Paul says in Acts 17:27 ERV that “God wanted people to look for him, and perhaps in searching all around for him, they would find him. But he is not far from any of us.” Since the day I read this verse a few weeks back, I’ve been eager to write about all the findings from my study as this idea of God wanting to be sought out was quite intriguing. I mean why does He want to be actively searched for? Is he playing hide and seek with us or what? What I do in this post is try to answer five pre-emptive questions that you the reader may naturally have on the topic: 1) Why does God want us to seek (search for) Him?; 2) Is He far? So far that He cannot be found?; 3) What are the rewards of seeking God, if any?; 4) How are we to seek God?; and 5) When are we to seek God?
God’s original plan
The first time this topic struck me was when I was recently reading about Paul’s missionary journey to Greece. He was speaking to an audience of ‘wise’ philosophers in Athens about ‘the unknown god’ who the people often talked about. When we get to Acts 17:27 ERV, Paul says: “God wanted people to look for him, and perhaps in searching all around for him, they would find him. But he is not far from any of us.” Thinking about this for some time led me to asking some of the questions that I’ll try to address in this post. Essentially, Paul is revealing God’s heart and intentions to us, which is wisdom to those who know and do this. In preparing for this post, I discovered so many gems which I’ll try to share below so keep reading.
Another way I came to better understand that seeking God is part of His plan, was clarified when I read Psalms 14:2, which reveals one of the things that God is busy doing in heaven: “The LORD looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.” David is basically telling us that the wise person who has gained true understanding of life, proves this by seeking God. And 2 Chronicles 16:9 tells us more about what God’s eyes are doing from heaven: “the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” Are you following me? God is busy in heaven looking for those who are seeking Him. Basically, as we are busy looking for Him, He’s also busy looking for us! Just briliant and encouraging!
Question 1: Why does God want us to seek (search for) Him?
From the last verse above, we know that God is looking for those who are seeking Him so that He can show Himself strong on their behalf. Seeking God is a personal endeavour that we will all be individually held responsible for, but I’ll answer this question with four other passages and highlight my key takeaways below.