Take another look

The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.  –Psalm 14:2 (NIV)
 
God welcomes our questions – He is big enough to handle them. He embraces our doubts – He never asks us for blind faith. That said, it is intellectually dishonest to ask the questions and never seek answers, intellectually lazy to express the doubts and walk away from the discussion.
 
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?  –Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV)
 
The only thing less productive than failing to engage the conversation is to derive our understanding of God and His ways from our own imaginations or the cultural environment we find ourselves in. While there may be an elemental level of comprehension of good and right – we do, after all, bear the image of our Maker – we are easily deluded, especially when it comes to fooling ourselves.
 
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.  –Proverbs 14:12 (ESV)
 
We can rationalize almost anything, especially when the society around us is literally hellbent on pushing a particular narrative. But is capitulating to the trend supported by the largest or loudest or most well-funded constituency really the best way to determine truth? And if so, what do we do when the current changes direction? Can that which is really true become untruth?
 
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  –Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV)
 
Wouldn’t it be nice if there was something bigger than ourselves? Someone outside our system who sees it holistically. Someone we could appeal to as an authoritative arbiter of what is true and right and good. And wouldn’t it be great if that person cared about us and had our best long-term interests at heart? And what if that person were to reveal themselves in some way and then leave a written record that could help resolve some of our biggest questions and doubts?
 
From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’  –Acts 17:26-28a (NIV)
 
I pray you’ll ponder these statements that speak to the journey we are all on. They were given to different audiences in different locations at different times. I’ll not unpack their respective contexts here, but it’s safe to say they point to a theme of blessing associated with seeking and finding relationship with a God who wants to be found. Godspeed on your journey, regardless of where you may find yourself on that path.
 
Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.  –Isaiah 55:6 (NIV)
 
Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.  –Psalm 9:10 (NIV)
 
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness….  –Matthew 6:33a (NIV)
 
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.  –Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)