What Does It Mean to Seek the Lord (And How Do I Grow Closer To God in the Process)?
By Aaron Joseph Hall
What does it mean to seek the Lord? How do I grow closer to God in the process? I’ve found myself asking those two questions over the years. As a follower of Jesus now for more than a decade, you’d think I would have it all figured out, right?
The truth is, I don’t.
In fact, I’m still growing everyday in my understanding of who God is, His Word, and how to be who He’s called me to be.
No Christian on this side of heaven will ever reach a position of “having it all together” and knowing and doing everything “perfect” all the time.
We must seek the Lord daily and not just on Sunday mornings at church or Bible study during the week. Our relationship with God is the most important relationship we have, but we often treat it secondary to everything else.
Here’s what it means to seek the Lord
It means we are willing to carve out time every day
1 Chronicles 16:11, “Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!”
It’s no secret we can all get pretty busy. Our Mondays fill up with meetings and by the time Friday rolls around our Saturdays and Sundays are jam packed with baseball games, birthday parties, and grocery shopping.
Life gets busy. But life is NEVER too busy to cut out time each day to seek the Lord.
If I only sought my wife once a week, our marriage would be in deep trouble. And so would any other relationship.
Why should we treat our relationship with God any differently? Make it a priority everyday to have uninterrupted time alone with God. After all, He not only created you but saved you too! He deserves ALL that we have!
It means we will lack no good thing from God
Psalm 34:10, “The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.”
We serve a GOOD God. I’ve been following Jesus now for more than a decade and He’s always been more good to me than I deserve. I’ve made more mistakes than I care to admit and everyday He’s faithful to forgive, restore, and bless.
How amazing is that?!?
When we seek the Lord we can without any doubt that IN Christ we lack no good thing. Why? Anything good IN US is because of Jesus Christ IN US.
Make sense?
All good things come from our heavenly Father! Today, take some time to reflect on all the good things in your life. And as you seek Jesus today thank Him for those very things! He chooses to bless us with good even when we don’t deserve it!
We get to seek and know a GOOD God!
It means to seek the Lord’s presence.
We don’t seek the Lord for what He can and will do for us. We seek the Lord to simply be IN His presence.
Recently, the Lord has been moving mightily in the youth ministry I pastor and what I’ve been learning is we must not simply seek the POWER but must focus on seeking His PRESENCE!
If we only seek God for what He can do, we will eventually run dry. We are filled, restored, and refreshed when we are IN His presence. Not when we are simply operating in His power!
How do I grow closer to God in the process of seeking Him?
Here’s the beauty of seeking the Lord…when we do we grow closer to Him!
The Bible says in Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”
By seeking the Lord we FIND the Lord, get to know Him, and as a result are closer to Him! It doesn’t make sense to think you can be close to someone without seeking them out! How could I be close to my wife if I never pursued her?
Seek God and you will know God! Simple as that.
Of course, there will be work involved. Dealing with our junk. That’s never fun, but when we find ourselves dwelling in His presence as a result of seeking Him we are closer to Him!
And there’s no better place to be than IN the Lord’s presence!
Aaron Joseph Hall, the writer behind AaronJosephHall.com and the youth pastor at More 2 Life Ministries, resides in Okeechobee, Florida, with his wife and four children. You can connect with him on Instagram and X.
