Seek the Lord

Another recurring theme in Deuteronomy is found in 4:29-31, where it is written:

"...if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey him. For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath."

We can probably agree we have a tendency to go to the Lord when we're in distress and pat ourselves on the back when times are good. The part I'll never understand is the "seek him with ALL your heart and with ALL your soul," since I don't know what that looks like. Paul tells us to pray without ceasing, but we know this is logistically impossible. Christ himself tells his disciples the famous ask/seek/knock that we'll read on October 6th. I'll probably expand on this point when we get there, but even as far back as the time of Moses, the people are told to seek the Lord when they need help. In other words, they're told to not forget him.

The thing worth mentioning is why we're to seek the Lord in the first place. If you re-read 4:29, it's not to inform God of what needs to be done so he can get on it and get 'er done, but to inform US that we need the Lord to intervene on our behalf. The verse clearly states that the Lord is there for us, waiting for us to find him. I'm not suggesting that if we don't ask, we won't receive, since God's will WILL be done regardless, but instead that he's going to be there for us whenever we need him to be. I hope I'm right on this part, since my post just disappeared after I typed the last sentence...

My last point is a minor one, but it has tremendous significance. Look at the word that starts v30--that word is not "If," but instead "When." Even at this point, just prior to fulfilling the covenant God had made with Abram thousands of years prior, he knew they wouldn't keep it. The later trials that Israel will go through--the split kingdom, forced dislocations to Assyria and Babylon and everything else, God knew were going to occur. And he was just as clearly stating that when that happens, he'd be waiting for them to realize their shortcomings and return to the Lord, their God, for he is gracious and merciful. Just like he is for us today.

Scott