Losing God, and Finding Him Again

Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Devotional for Day 2

Losing God, and Finding Him Again

But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God and obey his voice. For the LORD your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them. — Deuteronomy 4:29-31

Our theme for this month of September 2020 is seeking God. Now is a critical time for American Christians to repent, pray, and return to God.

We believe that we have largely lost God’s blessing. Moses predicted the same thing would happen to God’s people under the Old Covenant. These words in Deuteronomy 4:29-31 were spoken around 1400 B.C. and were fulfilled around 800 years later when the Jews were exiled to Babylon. Even though God had chosen the Jewish people and redeemed them from Egypt, He still removed His blessing from them when they persisted in sin. The same can be true for us under the New Covenant. Our Father will remove His blessing from us when we displease Him (e.g., 1 Cor 11: 29-32; James 4:1-8; Rev 2:1-7). That has happened to us as Christians in the United States.

God tells us how to restore His blessing. The removal of God’s favor need not be permanent. God wants us to walk in His light and under the blessing of His presence. So when we forsake Him and His blessing, He makes a way for us to return to Him once again. From our place of brokenness, He tells us what to do. We are to seek Him. That is, we are to look for Him earnestly. We are to search for His presence with all our heart and soul – with everything that we have. Then, He promises to return to us when we hunt for Him with this kind of all-out pursuit.

Are you searching for God with all your heart and soul? If it’s true that we have lost God’s blessing and we can restore it by seeking Him, the most important question we can ask ourselves as believers is, “Am I searching for God with all my heart and soul?”

The prophet Jeremiah asked the same question to the Old Covenant believers who were in exile in the 6th century B.C. Jeremiah sent a letter to the exiles and quoted our Scripture passage above:

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. — Jeremiah 29:13-14

Get a pen and paper to conclude this devotional. Take time to write out the top five things in life that are most important to you right now. Where does seeking God rank on your list?

Now write down what you are doing to seek God with all your heart and soul.

• How often do you pray?
• How fervently?
• How much time do you give to let the Bible speak to you?
• Are you meeting with other Christians to seek Him?
• Do you fast?
• Do you quickly confess your sins and genuinely want to forsake them?

Take time to talk to the Lord about what you have written. Ask Him what you need to change and ask for the grace to seek Him with all your heart and soul.

Father, we have sinned against You. Please forgive us. But more importantly than that, change us. Make us seekers after You. Transform us into people who search for You with all our heart and soul. We want You more than anything else.

Chuck Hetzler, Ph.D.
Senior Associate Leader, Christian Union Day and Night