Thursday: Seek Ye First
It was said of Jesus that “the common people heard him gladly” (Mark 12:37). Most of the people in the large crowds who followed and listened to Jesus were members of this class, the common people. They were the ones who were fed on the mountainside, and who heard the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said to them, basically, I know you are concerned about providing for your families. You worry about the food and drink that you will need daily and the clothing that you need for warmth and protection. But here is what I propose . . .
Read Matthew 6:25-33. What was promised here, and what were the people to do in order to receive those promises?
Many of the promises of God have elements of a bilateral covenant. That is, in order to receive the blessing, we need to do our part as well.
Read Isaiah 26:3. What are we asked to do in order to have the peace of God?
Read 1 John 1:9. What will Jesus do if we confess our sins?
Read 2 Chronicles 7:14. What are the “ifs” and “thens” of God’s proposal here?
Image © Lifeway Collection at Goodsalt.com
All these verses and many others deal with the important fact that although God is sovereign, although God is our Creator and Sustainer, and although salvation is a gift of grace and unmerited on our part, we still have a part to play in the great controversy drama here on earth. Using the sacred gift of free will, free choice, we must choose to follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit and obey what God calls us to do. Though God offers us blessings and life, we can choose cursing and death instead. No wonder God says, “[T]herefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19, NKJV).
(27)
Humbly,
Seek,
Pray,
Confess,
Trust.
That's a formula, for those who like formulas. A formula for happiness! But even before that, we were all blessed with the free will. Was that a curse? It was a gift also, but we insist on choosing wrong. God offers us peace, but mankind seem to like war, conflicts. Today, may we choose the blessings, may we focus on
Humbly,
Seek,
Pray,
Confess,
Trust & rest.
Matt. 6:31-33 tells me that we should not worry about those things which we need to sustain our body, but rather to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, so that we can be nurtured/guided by His Holy Spirit, and all “these earthly things shall be added to you.”
Living in God’s Kingdom of Righteousness – what does this look like? Seeking first to live 'contentedly' in His kingdom means to learn to live according to what He established as living ‘righteously'. Do we still ‘worry’ about our daily lives? Probably; but living according to His way of light and life, we will receive calming assurances and answers that God hears us and will respond according to the wisdom of His providence. Phil.4:19
I appreciate the lesson writer’s list of Scripture passages pointing out the peace of heart and mind we can have by trusting God’s care through faith. In His covenant with us, trust in Him is what our heavenly Father is working to establish as we live our lives faithfully. He assures us that, as we seek to live righteously, we will be supported and guided by His Holy Spirit which teaches us to understand His wisdom - Heb. 13:5
Our part in our covenant relationship with Him is to stay faithful, to love Him with all our heart and not to give up and lean on our own understanding, but come to Him to seek answers when things do not look right or become difficult to manage. When faithfully and humbly living according to His Word, we will learn to love and trust Him more and more - becoming His contented sons and daughters living in His Kingdom.
Why worry?
Choose life.
Joshua, your short first sentence started me singing a little song we learned many years ago:
Why worry, when you can pray?
Trust Jesus, He'll lead the way
Don't be a doubting Thomas, rest fully in His promise.
Why worry, worry, worry, worry,
When you can pray?
"Worry is blind and can not discern the future; but Jesus sees the end from the beginning. In every difficulty He has a way prepared to bring relief. Our heavenly Father has one thousand ways to provide for us, of which we know nothing. Those who accept the one principle of making the service and honor of God supreme will find perplexities vanish and a plain path before their feet." The Desire of ages p330
I never thought of these verses as "deals" God made with us, and it sort of makes me sad to see them portrayed this way. Yes, God is limited by our choices, but portraying His blessings as dependent on us "holding up our end of the bargain" does not feel like the kind of relationship God wants with us. It sounds like servant rather than friend. I realize we are to serve God, but I think He wants us to progress to a partnership with Him where His will becomes ours.
I feel like God is trying to tell us, "Seek me, trust me, join with me, and I can do amazing things in your life." Maybe it's the same thing, but I like it much better.
"It sounds like servant rather than friend."
I recall a time when God’s Spirit presented the need of a particular ministry to me that required a significant rearrangement of my priorities and (for me) a significant above and beyond financial gift. I was explaining this to some church people and one of them said, “What was the payback?” I did not understand at first what he was getting at. But it soon became clear. His expectation was that God would open the “windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.” (Malachi 3:10.) I explained to him that there was no “payback”—no pennies (or dollars for that matter) from heaven. There was only the settled certainty of doing what was right, that is, what God called me to do.
Tithes and offerings are not “let’s make a deal” with God—giving and getting in return—but that is often how it is presented and thought of in church circles. I understand that point of view from an organizational perspective; there is a strong imperative to provide funding to sustain the system. After all, depending on God to fund his work is “risky” business. His idea of his work might be different from man’s. Building organizational edifices and physical facilities for “spiritual” experiences and growing organization membership may not be what he is looking for. Maybe he just wants our hearts to be one with his, in spirit and truth. Maybe he just wants us to be as transparent with him and each other as he is with us. Is what we “own” and “make” part of that? I think it is. Just as much as what we “give” to his honour and glory.
Amen . Thank you for sharing that though.
Sometimes we have to do what Jacob did and "Wrestle With The Angel," and not let go. Jacob had no idea who he was suddenly wrestling with. There was no bilateral anything in this physical contest that I can see by Jacob and the sudden "Enemy" that was without warning suddenly upon him. Sometimes God suddenly falls upon us this way without warning us at all. But He is faithful and will not suffer us to fail Him if we do not let go of Him Like Jacob never let go of the Angel but went on to "Ask God to Bless him." And God surely did bless Jacob. And God will do the same for us. The only part for us is to do what Jesus said to do and "Ask, Seek, and Knock," towards God.
Today's lesson does well to unpack how God is Sovereign - that He is an authoritative as opposed to an authoritarian Sovereign. As such, God informs and instructs us as in regard the way/s that will lead to (ie, 'blessing') and those that will lead away from (ie, 'curse') life (as per Deuteronomy 30:15-20). While we have complete freedom to choose which way we will adopt, the inherent consequences of that choice are not up for choosing. That is how reality operates.
In light of the above, 'obedience' is simply our choice and accompanying 'follow-through' to be in harmony with the way (that God has informed and instructed us) leads to life.