Seek and Find and Seek

Hey there sweet friend!
Welcome!

I've been sitting here thinking on the Bible verse from week two of the OBS "What Happens When Women Say Yes To God". Letting each word sink in some more -  15 words that had an impact on my life last week.

        "You will seek me and find me   

      when you seek me

       with all your heart."

Jeremiah 29:13

When I first started to meditate on and memorize this verse, I confess that I didn't like how this version read.

Why does it say seek and find and than says seek again?

It was actually that first seek (third word) that felt all wrong.

It may sound kind of bold to be stating that any part of God's word feels wrong. Yikes! 

But no, no lightening bolt has dropped out of the sky to strike me dead.  And hey, I'm not taking this too lightly - so please don't take it too seriously. Hear me out friend. That's what friends do ya know.

I read and reread the verse a few more times.

Each time trying to figure out - "Why in the world would God have Joshua write it this way?!"

I couldn't help but think that if this verse read "You will find me when you seek me." it would make a bit more sense.  Simple and to the point.

Yet, I don't think God wastes words and He pretty much means what He says. So there must be a deeper meaning.

Hmmm ..... I'm still not sure .....

That is until ......  And wait for it .... yep, that little light bulb over my head lit up.

If I take the second half of the verse first and the beginning last it begins to make much more sense. Does that make sense?

Well, at least to me it does. But hey, I'm blonde and sometimes tend to over think things.

Now to try to explain.

By taking the last part first -                 

..... when you seek me with all your heart.

 - Jeremiah tells us to seek with all our hearts. That's pretty straight forward and I believe it means we are to actively seek Him.

Seek Him like ....
.... you mean it.
.... your life depends on it.
.... He is your first and only desire.


As for the first part of the verse -

You will seek me and find me ....

- let's look at it as if  "seek and find" go hand-in-hand. Don't think of them as two separate actions.

As I thought about this, I remembered back when my son {not saying which one to protect the innocent} was around four years old and how he'd try to "seek and find" his shoes. He'd stand at the doorway to his room, taking maybe one step inside and declare "I can't find my shoes!".   Ahem! You didn't even try.

We won't seekandfind one single thing seeking that way. Nada. Nothing. Zip. Agreed?

To sum it all up and put it all together -

 - it's only when we actively seek God with all our hearts that we will truly seekandfind Him.

Now guess what friend!

I found a translation that's worded pretty much the way I'm trying to explain it. I've underlined the two key words that help to make it clearer.

"You will seek me and you will find me 

because you will seek me with all your heart."

Anyway you look at it, after studying this verse, I have a happy heart knowing that because I'm seeking Him with all my heart I'll certainly seekandfind Him.

#YesToGod