Pursuit

 In the front of a Bible that I used for school chapels before the tornado demolished my room, I had this quotation from our own Kelly O’Rear: “No one drifts into intimacy with God.” I remember being so struck by that simple but profound truth as Kelly taught our GBA students that I was compelled to write it down. And I recall numerous times opening my Bible and seeing the statement. This winter the idea has stood out to me in my reading and meditating on Psalm 34.

We should be intentional in our pursuit of God. He promises to reward our relentless efforts to know him. In Psalm 34, David uses the idea of pursuit in a couple of ways. In verse three, he declares, “I sought the LORD, and He heard me.” Here David shows that he was active in his desire to know God—and God rewarded him. Not only did God hear David, but He “delivered [him] from all [his] fears.”

Later in this same Psalm, after noting that “young lions,” animals known for being predators, “lack and suffer hunger,” David says that “those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.” David doesn’t say we can sit around and wait for God to bring good things our way; he says that we experience good things when we seek the LORD.

Once more in this psalm, David uses the verb “seek.” In verses eleven through fourteen, he aims to teach “the fear of the LORD.” The writer indicates in these verses that we can have a good and long life if we watch what we say and what we do. “Depart from evil and do good,” he says. “Seek peace and pursue it.” Seek and pursue.

How do we seek God? How do we pursue peace? It takes time, my friends. It takes making a plan. I must not wait until everything else is done. I can't just tack a Bible verse onto the end of my busy day before I fall exhausted into bed. I need a time and a place to be quiet and seek to know Him. Of course, I can seek His wisdom in the middle of my busy day as well, but that time spent alone on purpose is the basis for hearing His voice when I call out in desperation. 

When it comes down to it, most of us know what to do; we just need the resolve to act. It might be helpful to recruit a good friend to help you stay accountable. I am willing to be that friend, and I'm sure you can find others in our church who will also help. 

We must be purposeful in our desire for God and reach out to Him. Like a young lion seeking food—or that squirrel that returns again and again to your bird feeder—make knowing God an active pursuit.

--Sherry Poff