SEEK THE LORD

SEEK THE LORD 2 Dec 2012

Q:WHAT IT MEANS TO SEEK THE LORD
A:To seek the Lord means to call upon him (v. 6)

Seek the Lord while he may be found,

call upon him while he is near.

     If you set yourself to seek the Lord this morning, or tonight in the stillness of your room or under the stars, the first thing you will do is call on the Lord. The religious word for this is "pray".

    But many people feel that they can't pray. They feel that it takes a lot of Bible knowledge to know how to say things just right. And that it takes a certain way with words, so you don't 
sound too course or too casual. Or that you have to have a personal relationship with God before you can pray. So the word "pray" 
throws up all kinds of obstacles for some people.

     Well it is not used here. The word is "call"! And that is part of our everyday language, just like it was then. We call the waiter. We call a friend on the telephone. 

     The first thing we do to seek the Lord is call to him. We might use words like these: "O God, help me!" Or: "God, if you are really there, show me!" Or: "O God, I need you, come and save me, forgive me, make me new." Or: "Father, 
I need your guidance, show me the way to go."

     You don't need a high school diploma to call for help. A child can do it. And that is the first step in what it means to seek the Lord.



Isaiah 55:6
Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.

Deuteronomy 4:7 
What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the 
way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him?

Deuteronomy 4:29
But if from there you seek the LORD your God, 
you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Isaiah 26:9 
My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. 
When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.

Isaiah 49:8
This is what the LORD says: "In the time of my favor I will answer you, 
and in the day of salvation I will help you; 
I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, 
to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances,

Isaiah 58:9 
Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, 
and he will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

Jeremiah 33:3
Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and 
unsearchable things you do not know.'