SEEK THE LORD WHILE HE MAY BE FOUND
“Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Isaiah 55:6, 7
These verses, like so many others in the Bible, invite us to seek the Lord. He wants us to seek Him, and to seek Him with the whole heart. The greatest need of every man is a meaningful relationship with his Creator. Our text presents this wonderful privilege and opportunity, to seek the Lord.
However, there is something else revealed in our Scripture about this invitation. There is a window of opportunity to seek Him. We are told to “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found.” The clear implication is that there may come a time when He may not be found. How could it be that there might be a time when it would be too late to seek Him?
For one thing, the length of our lives is uncertain. We do not know what tomorrow may bring. If we are to seek the Lord, it should be now. Also, there could come a time when the Lord will not deal with us as He deals with us now. The Bible gives illustrations of the Holy Spirit dealing with individuals and groups of peoples, and then ceasing to deal with them because they continued to ignore or reject His invitation. The Bible clearly puts this responsibility to seek the Lord on each of us. We need to take the spiritual initiative to pray and seek His face.
Our text gives us the manner in which we are to seek Him. Notice the following words: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD.” To seek the Lord, we must be willing to turn from our sin. We must forsake our way and our thoughts, and return to the Lord. This is a Bible description of repentance.
The reason we need to “return” to the Lord is because we have turned from Him in some way or some area. When we insist on our way, we often reject God’s way. When we vigorously defend our thoughts, we may find ourselves forsaking God’s thoughts. We also see in this passage the reward of earnestly seeking the Lord. The Word of God promises “mercy” and “pardon.” When we have turned away from Him, He is willing to forgive us if we will turn back to Him in repentance.