Seekers Sought - chapter 2
Here's what stood out to me.
"All is grace. The secret of seeking is not in our human ascent to God, but in God's descent to us. We start out searching, but we end up being discovered. We think we are looking for something; we realize we are found by Someone. As in Francis Thompson's famous picture, "the hound of heaven" has tracked us down. What brings us home is not our discovery of the way home but the call of the Father who has been waiting there for us all along, whose presence there makes home home."
It's so humanly arrogant to think it's all about my journey of discovery. How humbling it is to come to realize that it wasn't about my search for God, but about stopping to see that I have been discovered, I have been chased down by God. The father has been waiting for me to come home.
I remember learning about that poem, "The Hound of Heaven" years ago from James Sanbei, the pastor who baptized me and later led the church to ordain me, to affirm me in my "calling".
So anything stood out to you?
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3 comments:
Coming from EBC this past semester, and listening to a lot of talk about whether or not we seek or are sought, I have come to know one thing that is for sure. That is that humans, no matter how much we seek, are spiritually incapable of getting to God. Guiness writes a paragraph or two about this in this chapter. Even all of our best seeking will never be enough to reach up to the throneroom of God. "Who can ascend the mountain of God?" The Israelites stood at the bottom of a mountain and were able to see God's presence, yet they were unable to ascend. God is to Holy. The word Holy itself means "cut away" or "separate". Even if we can seek, all the efforts of all the world put together can never find an infinite God. It was God alone who had to descend. That descent was laughed at. It was mocked, spit on, beaten, bruised, and eventually put to death.
Thanks for sharing, Randy. I'm glad you're on this read with me.
I may need to read the chapter again to fully grasp what was said... But I will say this, As a "works" minded person I find myself often thinking I need to do something with my own strength (works). This is something I have to continually pray about and seek out the Lord to remind me that His agape love has nothing to do with what I accomplish for him but it is just that, agape. This chapter was a great reminder and encouragement to me that there is nothing I can do on my own strength to gain My Father's love. And He has a calling for me and it isn't up to ME to seek out what it is- but rather to SEEK my creator who knows my calling.
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