But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.

      Deuteronomy 4:29

Seeking a personal relationship with the God who created us will never yield disappointment. In other words, when we seek after God, as the top priority in our lives, we will never regret it. Our passage today deals with this seeking after God. It’s important for us to understand that God is not playing “hide and seek” with us and the term “seeking” shouldn’t be interpreted that way. The “seeking” of God demonstrates a heart that longs to know who God is and the great thing about it is that He desires for us to enter into a relationship with Him. So we’re not having to chase after Him, as we would someone who is running away from us rather we position ourselves to enter into fellowship with Him. And the way that we position ourselves to do that is to surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, receiving salvation and pardon from God, and enjoying the very presence of God through the Holy Spirit. 

So, knowing this reality, we should asked ourselves a couple of questions. (1) “Are we seeking after God?” and (2) Is fellowship with God the most important thing in our lives? Our passage today points us to the most important issue in being in fellowship with God, the condition of our hearts. We must seek God with all of our heart and all of our soul. Unlike religious motion that requires no surrender, repentance, or transformation, seeking after God with all of our heart and soul indicates that our relationship with God is top priority and that this desire to know Him encompasses all of our being. 

“You will find Him (God) if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul (Deuteronomy 4:29b). As in any relationship, there has to be an affinity and a desire to enter into that relationship. This passage indicates that this whole-hearted approach to seeking God is imperative for us to be saved and in right relationship with Him. When Jesus was asked what the most important commandment is, He responded:

And He (Jesus) said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment.”

      Matthew 22:37-38

The first and greatest command that God has given, and will ever give, to mankind is to love God. And not just to love God but loving God with all of our heart, and all of our soul, and all of our mind. This is an all encompassing love and it requires that every aspect of our lives should be properly aligned to God and His will. Tragically, there are religious ideologies that do not promote this kind of relationship with God rather they promote the idea that we can consistently control our own lives, doing what we want, and living on our own terms, without the slightest concern for repentance, surrender, or spiritual transformation while still being in right relationship to God. But this belief system is not consistent with the truth of scripture and following ritualistic, religious motion apart from a heart for God is just empty motion. Jesus makes it quite clear, our primary purpose for being alive is to love God by entering into a personal relationship with Him. It is the sin nature within all of us that rebels against that reality (Romans 5:18) and it is human pride that drives this selfish approach to life, pursuing what we want while ignoring God’s will and plan for our lives. No matter what we might believe that we are accomplishing in this life, an existence without a born again relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ is just that…merely existing. But the good news is that Christ has fulfilled everything necessary for us to be brought into fellowship with God. Instead of being at enmity with our Creator, in Christ, we can now be called God’s children and fellow heirs to His kingdom. 

Are you living apart from fellowship with God? Have you traded an all encompassing, whole-hearted approach to seeking God for empty, religious motion? Are you seeking God with all of your heart? For those of us who seek after Him daily, we will never be disappointed! (Romans 10:9-11)

“I love those who love me; and those who diligently seek me will find me.”

      Proverbs 8:17