David W Palmer
If it’s important for Jesus to talk about seeking, then it should be important to us too, and eye opening:
(Matthew 7:7–8 DKJV) “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. {8} For everyone who asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it will be opened.”
“Seek and you will find.”
What do we need to find? This is an important question, because Jesus promised that we will find it if we seek it. In Scripture, we see that we need to find:
- “Grace to help” (Heb. 4:16)
- “Favor” (Luke 1:30)
- “Jesus” (if you have walked off from him like Mary and Joseph did (Luke 2:46))
- “Pasture” (John 10:9)
- The “narrow gate” (Mat. 7:14), etc.
What about God’s will for our life? Do we need to seek till we find that?
Maybe you need to know God’s specific will in some area of your life today. God doesn’t want us to lose our way, or be tossed around in the waves of life’s storms. So thankfully, most of his will is already written in his word. For example:
(1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 NKJV) Rejoice always, {17} pray without ceasing, {18} in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
(James 1:27 NKJV) Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
Discovering the specifics and fine-tuning of God’s will for your life in the part that’s not written specifically in his word is our challenge. That’s why Jesus’s promise from his Father is so encouraging: “Seek and you will find … he that seeks finds.”
However, Jesus’s promise in today’s teaching is far more encompassing than in the area of discovering the specifics of his will for your life; more broadly, it is about receiving revelation from God in all areas:
(1 Corinthians 2:10, 14 NKJV) “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. … {14} But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
To assure us that we can hear from God, and that we can receive specific revelation for every area in which we need it, Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice.” (I read this as his promise to us.)
(John 10:27 NKJV) “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
Do we have a part to play in this? Jesus promised to speak to those following him (his sheep), and he is always willing for us to hear him. To this, the Holy Spirit can only add: “seek … search … with all your heart” and you will “find me”:
(Jeremiah 29:11–13 CSB) “For I know the plans I have for you”; this is the LORD’s declaration; “plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. {12} You will call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. {13} You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.”
God, it seems, has hidden some things on purpose. But they are not hidden from us any more than the eggs are hidden from children on an Easter-egg hunt. No, God has hidden them for us to find, but he wants us to come and search till we discover them; they are better than chocolate eggs:
(Proverbs 25:2 NKJV) It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.
Why would we want to seek so hard to find God’s [concealed] will and revelation for us? I will let Jesus answer this:
(John 4:34 NKJV) Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.”
What’s more, God tells us that he will give us what we see with him. Seeking him for revelation of his promises and plans is well worth it. Think about what God showed Abraham, and about what that produced for his descendants:
(Genesis 13:14–15 NKJV) … “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; {15} for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.”
Today, Jesus has given you a promise: “Seek and you will find … he that seeks finds.” The Holy Spirit adds that you will have to “search … with all your heart.” So, whether you are seeking revelation for answered prayer, to know God’s specific will in a particular matter, or for deeper insights into his word; if you are seeking the biblical challenges—Grace to help, favor, pasture, the narrow gate, or even Jesus himself—Jesus assures us that we will find; and he has promised that his sheep hear his voice.
Yes, our Lord really does speak to his followers—those who, like sheep, trust him for guidance, their protection, and daily provision. Be encouraged today; your wholehearted seeking will find what you are looking for—but remember that it always begins in the “Word”:
(John 1:1 NKJV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Following Jesus Today 