We are to seek God.  “Lord, come, sit with me for a while and tell me about Yourself.”

Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

This verse makes it clear we are to seek God first and our needs will be met, God doesn’t make it a task difficult to understand but we struggle with applying it in our life.

A husband comes home and hands his wife a slip of paper and says, “Pick these things up for me.”   A child comes home from school tosses his gym bag on the floor and says, “I need these washed by tomorrow.”

We don’t like being treated this way but too often this is the way we approach God, giving Him a “to do” list.  We have been discovering we are to approach God as a child, our culture is blurring this approach.  A child in the past was taught to treat a parent with respect, they were to listen and be patient.  Today the obedient child is noticed less and the noisy child is at the center of the attention.

Sometimes we are the noisy child when we approach God, feeling He should give us whatever we think we need.  We can complain to our family and friends about how bad things are, how we are suffering physically, or being mistreated at work or by other family members.  But we are forgetting the verse that assures us “and all these things will be given to you as well.”

We can feel abandoned, God assured us we would be given these things, so let the giving begin.  But we need to go back to the first of the verse.  “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness”.  Even in the midst of pain and suffering this is to be our first and only approach.  No other approach will give us the second half of the verse.

Seeking God can be a very simple approach and we don’t have to become perfect before He will respond.  Our prayers should not begin with a request they should always begin with acknowledging who we are approaching.  If we don’t feel we have time to greet God, we really don’t have the time to ask Him for anything either.

When we approach another person we often will greet them with the usual question, “How are you?”  When we approach God this falls into place also.  How are you, God?   Then we will know the answer.  God, you are powerful, loving, kind, wise, gracious, merciful, forgiving, and trustworthy…..

The list does not end quickly.  Once we have established that in our heart we can know with confidence we have a God we can trust.

As we enter a time of recognizing we can trust God we will feel freer to confess our wrongdoings.  We must do this before we will recognize the fact we don’t want to be like that anymore.  God already knows about the things we have done we can’t hide them from Him, neither should we want to hide them.  We need to put them out there, the world sees them do we really think God doesn’t.

With the situation we are facing we need to remember God wants to free us from our bondage, physically or mentally.  But this freedom comes only one way we must do it with our whole heart.

Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

We need to spend time with God.  God doesn’t want you to sit at a table or desk and sit in his classroom.  He wants you to curl up in a comfortable chair, open His word and look for Him.  We know to give our heart to someone we must trust them and the trust must be based on knowing them in a relationship.

God does not want you to think about Him as someone who beckons you from the top of a mountain as you cringe in fear at the foot of the mountain wondering if He is about to strike us with a lightning bolt.

God wants to curl up in your favorite chair as you would curl up on a loving father’s lap, rest in His embrace as you open His Word and trust Him.   This is a relationship that will carry you through life and you will have all of those things given to you.  Although they won’t seem quite as important as before.

Invite Him,  “Lord, come, sit with me for a while and tell me about Yourself.”

Written by Joyce E Poggensee

Verses referenced:  Matthew 6:33,  Jeremiah 29:13