Listen to Devotion

Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.

Does something strike you as amazing in today’s Bible verse?

What jumps out at me is the idea that the Lord is near us, that he allows himself to be found by us.

After all, why should he? Why should he be near us? Why should he allow himself to be found by us? Just look at us! We’re angry, bitter, selfish. We’re lustful, greedy, rebellious. We fail to love God; we fail to love each other. Instead of loathing sin as we should, we find ourselves listening to the devil’s temptations, perhaps even desiring to give in to those temptations. We fail to see the value and importance of eternal matters and get far to focused on temporal matters. Shouldn’t God turn his back on us? Shouldn’t God banish us from his presence forever? Yes, he should!

Instead, he stays near! In amazing grace, he even allows us to “find him” in his Word and in the sacraments. And when we find him, what do we discover? We discover that he loves us dearly and treats us with amazing compassion and boundless love.

And so, call on him! Seek him! Rejoice in the fact that your God is near, near to you!

O Savior, continue to draw near to me, and no matter how I might struggle, continue to draw me near to you. Amen.

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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.