“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.” Isaiah 55:6
This verse can seem a little confusing at first. After all, we know that God is everywhere. No matter where you go, God is there. You can’t outrun Him, and you can’t hide from Him. Not only is He everywhere, He’s always closer to us than our own heart. He knows us completely. He knew us completely even before He formed us, and He has not left our side since then. He knows our every thought and emotion. He knows every word we’re going to speak before we know we’re going to speak it.
So if God is everywhere, why do we need to seek Him? If He’s so close that He knows us better than we know ourselves, why do we need to be concerned about calling on Him while He’s near? He’ll always be near, right? God isn’t the One who moves. We do. There’s two different ways we do that.
We may drift away from God, a little like a riverbank that is slowly eroding away. The stream isn’t getting any bigger. It doesn’t have more water in it. It just continues to flow on it’s merry way every day and night. We don’t really see the erosion happening, but gradually that bank is further and further from the stream. Finally we realize that we can no longer jump from one bank to the other like we used to because they’re too far apart. Or the stream we used to fish in is now too far down from the bank. And we wonder how in the world that happened without our noticing it!
Sometimes we put up a barrier between us and God. That barrier may take many forms. Maybe we’re angry with Him because something didn’t turn out the way we wanted. Or maybe we’re choosing to not forgive someone who has hurt us and the unforgiveness in our hearts causes bitterness to take root and grown. Perhaps we decide that God is no longer important in our lives and we can do just as well, maybe even better, without Him. These, and others, are all lies the enemy uses to cause us to erect those barriers. Being the perfect gentleman, God will never force His way over the barriers. He’ll wait for us to tear them down.
Where are you with this? Have you drifted away from the stream of living water? Have you found your time with your Savior eroding away? Is there any part of your life that is hiding behind a barrier, not allowing God in? Don’t delay! Seek Him now before you drift even further! Call out to Him before the barrier gets any taller or thicker. When we seek Him, He will be found. When we cry out, He will hear and answer. Don’t let yourself be drawn into a deep well of complacency, thinking that you’ll get around to God at some later time. Do it now! You’ll never regret calling out to Him. You’ll only regret you didn’t do it sooner.