He seeks
One Sunday, our pastor used an illustration that has stayed with me. He asked us to envision a line running across the sanctuary, a line whose beginning and ending we could not see. Then he picked up a small speck off the floor and placed it on this imaginary continuum; this is our life, he said. In the scheme of time, this is our life. We are the speck-a infinitesimal portion of the whole.
Recently, I met with a Chinese friend. We have been friends for several years and he is a follower of Jesus so our visit was sweet with the love of Christ. Our life experiences are literally worlds apart; however, we connect through Jesus. He was sharing with me about his family who live in China. His mom, sister and brother-in-law are all Christ followers. Yet, his father does not believe. My friend said, “I think he will not change his mind. In the end times, he will be lost forever. He does not listen. He does not hear.” It was a serious moment and one of pain for my friend. I reminded him of God’s unfailing love and efforts to reach each of us. We will pray for his father.
Do we really understand all God’s effort to reach us? I’m in a Bible Study and we are currently in Kings. (And yes, I used to be one of those people who would look ahead to the pastor’s scripture text and if was Old Testament, I might skip that day! He is patient with me!). But thankfully, now I’ve realized the Old Testament is actually the start of God’s love affair with us. For it contains His creation of us, His unending forgiveness for us after time and time of overt sinfulness. He calls to us. He sends another prophet, another king, another person to carry His love to us. His heart for the entire world is overwhelming. This scripture below is beautiful to me. This is King Solomon speaking to the people after he had prayed:
Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our fathers; may he never leave us nor forsake us. May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep the commands, decrees and regulations he gave our fathers. And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day's need, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is no other. I Kings 8:56-60
The words are beautiful because they say to me that He desires all the people of the earth to know Him. He is still seeking us out. The scripture also convicts me with the words: that He may uphold the cause of his servant, the cause of His people to each day’s need, so that all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God.
Is my cause today, that all the people may know He is God. How am I letting Him use me in the world to tell of His love? Do the people I encounter today know He is there? Can I be His hands and feet to today? Does the Chinese father of my friend hear His voice calling? Can I pray for him to hear?
As we are the speck, how is it that this sovereign, omnipotent God keeps seeking, keeps calling? How can I not tell of this Old Testament God that seeks and seeks and seeks…
