Amos 5:4
For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:

This is the continual cry that God has made to His people—to seek Him.  Even before the nation was formed and the law was given, those who sought God found life, blessing and hope.  And this was His call to Israel throughout the history of the nation from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to Moses and Joshua and David and every king who held the throne.  And even as the people went astray, this remained His cry to them.  Even as God brought judgment and sent them into captivity, through the prophets, He called to His people, “Seek Me.”

Then Jesus came and brought the same message—”God is near.  He can be found.  All you have to do is seek Him.”  Because He came to seek us fervently and relentlessly.  And sometimes we don’t even notice Him standing in our midst as the Son of man.  And wasn’t that the problem of ancient Israel?  They were so distracted, so focused on the wrong things that God had to keep saying to them, “Seek Me.  Forget that other stuff, those other gods, those perpetual pursuits of wealth and worldly pleasure.  Those things are nothing compared to Me.  Those things are so empty compared to Me.”

But we’ve fallen for the lie that God isn’t enough.  And so often Israel turned to their God for a time or when they were afraid or there was great trouble or the burden of their sins got so heavy.  But then they turned away again, distracted and uncommitted.  But how often do we do the same thing?  We’ll go along fine for a time, focusing on God, pursuing Him, serving faithfully and wholeheartedly and obeying what He’s commanded.

But then we’re back worrying about something else or looking off to the side or chasing after some lesser thing.  And things start going wrong, and we’re losing our joy, and God’s still small voice breaks through when we withdraw from that chaos and He says once again, “Seek Me.”  And we remember that when our focus is on Him, those giants seem smaller and the darkness isn’t so scary and what we had thought to be so important doesn’t matter that much, really, and what we thought we needed couldn’t compare to just being with our God and being right with Him.  So let us heed the call of our God and seek Him always, because in Him is life and in Him is the best life we can live here now while we await that glorious eternity with Him forever.