Scripture
Our focus verse for today comes from Jeremiah 29:13-14, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity.”
Background
Doing the same thing every day can be both a blessing and a curse. A lady once worked for me who went to lunch every day at 11:13. Now that made it easy to know where she was and when she would return, It also was a little funny, and made it challenging to schedule something to get done by noon. I ate three peanut butter sandwiches and drank three milks for lunch every day in high school. That certainly made it easy for me to fix my lunch each morning and avoid any surprises, but it also was a little funny, and my body probably would have appreciated something resembling a fruit or vegetable occasionally. When we’re clicking along in our routines of life, we can become blind to the blandness, silliness, or even futility of our ways. Spending time with the Lord each day can become victim to this same way of habit. Praying over a prayer list, reading a devotion each day, or maybe reading a chapter in the Bible doesn’t substitute for seeking God with all your heart and finding Him. Our time with Him should not become captive to a formula or routine. He says He will be found by us and bring us back from our captivity.
Application
Seeking Him with your whole heart opens your eyes to those ways that have you captive without you even realizing it. Perhaps you’ve developed a bad habit of saying certain words, or maybe tv takes up too much of your life. Perhaps you need to read the same verse for a week straight instead of flying through a chapter at a time. God is creator, so think of all the ways He can create to reveal Himself to us, and open our eyes to our real self. Don’t let life keep you captive. Seek Him, and find Him. Don’t find a routine or a method. Let your time with Him save you from yourself.
Charge
As we seek Him today, make sure that we truly sought our Savior, rather than sought to do a devotion. Don’t end your time with Him until you have found Him. Then, keep seeking Him all day long.
