Day 13

“There was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.”  —JOHN 4:46-47

Faced with a gigantic family need on one hand, and with the arrival of Jesus in Galilee on the other, the royal official left his home and went to beg Jesus to come and heal his dying son. The first step this man took was to seek out Jesus. Seeking God is usually the first stage in a person’s experience of God. It might arise out of an understanding of our powerlessness or an awareness of a need and desire for God’s help. People rarely stumble onto Jesus casually. The official wasn’t loitering around somewhere, hoping Jesus might pass by. He deliberately looked for Him and in desperation begged Him to come. There was a sense of urgency.

The Bible tells us in several places the people who find God are those who seek for Him. In the book of Jeremiah, God says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). In the gospel of Matthew, “Ask and it will be given you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; to him who knocks, the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). According to Jesus, the only people who do not find are those who do not seek. The only ones who never receive are those who never ask, and those to whom doors remains closed are those who do not knock.

Scripture also tells us no one can come to God unless the Father draws them. God stirs our hearts to look for Him. As He works by His grace, opening our hearts to Him, our response must be to seek, and it is then we find. When we stop seeking, we stop growing. There is always more to know of God than we can possibly know, and always more to seek in Him, for the invitation is not to know about Him, but to know Him. This is the unlimited adventure of the Christian life.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, May I never stop seeking to know more of You. With every new revelation You unveil, I am left in awe, and I thank You, Lord, for your Holy Spirit drawing me to You and transforming my life.

TO REFLECT UPON: Under what circumstances was I first motivated to seek God? In what ways am I coming to know Him better and how has that changed my life?