but if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you."
And the review of Israel's history that follows:
16 King Asa_s Reign"Now for a long while Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law; but in their trouble they turned to Jehovah the God of Israel, and sought Him, and He was found of them." ... How rich is God's mercy; how wonderful His grace.
The Seeker Finds God Is Near
F. B. Hole, writing on Mark's Gospel, draws attention to God's original intention for the temple — and by extension, for every soul that reaches after Him:
F. B. HoleGod's thought in establishing His house at Jerusalem was that it might be a place of prayer for all nations. If any man, no matter what race he belonged to, was feeling after God, he might come to that house and get into touch with Him.
The tragedy Hole describes is that those who should have been helping seekers find God were actually repelling them — "The man who came from afar seeking God might easily be repelled when he got to the house by the rascality of those who were connected with it." This is a warning for every generation: those who know God must never become obstacles to those who seek Him.
Seeking God matters because it is the very thing man was created for, and the one thing he cannot do in his own strength. Left to himself, man does not seek God — he invents religion to keep God at a distance. But God, in His grace, has arranged everything — history, nations, the testimony of creation and conscience — so that men "might feel after and find Him." And now, through the finished work of Christ, the seeker discovers that the One he was looking for has already found him. The soul that truly seeks God is not merely looking for answers or comfort, but for God Himself — and the promise stands: "if ye seek Him, He will be found of you."