Jeremiah 29:13. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
And then it was our lazy-day Saturday! Thank You Lord! It’s the time to just lie abed as late as possible, then get up, have a cup of coffee, and retire to the couch for more lazing around. (smile) After five frustrating and draining days of work, we’ve earned the right to relax, to just be quiet and allow our bodies to catch themselves. And there’s no better way to accomplish that desired situation than by offering up our Lazy-Day Saturday Prayer.
So, with all sincerity and truth, let’s pray: ‘Lord, I want to be with You now. Please slow my thoughts and quiet my soul. Let my muscles relax, my breath deepen. You are here with me – Your peace and LOVE are present. I marvel to think You can’t be contained, that Your LOVE both surrounds and fills me. Thank You for this tenderness, Lord. I praise You for Your unceasing nearness. Increase my awareness of You today, that I may know You all the more. Amen!’
And as we say those simple words of praise and communion, we feel the peace and calm of the Lord just flowing into us and with a deep sigh, our entire being just relaxes, and all the tension of the past five days just drift right into outer space. (smile) Yes friends, that’s what seeking intimacy with our wonderful God can do!
Remember, that’s what He desires from us; that sense of deep and sincere communication. He says it very clearly in His Word, through the prophet Jeremiah. ‘And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.’ (Jer. 29:13) Now isn’t that a marvellous promise? It certainly is! But it requires seeking the Lord with all of our hearts. We cannot go seeking Him with just lip service and no heart throbs, for He will not answer us. And sadly, that’s what many of us are doing today, simply running to God with our mouths and asking for all sorts of unwise things, and when we don’t get them, we wonder why, and then bad talk and blaspheme the Lord.
But it’s like Jesus said to the Pharisees: ‘Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias (Isaiah) prophesy of you saying, This people draweth nigh (near) unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.’ (Matt. 15:7-9) Yes my fellow believers, unfortunately that’s very true of many of us in these dreadful and devilish times.
And I like this verse of promise from Isaiah’s prophesy. ‘Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?’ (Is. 29:15) Now that’s exactly how many of us behave; foolishly trying to hide our true feelings and works from the Lord. But remember our God is omniscient, all seeing, all knowing and wise as ever, so there’s nothing we can ever hide from Him.
Especially when He checks the motives of our hearts before He even considers our prayers. And He says it quite plainly through the prophet Jeremiah. ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked (incurably sick): who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try (test) the reins (minds), even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.’ (Jer. 17:9-10)
And I like what this commentary says about that last verse: ‘It explains that God not only examines human motivations but also rewards individuals according to their deeds and the fruit of their actions. This divine scrutiny extends beyond outward actions to the inner intentions and thoughts of every person, revealing hidden motives and ensuring judgment aligns with their true desires and ways.’
Oh my brethren, we cannot get away from the close scrutiny of our all knowing God. He made us and knows exactly what we’re all about. And it’s like the Lord said to Jeremiah when He called him into ministry. ‘Before I formed thee in the belly (womb) I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee (set thee apart), and ordained (appointed) thee a prophet unto the nations.’ (Jer. 1:5) So the Lord knows what’s happening with us right from the very beginning.
It’s also like Bruh David says in that magnificent Psalm 139 – Praise to the All-Knowing God. ‘O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou comapsseth (comphendest) my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. …For thou hast possessed my reins (formed my inward parts): thou hast covered (weaved) me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right (very) well. My substance (bones) was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously (skillfully) wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect (unformed); and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned (the days fashioned for me) when as yet there was none of them.’ (Ps. 139:1-4; 13-16)
Oh my people, all of that just shows how our God is deeply involved in our creation even before we’re created. He doesn’t just create us, He plans it all out before putting it into action. That ought to tell us that there’s nothing we can hide from Him, nothing about us He doesn’t know, and nowhere we can go where He won’t find us. (Ps. 139:7-12) So why are we still foolishly trying to hide things from Him and escape His LOVING embrace eh? Who knows?
But it is certainly time to stop doing it, for it will only be to our detriment. Remember all the Lord is doing is not for Himself, but for us, and if we don’t show the proper wisdom and appreciation, we will have to suffer the consequences, which can be very heartrending. So, on this somewhat cloudy, lazy-day Saturday in mid-September, let’s seriously consider all we’ve said, and let it sincerely lead us into the arms of Christ, where we were created to be! Much LOVE!
…man was made by God…for God’s holy purposes…not for man’s selfish, sinful ways…
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