The impulse to pursue God originates with God, but the outworking of that impulse is our following hard after Him; and all the time we are pursuing Him we are already in His hand: “Thy right hand upholdeth me.” | A.W. Tozer
What if our theology, our understanding of who God is, allowed for a belief that our own recognition of being distant from God or that we have a distinct need for him, wasn’t an indication of our failure to be in relationship with God but rather an indication of God’s pursuit of us?
For years, and I confess that recently, I have harbored a fair amount of guilt and stress in when i feel is an inability to clearly distinguish the voice or specific presence of God in my own life. I have felt that the pursuit of God is a long lonely journey one can only do on their own. Yes, community is essential in the encouragement of the pursuit, but the walk, like Frodo can only be done my yourself upon your own strength.
A.W. Tozer is teaching me that the desire to seek God is in fact our great hope that we will surely find him! Hebrews 12 tells us that Jesus is both the Initiator and Perfecter of our faith. So the simple fact we have the inclination to seek God, is proof that the God we seek has already chosen to be found by us. Once God initiates our desire to seek him, we are then carried along a path of being perfected. I’m learning this works on the macro and micro levels of our lives. On the macro level, I sought after Jesus when I was 15. When I found him I began a life long journey of being perfected in Christ, which will culminate in my entrance of his Kingdom when this life ends or he returns. On the micro level, there are many circumstances and instances where I feel I desperately need to know where Jesus is and what God has for my next step from day to day or year to year. I have long been discouraged by the feeling I have that I have not been able to see or hear him at times. Yet, as A.W. Tozer has helped me see, the hope I hold to now as I seek to find the God I have already found is that it is God himself who has initiated my seeking and will make himself known as he holds me in my search. What grace there is in the father who calls us to seek him and holds us close as we seek him!
Uncomfortable Middle 