Word of Salvation – Vol.23 No.15 – January 1977
If You Seek Him, He will Be Found By You
Sermon by Rev. John F. H. Vanderbom, B.D. on 1Chronicles 28: 9
First Reading: Luke 11:5-13
Second Reading: 1Chronicles 28:1-10
Psalter Hymnal: 62:1,2,3,4; 55:1,2,3 (after law);
or 125:2,4 (after Creed); 49:1,2,5; 375
Congregation,
This morning’s text is very short and simple. Most of you, including the boys and girls could easily learn the words after hearing them only once or twice. And that would be wonderful!
‘If you seek Him, He will let you find Him!”
A short and simple statement, yet very significant and full of encouragement and comfort.
It is a Word of God, which was spoken by a father, as a piece of fatherly advice to his son. King David gave it to his son, Solomon. For him it was the climax of all that he wanted to say to his son.
There are possibly also some fathers today who wish to say something similar to their sons or daughters. Anyhow, the Holy Spirit has left this word for all of us to use! It has been received by the Christian Church. In the preaching of the Gospel we may make the most of it. This morning we say to each of you, whoever you are: If you seek Him, He will let you find Him!
Three simple questions may be asked:
1) WHY must we seek God?
2) HOW can we ever find Him?
3) WHERE will we find Him?
1) Why must we seek God?
A father tells his son that he must seek God. But, mind you, this sounds very strange, as we realise that God is so great and that He is omnipresent! Isn’t He the One who created heaven, earth and all things? Isn’t He everywhere? Then, why must we seek God?
For people who live in Hobart or Kingston there is no need to go and seek Mount Wellington! Because the big mountain is looming over the city. You simply can’t miss seeing the Mountain every now and again!
So it sounds strange and absurd that man should have to seek Him Who has established the mountains and Whose Name is: Sun of Righteousness. Must we go and seek Him Who is the glory of His people? Has He perhaps gone into hiding?
There are sad moments, of which we read in the papers now and then when we are asked to make an effort to seek a lost boy or girl. Sometimes we are called to seek a man who is hiding ‘like a needle in a haystack’.
Some of you may have heard the story of the Greek philosopher, Diogenes. Diogenes always carried a lantern. In broad daylight he walked through the busy streets of Athens, carrying a lantern! People stopped him to ask: “Diogenes, what are you looking for? Have you lost something?” Diogenes said: “I am seeking a man!”
In Athens’ busy streets there were hundreds of people, walking, window-shopping people. Diogenes found it difficult to find a man. He sought a real man!
The Bible tells how the Lord God Himself came down. He came to visit paradise. He was trying to find Adam. ‘Man, where are you?’ God said. Man had got lost. Adam had gone into hiding.
David tells his son Solomon that his first duty in life will be to seek God and build a house for Him.
We still wonder: is God a hidden God? Every day we hear of Him, every morning we pray to Him, every Sunday we sing His praise.
We have been brought up doing this. We have been taught in the Christian home, and possibly in the Christian school, that we must honour Him.
However, if someone asked you: ‘Do you know God? Have you found Him? Have you met Him?’ it could well be a frightening experience that even faithful Church members, who ‘know’ all the answers and who have all the riches and wisdom of Solomon, would have to ‘apologize’, for: they do not know.
It makes us realize how necessary David’s advice can be: You must seek Him, my son! Why must we seek Him? Because God can go into hiding! Just as even the sun can have an eclipse, or the sky can be overcast, and everybody starts complaining ‘we haven’t seen the sun for many days…!”
There is the dreadful possibility that we are putting clouds in front of God, that we pollute the air. The prophet says: ‘It is our sins that make a separation between ourselves and our God. And this is what our Confession means (Canons of Dort, V.13): ‘that on account of their abuse of His fatherly kindness, God should turn away His gracious countenance from them.’ Think of this! ‘His gracious countenance, which to behold is dearer than life to the godly, and the withdrawal of which is more bitter than death…!’
Now David was afraid of this. From experience he knew the darkening of God’s countenance. David has been crying, in estrangement, under the clouds of his own sins.
Yet there was the new dawn. There was the wonder of God coming to seek him, of Holy God breaking the silence of the deadlock. We have been singing David’s psalm together.
“Lord, Thou hast said: seek My face!
My heart says to Thee, Thy face, Lord, shall I seek!
Do not hide Thy face from me,
do not turn Thy servant away in anger…!”
Jesus says: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God!
For David, life was more bitter than death, until he had found his God again. Here he tells his son Solomon, at the great and decisive moment of his second coronation: ‘And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts… If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever. Take heed now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary. Be strong, and do it!’
In Hebrews 11 we read: He who would come to God, must believe that He is, and that He rewards those who seek Him.
Now the second question…
2] How must we seek?
The answer can be plain: we must seek Him as the God who is there! We must seek Him as a people who may know that He is there! He may be in hiding because of our sins. Yet in His gracious covenant He has spoken so clearly. We are not after an unknown God!
In other words: Our seeking God is not a hit-and-miss affair. Our seeking is not aimless. We don’t have to wait for the big Moment. We should pray the prayer of the agnostic far less: ‘God if you are there, speak… if you can speak…!”
The prayer of the agnostic is the prayer of the one who doesn’t know whether he’ll ever be able to find God. But ‘he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of those who seek Him.’
David says: My son, Solomon, don’t let Him go! Seek the Lord, seek His countenance.
Later on, when writing his Proverbs (8:35; 17), Solomon remembers: ‘He who would miss out on Him would miss out the greatest riches in life. But he who finds Him, finds life and obtains favour from the Lord.’
‘I love them who love Me, and those who seek Me diligently will find Me.’
How must we seek? From the New Testament we remember the words of Jesus: ‘Ask; seek; knock!’ These words indicate how determined one has to be. Jesus knows our world. And He tells us that we must persist and persevere. Keep on asking, seeking, knocking. These words are as important as the first commandment of God’s Law.
So when God doesn’t answer immediately, don’t be foolish. Don’t put the receiver back on the telephone. Pray and keep praying.
And seek! Children know how to seek. When a little screw gets lost, you ask one of your children to start looking. ‘It must be in the room, on or in the carpet.’ And you see him bending his back, crawling on his knees. This is seeking. With a lot of patience, and with the assurance that it must be there!
Jesus suggests to everyone who has lost sight of God to do the same. Bend your back, get on your knees. Take time, be patient. Prayers are battles (Jacques Ellul). Jacob has wrestled with God. Knock, and keep knocking, and you will be opened to!
Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Thy face, O God of Jacob! For sure, this is a message for children, for fathers and mothers at the same time!
3] Finally: He will let you find Him!
Here is the assurance of our text. And this is the main message, of course, that we have a God Who is willing, eager to be found!
Throughout the Bible, in both Old and New Testament, we see Him, as it were, standing with outstretched arms: ‘Seek Me and live, seek Me and live.’
This is the amazing faith of a Christian – that God is not a sphinx ; God is a Light, and there is no darkness in Him! Yes, it even says: ‘I was ready to be found of those who did not ask for Me, who did not seek Me!’
David has had experiences of bitter forsakenness by God. Yet he has also found out that the Lord is such a wonderful paymaster. He has even paid David for his good ‘intentions’. God said, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a house for Me, for that reason I will build a house for you!?’ And David received the great promise of the Messiah being born in his house!
But arrogant people will miss out. People who have no time for God will be in for more darkness.
God says, without any reservations, that no one who has sought Him returned with empty hands. His Word has told us this: ‘You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart’ (Jeremiah 29: 13). This is the amazing discovery of all who have found God. And where do you think they found Him?
“Troubled in all their trouble, afflicted in all our afflictions.”
In one of the darkest hours of Israel’s history we hear Isaiah exclaiming (45:15): ‘Truly, Thou art a God who hidest Thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour!’
For here is the mystery. God is not ‘big’. We are waiting for big things. We look at the high sky, we skim the horizons. We wonder: where is He now? But when God comes, He chooses the low places.
‘I sought the Lord, and afterwards I knew, He moved my soul to seek Him, seeking me…!’ Where do we find God? He is the God who has taken His place deep down in our misery, carrying a cross…! Behold, your God!
Bearing shame and scoffing rude –
In my place condemned He stood,
Sealed my pardon with His blood:
Hallelujah, what a Saviour!
‘So then, my son, if you seek Him, He will let you find Him!’
Amen.